You've got days of music stored on your iPhone or iPod, the trouble is once you get in your car you're left with hunting around for a CD or even what's on the radio to remove the drone of the road.

In steps the iTrip, improved and enhanced from its first outings many years ago to offer a chance to stream music from your iPod or iPhone to your car stereo via the wonders of FM.

The size of disposable lighter, the iTrip plugs into your Apple device via the 30-pin dock connector and gets to work transmitting your music to a nearby radio that is tuned in on the same frequency.

The unit itself comes with four buttons, and a mono screen with which to access the rather rudimentary menu system. Pressing Menu a number of times scrolls through the menu options, while three buttons below the screen allow you to scan up and down the airwaves, select presets, or skip to the next track without having to turn your iPod player "on". On the whole the experience is a fiddly one.

Realising that iPod touch and iPhone users want something a little more graphical, Griffin has developed a free app that you can download via the App Store to control all the above with your finger rather the having to get dirty with the hardware. The app certainly makes things a lot easier.

Scanning the airwaves can be done in two ways, manually (normally the easiest) or via something Griffin call SmartScan, which as you might guess scans all available frequencies looking for the cleanest, unfettered, frequency available for you to set-up your mini pirate radio station on.

In the settings option there is a chance to have three preset stations, as well as whether or not to pump out your sound in mono or stereo. SmartSound is a Griffin Technology that enhances the sound and makes it louder. In reality that's what it does - make stuff louder.

In use and the performance of the iTrip, like previous models, will come down to where you live. If you live in a major metropolitan area you are likely to struggle to find a clear enough signal to push your transmission to. We certainly weren't able to run the system in stereo. That means your music will be constantly interrupted and you'll spend most of your drive retuning the iTrip to find a better frequency. Not great.

If however you live in the country or are planning on using this in a static environment around the home placing your iTrip in the right place does get good results. Placement is everything though - we found strangely next to the gearbox worked in one car and on the dash in another.?

As for charging, there is an option to connect a Micro-USB to the iTrip, which in turn will let you charge the iPhone or iPod, however it isn't included in the box.

Verdict:

The Griffin iTrip is a difficult one to mark. The fact that our tests delivered mixed results isn't Griffin's fault, but merely a problem of the cluttered airwaves where we tested it, suggesting you could buy this and experience a far better experience than we have.

If you really must get your music off your iPhone or iPod on your car stereo then this is one way to do it, just don't expect it to be a perfect experience every time.?

Proceed with caution.

Related links:

• Griffin - iTrip

Tags: Audio iPod accessories Car And GPS Griffin iPod iPhone FM transmitters

Griffin iTrip FM transmitter with iPhone app originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:08:11 +0000

Memorex, yes, the people who made those see-through audio cassettes back in the day, have unleashed their latest iPod dock on the world in the form of the Memorex Sound System. But should this grab your attention?

The Memorex Sound System is conservatively designed and constructed from solid-feeling plastics, but lacks the premium looks that some docks give you. It stands approx 15cm high, is 35cm wide and 12cm deep, so is larger than some others too.

It does have an output of 30 Watts RMS, however, from stereo drivers and tweeter domes, which sit behind the front grill. The front also features a reasonably large display and a slot-loading CD drive.

The remainder of the controls can be found on the top of the Sound System and there are plenty of them. In the centre you have the iPod dock that also supports the iPhone, and your main power, mode and volume controls. To the left are five more controls that allow you to set the time, change the EQ and switch the the auxiliary input. Then there are a further four controls to select sleep, dim the display and set repeat and shuffle.

Across to the right you have 5 radio preset buttons, and then play/pause, stop and track forward and back controls. If you like buttons, you are well covered. This covers all the controls that you'll find on the remote, except those that you'd use to navigate the menus on your iPod.

With the controls clearly labelled, the Memorex Sound System is easy to use and we like the big iPod, CD and Radio buttons so you can just punch the button and listen to what you want. Several inserts are provided for the iPod dock at the top so that your iPhone will sit securely.

Navigating and controlling your iPod presents no problems at all, with an additional "B" button the remote to briefly but the iPod backlight on so you can see the menus. The remote is a little on the cheap side, with small buttons, particularly the volume controls which could have been more prominent.

In use and the sound quality is pretty good, with plenty of volume on offer and it remains relatively distortion even up at top higher volumes. The sound isn't perhaps as clear as some more expensive rivals, lacking the premium definition to your music that some docks offer. Bass is well represented with easy adjustment through the EQ settings so your tunes have a good meaty quality to them.

The FM tuner also performed well picking up local stations as expected. There is no auto scan feature, so you'll have to program in your 5 presents from the off and we would have preferred a DAB option to be included. The CD player takes a little time to get going after inserting a CD, but it isn't a major drawback.

Around the back of the Sound System you get an aux in, so you can hook up any other devices using a standard 3.5mm cable.

Verdict:

Unfortunately, despite the presence of a clock and a sleep timer, there is no alarm function, so as a single box solution for a bedroom or dorm room, you'll be missing this feature. However, you could always use the alarm on your iPod or iPhone. There is no headphone jack either which may deter those who on occasion want to keep their music to themselves.

Overall we were impressed with how easy to use the Memorex Sound System was. The audio performance was impressive without being exemplary, perfect for casual use.

There are a great number of iPod docks available and the Memorex is an inoffensive middle-of-the-road offering. You'll be able to get units that are cheaper or have a more interesting design, but there is little go wrong with here.

Tags: Audio iPod docks iPod speakers iPod iPhone Memorex Memorex Sound System

Memorex Sound System iPod dock originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000