So now that we have an iPOD Touch, I started thinking about how we can use it through our car stereo? Unfortunately our Pontiac Pursuit’s (which is called the G5 in the US) audio system doesn’t come one of those line in inputs, so there goes that idea. The only other option open to us is to get one of those Universal FM Transmitters.
In a nut shell, you plug your music device into the Universal FM transmitter. Then this runs into the power supply in your car, or the old cigarette lighter if you will. Side note: I’ve been smoke free for 5 months! The transmitter connects wirelessly and syncs up to your car FM band thus allowing the iPODs signal to run through the stereo.
The one we picked up is called the i2! RDS FM Transmitter for iPod from Aerielle. We went searching for reviews on FM Transmitters and found this one to be reliable and fairly inexpensive. The best price was through Tiger Direct.
The i2! is simple to use.
After plugging everything in, you look for the 2 buttons on the front that are stacked together. You hold down both of these buttons at the same time for a couple seconds. Now you will notice on the very small digital display screen, numbers that represent your FM stations, rolling from lowest to highest. This action is telling you that it is scanning for FM signals/bands that ARE NOT being used.
It will then stop scanning and a number will start flashing. This number represents a station or band width that it can use to send the signal from your device into the stereo. You then press down on one of the 3 per-set buttons near the bottom of the unit to save it in it’s memory.
If i2! displays more flashing numbers after you choose the first band that it shows you, then set them up and remember the station/frequency number so you can use it for another time. This might come in handy if later on down the road, the first station you saved is being taken over by a radio station. Now you can tune your car stereo to that location and begin to use your iPOD!
Damn, I can’t imagine driving without it now!
Keep on Jammin’
I had heard that the sound quality of these devices isn’t very good, which has always put me off buying one although I love the idea behind it and don’t go anywhere without my iPod Touch. How does it compare with listening to a CD or the radio? Would you recommend it based on sound quality?
The sound quality is great JoBeth. The very 1st time we used it, I was not all that happy with the sound. But as it turned out it was the quality of the song itself that was bad.
As I said in the post, the i2! was very simple to use. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that we could not turn the display upwards to view which FM band or station it choose for us to use. The real problem is where Pontiac placed the power supply/ cigarette lighter in our car. Otherwise, I’d recommend this to anyone!