The Griffin iTrip as with all FM transmitters started off being classed as illegal due to you effectively broadcasting a radio station, they became legal in 2006. Despite this, people still bought them and and they are now more popular than ever.

New cars nowadays have ports built into cars that allow you to plug your MP3 players directly, but what do you do if you don't have this or don't even have a tape player which allows you to use the old tape adapters. My car didn't have either but it would allow me to make an MP3 CD although this only allowed around 7 albums and it became a pain if I wanted them on random or to have different albums. I then decided to try a FM Transmitter.

After buying one and trying it whilst sat on my driveway in the car, I found a nice clear station and had the ipod playing through the speakers within 10 minutes, however when I was driving to work and using my new gadget this is where I found it's weakness. The signal you may have while in one place may not be clear in another so you have to find a clear station which is clear wherever you are. After a couple of tries I was getting really annoyed with it, but I finally found a clear station which for reference is 107.00 in Bristol. I now use my ipod every day to and from work which is a 13 mile drive each way and have no interference at all.

The iTrip plugs into your iPod in the data port where you would usually charge it from, you then turn your iPod on and start playing music, this will turn the iTrip on, you know it's on when the digital display shows a frequency. Scan through your car radio until you find a clear station with just static and no speech or music. Once you have found this, save the channel on your car radio for easier finding next time. Then you have to change the frequency on the iTrp, this is done with the switch on the side, when the station is found press the button and it will save the channel so you don't have to search each time. You are now all set, your music will now play through your speakers.

This is such an easy thing to use and once you have it set up on a clear station you can experience great sound from your iPod with no wires.

Some FM transmitters come with a cable that require plugging into the cigarette socket to power it, however the iTrip draws power from the iPod itself, this can be classed as a good and bad thing.

Good because you don't have cables which get in the way.
Bad because it drains your iPod battery a lot quicker.

I have found that I get around 10 hours of play out of my iPod Touch with the iTrip connected, the stated playtime of the iPod Touch is 24 hours although I have never taken note to see if I actually get this amount of time.

The iTrip is a good looking transmitter and it is not too bulky. It measures 2.45" x 1.43" x 0.9" (62.5mm x 36.5mm x 22mm). It is the same width as my iPod Touch and adds about an inch to the bottom of it.

I have been very impressed with the quality in build and sound of the iTrip and after spending the time to get a good station it is now simple to use and would now never pay to have a iPod port put into my car. I never listen to my music really loud, it's quite loud but not car shakingly so, so I can't comment on what the quality sounds like when you have it turned right up.

One small problem I found when I was going to work the other day is, if someone has the same station set as you, you will get interference from them and get a mix of your own and their music, but what are the actual chances of it happening often. I have owned it for a few months now and it has only happened once for about a minute in the hours I have been listening. A good thing to take out of it is, the cars that were around me stopped at traffic lights and I made it through, and I was still getting their signal for about another 10 seconds before I just lost signal, so it has a good range on it too.

I have mentioned using this in the car as this is the only place I have used mine, but you are not just limited to in the car, you can use it wherever you have a FM radio.

You can find these for around £20-25, which in my opinion isn't too bad when you compare it to the alternative choices.