TechRadar.com - Deep into technology

From this month, radio transmitters for iPods will be legal in the UK. Finally, the powers that be, who had been sticking to the letter of the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 for the past, well, 57 years, realised that perhaps the Act hadn't considered technology where individuals could transmit tunes from personal digital music playersto their own radios.

Now, after some blinding bureaucratic pencil sharpening, transmitting your own mini radio station from an iPod is finally allowed!

The technology isn't new, of course - anyone flying to the States or Asia could have picked up an iTrip and returned home to broadcast the hours away, albeit behind the bike sheds or with the curtains drawn. iPod owners in the UK have just been waiting a long time for legality!

The devices - a Tsunami wave of which are about to hit these shores - transmit your tunes to any frequency between 87.9 and 107.9MHz. You set the frequency on the LCD screen and then tune your dial to your iTrip's channel. This way, you won't clash with other shows on the airwaves.

The controller also provides volume buttons. Playback quality is reasonable over short distances, but it should be noted that this isn't meant to be an audiophile device. The one place where it works really well is in your car, where you can get your tunes pumping without fiddling about with cables and without the need for a cassette player. It will accommodate any iPod with a dock connector.

One fault with the original iTrip was the drain it took out of your iPod battery. The iTrip Auto gets around this, as it's also a charger - powering your iPod using a standard cigarette lighter socket as a power source. Just pop the adaptor in and away you go.

As we've said, this isn't an audiophile device, but the sound quality is good and it's extremely easy to use. Next issue, we'll round up the best of the rival transmitters for you in our Group Test and let you know how they all compare. James Ellerbeck