DavidBreyer.Com

I have been using the Griffin iTrip to listen to my iPod in the car since February. I never did like the fact you had to program the iTrip with the frequency using the iPod interface. On several occasions the iTrip would “forget” what frequency to use and me not liking to keep the frequency programmers on the iPod (more on that later) would be in for a very dull commute. if I did have the iTrip frequency “tunes” (They are actually mp3 files that program the iTrip.) on the iPod they would advertently get played and screw up the iTrip. Which was easy to do if you used the iPod’s shuffle feature. And resetting the iTrip was an ordeal that only following the step by step instructions could fix. In other words, can’t do while driving.

Anyway, on my commute home Friday the iTrip got screwed up for the last time. It was the final straw. I recalled Griffin had announced an iTrip with a built-in tuner. So I went straight away to the Apple store in the Kenwood Towne Centre and purchased one.

The new iTrip allows you to adjust the frequency with the roll of a dial. Oddly though the frequency I actually used in not available in this model. For anyone using 87.9 you will have to find another channel. The iTrip begins on 88.1. I eventually settled on 90.1 90.5, although I will have to see if it works on my 35 mile commute. I swear there is a radio station for just about every .1 of the dial. My logic dictates that there should be a small sprectrum of radio frequency left untouched for portable consumer devices. Say 80.1 - 89.9 or something. I mean if 192.168.1.x can be used for every router why didn’t we think to do this with radio frequencies?

My intial findings are; unless $40 is too steep for you or if 87.9 is the only free frequency in your area, there is no reason not to upgrade. Now it’s time to remove these annoying iTrip MP3 files.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 10th, 2005 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Podcasting, Hardware, Wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.