Wireless FM For iPods!

REVIEW: Fast And Furiously Easy!

2009-05-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

Oh I love this !! I got it in the mail yesterday and used it this morning on my 40 mile treck to work and it was wonderful!! The hookup and scanning was automatic and so very user friendly. What a dream and the connection and all was great and as always with this company the looks and style and quality is always there. That is why I went with Monster Cable to begin with. After all, who wants to monkey around with junk? After all, you bought an "Ipod"!

REVIEW: Excellent Product; Even In Urban D.C.

2009-05-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

I live just outside Washington, D.C. so the airwaves are cluttered with stations. Despite this, I find I can usually (around 90% of the time) get very clear output with this device. It's even better on a longer trip to a less urban area.

It's probably never "crystal" clear, but you really wouldn't notice given the other ambient noise of driving.

My car has a single CD player only--no cassette--so short of some wince-inducing surgery on my BMW's electrical system, this is pretty much the only option for getting the iPod to work in my car.

Plus, since this ingenious product charges the iPod too, you can emerge from a trip with a full battery. Can't ask for much more than that!

I wholeheartedly recommend the iCarPlay. For the price, it's an absolute no-brainer.

REVIEW: Awesome!

2009-05-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Excellent excessory for the iPod. Works perfectly with a custom Alpine CD player/tuner AND it charges the battery. It will be quite useful for long-distance driving.

This is in a major urban area, with Classical, Country and Tejano (or all three if you're lucky) stations abound on that region of the dial, and it doesn't have conflicts.

The cigarette lighter plug and the station picker both have a sexcellent red LED glow, which makes them easy to find in the dark.

REVIEW: iCarPlay Rocks Phoenix!

2009-05-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

I LOVE IT! It took less than two minutes to set up, including time to rip open package, tune it and the radio to 88.7fm in Phoenix, AZ and presto -- I'm blasting tunes in my car that sound better than the local radio stations.

REVIEW: Absolutely The Best

2009-05-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Don't waste your time buying anything else but the Monster Cable iCarPlay Transmitter. It is worth every penny. My husband and I purchased two other transmitters and returned both due to static and songs cutting in and out. Once we purchased the iCarPlay we have not had any static problems. The music is so clear that you would think it was playing directly from your car radio. I highly recommend this product!

REVIEW: Best Transmitter Out There!

2009-05-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

I have gone through several FM transmitters to get my iPod music to come through my car stereo. This is by far the best in signal strength. I live in Manhattan which has a very crowded radio spectrum and crushes most FM transmitters. I originally bought the iRock when it first came out but quickly gave up on it because of the amount of static as well as short battery life. I then bought the iTrip and got better spectrum choice but still had a fair amount of hiss and static from the weak signal. I then went out and bought what was supposed to be the best FM transmitter by C. Crane and Co ($80.00) according to Wired Magazine. Suprisingly, this was no better than the iTrip. Out of desperation, I finally bought the iCarplay after reading numerous reviews on it. When I plugged it in my car, it was very obvious that the signal was much stronger than the other transmitters. On empty frequencies it gave a very clear signal without any static. On frequencies that already had a station, it would actually suppress the outside signal. In addition to its signal strength, the fact that it runs both the transmitter AND the iPod off the car's lighter socket it hugely helpful. When you are on a long trip, you never have to worry about stocking up on batteries or worse trying to replace them while driving. I calculated that I must have spent in excess of $140 before discovering the iCarplay. If you are thinking of getting a transmitter for your car, this should clearly be your first choice.

REVIEW: Works Like Magic For Me Who Lives In The Big, Big City

2009-05-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

first I bought the itrip thingy magingy and that did not work at all. So I returned it and bought the icarplay based on reviews I read right here. Well it works like magic straight out of the box. I can hear it loud and clear. I love my icarplay and believe it is the one to buy if you want to play your itunes in your car. Wow! I got the bose system for my home and that is an awesome sound machine, I'm donating my stereo equipment now. All I need is my ipod, the bose system and icarplay. I'm done.

REVIEW: Better Than Anything I've Used!

2009-05-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've tried the Belkin Tunecast II -- the cable developed a fault and the right channel started going in and out. The power cord would sometimes also disconnect too easily. I also tried the Arkon Sound Feeder -- terrible signal lock problems.

The Monster Cable one, however, is very nice. It seems to transmit a more powerful signal and it comes in loud and clear. The sound is better than the other ones I've tried, too!

REVIEW: Exceeded Expectations

2009-05-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Simple to use and produces acceptable sound quality. I live in a metropolitan area and had no problems finding a station. I have now had the product for over three months and it continues to function well...we even took it on vacation and used it in our rental car with no complications.

