Refine search for Multimedia

  Leave a comment      Email TrustedReviews Newsletters

FM Transmitters for MP3 players have been around for a long time, and what used to make them interesting is that in the UK they used to be illegal. If you didn't feel brave enough to flout the law by stealing the crown jewels or driving at 172mph you could pretend you were the local Reggie Cray by listening to Take That over your car stereo, without any wires!

Of course, before long, the authorities saw sense and they were legalised and since then we've seen far more sophisticated versions coming onto the market. The Jivo UTune isn't sophisticated. What it is, is cheap - going for only £7.99 at Play. No surprises then than this isn't going to be setting any hearts a flutter - it's an inelegant lump of plastic, so if you're looking for something stylish to adorn the dashboard of your Aston Martin then look away now.

The Utune, as I shall call it, unlike many FM transmitters, is not designed specially for the iPod. It simply has a line in cable, so you can hook it up to any device with a 3.5mm headphone socket, which should just about encompass any portable music player, be it iPod, Zen, Zune or even CD Walkman, bless. This cable wraps neatly round the oval shaped transmitter when not in use. It can be powered by two AAA batteries, but if you're using it in the car, a power socket adaptor is provided to take the strain. It also has a USB port so you can plug in your iPod or other player and have it charging while driving. Neat.

The Jivo powers on by holding down the button to the left of the LCD screen on the front - blue backlit naturally. This shows the FM frequency and you can move up and down in 0.1Mhz intervals using the arrows on the right. Press the power button again, and the display shows the time, tha battery power and bizarrely the temperature.

Once you've chosen an FM frequency you'd like to broadcast you can hold down the small button on the front to place it in one of ten presets - arrows on either side of the button let you move between these presets. It's very easy to use, though it feels like the cheap bit of plastic it is. I first plugged it into my iPod, switched my DAB radio to FM, for the first time ever, and tuned in. I immediately got a clear strong blast of music. Of course, it sounded comparatively closed in and compressed but as a rough and ready way of getting your tunes out of your player, it works. I then moved to the car, and found the signal to be quite strong. It sounded better than the iTrip I used to use several years ago now.

Of course, how good these things are is really down to how much signal interference there is in your area. FM frequencies are still jam packed and though I could use it without issue near my house in the centre of cities for instance you may have less luck. But that's the nature of FM Transmitters, and not the fault of the Jivo, which simply works as advertised. At least you can quickly move between presets at the press of a button to find a better frequency.

Verdict

If you want to get music from your MP3 player onto your car stereo, without going to the expense of a proper stereo with an iPod or line-in connector, then this will do the job. And at only £7.99 it's almost worth having one knocking about in a drawer for the sake of it.

Add your comment