I recently tried to help a friend of mine who purchased the iTrip and after trying every station on the iTrip to no avail, I hooked up my cable into his car and it worked perfectly. He is returning his iTrip for a iCarPlay transmitter and I continue to be satisfied with my purchase.

REVIEW: Fabolous Little Device

2009-05-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

After reading the reviews on many websites, I decided to give the Monster iCarPlay a shot. I live in a very congested area of the world (northern VA) and wasn't sure that I'd be able to get a clear radio signal without static or other broadcasting.

I have been VERY impressed with the results so far. I have travelled about 1000 miles in the past month and have yet to not be able to use the iCarPlay. Sure, every now and then I'll have to switch frequencies but it's easy to do and at least one other channel is clear so my listening music is never really disturbed.

It's compact, easy to use, and portable. Best of all, it really works!!!

REVIEW: This Is As Good As It Gets

2009-05-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

I lived with the iTrip for a while and I must say that it wasn't a pleasant experience. I have two cars, one with a cassette player and one without. If you have a cassette player in your car, do not even consider FM transmitters; cassette adapters produce much better sound. (By the way, I tried Bellkin, Panasonic, Sony, and Maxell. Maxell is the clear winner, no contest. It is the cheapest one as well.)

For the car without a cassette player, I tried the Monster Cable iCarPlay, and what a difference! I can finally concentrate on music, not the FM noise. It is much more powerful than the iTrip for sure. Interestingly, iTrip works better with lower bands, while iCarPlay works better with higher frequency. (In NYC area, 107.7 is the one, while iTrip worked ok with 87.7)

One nice bonus is that your iPod will always be charged when you use this product, though I have no idea what that will do to the battery in the long run. Doesn't frequent re-charging shortens the lifespan of a battery?

REVIEW: Classy Convenience

2009-05-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to play my iPod through the car stereo but I don't have a tape player, so I started shopping for a FM transmitter. I looked at several solutions and decided on the iCarPlay from Monster because of the built-in charger. The DC adapter (which plugs in the cigarrete lighter) charges the iPod but also provides power for a stronger signal from the FM transmitter.

One tip: Pick the station you want to use BEFORE you plug in the iCarPlay. The station numbers are printed on the transmitter and you can just scan through all the channels on your radio to find the one that has the weakest signal or is just static (no FM station at all). Then plug the transmitter in and set it to the same station as the radio. It works great for me!

REVIEW: Delighted By iCarPlay!

2009-05-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

I use my ipod primarily for audiobooks and I was getting annoyed by having to listen to 2 books at a time -- one on cd's while commuting in my car and another on my ipod while exercising etc. I had had a bad experience with an fm transmitter some years ago, so I wasn't sure one of these things would work for me. On the other hand, I also wasn't quite ready to invest in the ultimate ipod accessory -- a BMW or Mini with ipod plug-in feature.

After doing a lot of research -- reading articles in various magazines and user comments posted online in several places and talking to sales people and friends -- I chose the iCarPlay for 4 reasons. 1) It seemed to have the most favorable user comments; 2) it had pretty good reviews in magazine articles I read; 3)it recharges while in use by plugging into the cigarette lighter (the big problem with the fm transmitter I had before was that it sucked power out of batteries so fast as to be nearly unuseable); and 4) it plugs into the firewire slot of the ipod, not the headphone slot, which apparently makes the reception more robust.

At the time of ordering, I regarded my purchase as an expensive risk. My biggest concern about iCarPlay was that it has only 8 preset settings to choose from, while some of the other brands had a full range of settings. I live in the Boston area, where the airwaves are chock-a-block.

I am happy to report that I have been delighted. I plugged it in and it worked immediately and has been problem free with constant use ever since. I've had almost no trouble with reception. Very rarely (once every couple of weeks) the reception will falter for just a second, but not so long that I miss anything. I've tried all the settings and they all seem to work equally well. I sometimes drive down the Mass Pike to the western part of the state and there, too, I have had great reception the whole way. And I've had no problems at all with power, the recharger works very well so I can always plug in the headphones and continue listening as soon as I park the car without worrying about battery life!

I thought about buying some kind of holder for the ipod in my car, but I'm glad I didn't. The cord on the iCarPlay is quite long enough to reach the cup holder built into the console of my car and it works perfectly as a place to put it. All in all, I'm delighted with my iCarPlayer and highly recommend it.

REVIEW: It's Great!

2009-05-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

i'll try keep it short here... this thing works great. some knucklehead kid at the Mac store tried to tell me it was no good and to get the iTrip, so i got that and started walking to the parking lot. got to my car and was about ready to rip the iTrip box open when i see that there's a CD inside. the iTrip needs to be set up with software! that's weak! i want plug and play. so i rolled back to the Mac store, exchanged the iTrip for my original choice... the Monster iCarPlay. plugged it into my cigarette lighter, set it to 89.1 (empty frequency for L.A. people!) and bad-bing! it was on. it has eight manually switchable frequency choices. the thing charges my iPod while i've got it on, too! the iTrip DRAINS your iPod... which we all know is a bad thing by now. keeping the pod charged is a constant challenge, eh? many other similar devices require their own batteries. this is an all in one solution. had it six months now. remember... it'll never sound better than the best FM station you've ever heard. once in a while you'll hear a little static for a few seconds. a straight "line in" would obviously produce better sound. but for those of us who don't want to or can't deal with a line in wiring job... this is your answer. i'm a former record producer and the FM quality sound is just great to my ears. the bad... well if you are driving long distance you will eventually run into a radio station that occupies the band to which you have it tuned. so you've got to switch channels... which is EASY on the Monster... if you are not driving the car. i believe on the iTrip you've gotta reprogram the darn thing on your computer to get to another frequency (not sure about that though). anyway, this works great for me especially since my GM car has a stock Delco stereo system that has no standard line in plugs. Open the box, plug it in, set your station with the easy interface, and you are rollin' with tunes in less that a minute! Plus, if you have another car, or are riding in a friends car, you can just take your Monster iCarPlay and your pod with you and subject whomever to your fabulous taste in music!

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REVIEW: Look No Further!

2009-05-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

Tired of confusing reviews that seem to conflict where all of these types of products are concerned? Allow me to simplify the whole thing. On your particular vehicle, where is your antennea located? Do you have a front-mounted antennea, or a rear-mounted one? If your car's radio antennea is in the front, almost any of these types of products will stand you in good stead. Why? These things have a very limited range in which they can effectively transmit. If however, your car is like mine, with a rear-mounted antennea, (mine is embedded in my rear windshield) you need a superior product to do the job. What constitutes a superior product? One that plugs into the docking port of your iPod rather than the headset jack! Monster iCarPlay meets this requirement! i had previoudly tried the Arkon-250 and it just sucked. The Monster iCarPlay gives me a wonderful sound, and the only time I experience any static is when I am in an area with a lot of bumper-to-bumper traffic, or a large amount of high-vo;tage power lines. Even then the static is tolerable. The only concessionI have made is clipping the iPod to a sun-visor so that the transmitter reaches the antannea in my rear window. Laying the iPod on my front seat is simply not an option. Hope this helps!

REVIEW: Good Quality, Good Signal, Good Design

2009-05-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is a top-notch, easy-to-use product which, from all I've been able to gather, functions far better than other iPod-compatible FM transmitters that are on the market right now. As with anything going through the airwaves, it has been no surprise that I've picked up a little bit of static on occasion. Generally speaking, however, the iCarPlay has delivered very clear, full-sounding audio (noticeably clearer than an average radio station), and I love the fact that it plugs into the iPod's dock connector, keeping it charged while also getting the best audio signal for broadcast. And of course, you can't beat the fact that the Monster logo on the 12V adapter and the radio tuner glow red when plugged in.

Worried about finding an unused station in your area? Next time you're in your car, just check the FM stations that iCarPlay can use: 88.1, 88.3, 88.5, 88.7, 88.9, 89.1, 89.3, and 89.5. In my experience, even if one of the stations is receiving a weak signal, the iCarPlay shouldn't have any trouble blocking it out.

Someday, our cars will all be Bluetooth-enabled so we can pile in our innumerable gadgets and they'll all connect to one another, creating a brilliant and convenient array of functionality and convenience. In the meantime, the iCarPlay FM Transmitter appears to be a great option for most everyone with an iPod (with dock) and car with FM radio tuner.

-Jeremy Fisher (San Antonio, TX) via Amazon.com

REVIEW: Finally Found A Good Solution

2009-05-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

I bought this device from an Apple Store just before a road trip from Westchester, NY to Washington, DC. I had previously been considering taking the car in to a car stereo place to have somebody run a cable from the in-dash stereo (which has a button for MD/Aux) so I could plug in the iPod directly, but after using the Monster product during my weekend trip, I don't see any reason to bother.

I am thoroughly satisfied with this device, despite it's higher price compared to some other options such as the iTrip and the iRock. I previously owned a 2nd generation iPod, for which I had a cigarette lighter adapter/charger and the iTrip. For less money than the Monster product, I could have bought a PocketDock (to enable me to use the charger with the 3rd gen iPod) and a new iTrip, but I chose to try out the Monster iCarPlay (despite the terrible name), and I'm so happy I did. Here are some issues to consider when buying a car kit for the iPod and my take on how the Monster iCarPlay performs. First let me say that I'm assuming that the cassette adapter route is not an option (if you have a cassette deck, the decision is even more complicated, but I don't know anything about cassette adapters because I have only a CD player in the car):

1. FM BROADCAST FREQUENCIES -- The iCarPlay offers 8 options toward the bottom of the FM spectrum. I was able to use 89.3 with very satisfactory sound quality all the way through to Baltimore, despite traveling through a series of major radio markets, including New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. From a user interface point of view, the iCarPlay features red LED indicator lights that clearly communicate to the user which FM frequency is being broadcast - and there is only one button to press to scroll through the options - nice and simple. Compare this with the iTrip, which requires the user to download a playlist of "tracks" onto the iPod that are used to tell the device which frequency to use, a system that not only requires stoppage of music to change frequencies, but also results in the iPod occasionally playing a bizarre series of beeps during random play of the full Library due to the fact that the frequencies are encoded in the form of tracks in the iPod's music Library. I'm a big believer in the benefits of a hardware-based rather than software-based solution, especially after the time that I forgot to re-sync the iTrip frequencies playlist when I changed the music on the iPod, rendering the iTrip unusable on the next car trip. The iCarPlay is ready for use right out of the box - no software to install or data to be transferred to the iPod. Ever.

2. iPOD-ESQUE ESTHETICS -- Here, the iCarPlay falls short, but I don't care that much (I don't use the iPod ear-buds either - I never found them comfortable), and I think the iCarPlay is nice enough looking on its own merits. My main concern is the usability and the efficacy of the product, and it is great in both regards.

3. POWER/BATTERIES -- One of the best things about the iCarPlay other than the sound quality is that it is an all-in-one solution, charging the iPod and broadcasting the FM signal at the same time and through the same port on the iPod. No batteries to change in the transmitter (compare with the iRock), and no leeching off of the iPod's own power, however little it may be (compare with the iTrip).

4. CONNECTIONS -- As mentioned above, there is only one point of connection with the iPod for both charging and playing: the dock connector port in the bottom. I like this because the performance of the FM transmitter is independent of the volume level on the iPod, resulting in one fewer thing to worry about. By comparison, the iTrip requires that the iPod's volume level be set within a recommended range for best results, even to be able to set the broadcast frequency. The iCarPlay's use of the dock connector also has the advantage (I'm speculating here: I haven't tried this) of leaving the top of iPod free for using the in-line remote or another peripheral, such as a voice recorder.

As a final detail, I'll point out a feature that may be unique to the iCarPlay. When you turn off the car, the device stops charging the iPod. What I was delighted to discover is that when this happens, the iCarPlay sends a signal to the iPod to pause itself. This is simply good, smart, considerate design - it takes the onus off the user to remember to pause the iPod to avoid having the iPod battery run down for no reason.

One last issue to bear in mind is that the iCarPlay is really just for use in the car (or on a boat, or anywhere with both a cigarette lighter socket and an FM radio). One advantage of the iTrip or iRock, is that they can be used to play the iPod through *any* FM radio, such as in a hotel room. I am willing to give up that bit of flexibility in return for the numerous other advantages I've found in the iCarPlay.

I don't usually take the time to write reviews on Amazon, and especially not of this length, but I am so pleased with this product (and aware of how confusing the decision about which FM transmitter to buy can be) that I felt compelled to share my experience. The iCarPlay is an effective, supremely easy-to-use solution for those of us with no cassette deck and a desire to play our iPod through our car stereo.

An iCarPlay FM Transmitter Video Review

2009-05-12T14:53:00.001-07:00

Welcome!

2009-05-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here it is...the first blog post. With this blog, we'll discuss the virtues and trials we've had with Monster's iCarPlay FM Transmitter. I, for one, love the product and have been using it for many months at this point. For new users, feel free to utilize this blog to locate available frequencies in your area. For those considering a purchase, check out our reviews and use the available links to join the fun by getting your own iCarPlay FM Transmitter today! I'll also update you on upgrades, new tricks and hacks and much more. Thanks for stopping by.

With this first post, I'd like to invite all visitors to list their respective city, state and the frequency you're using for your iCarPlay FM Transmitter. This way, fellow travelers will be able to seek out available frequencies in your market as they travel through!

Monster iCarPlay Wireless FM Transmitter/Charger for iPod