Kensington 33169 Digital FM Radio and Transmitter for iPods

Other products by Kensington

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 6 x 2 inches ; 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000E5BL18
• Item model number: 33169
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Portable Audio & Video > MP3 Players & Accessories > MP3 Player Accessories > FM Transmitters

• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

You've never heard sound this great from an FM transmitter this small before. What's more, The Kensington 33169 Digital FM Radio and Transmitter for iPods not only plays your iPod wirelessly through any FM stereo--including a car stereo, home stereo, or clock radio--so you can listen to your favorite songs without headphones, it also lets you listen to your favorite FM radio stations through your iPod as well.

This unique 2-in-1 transmitter and radio includes such features as ClearFM circuitry for richer lows, crisper highs, and better stereo separation, and a digital display on the tuner that lets you select any available FM frequency for either reception or transmission. This unit's backlit digital display is easy to read without having to strain your eyes, while its four programmable buttons let you lock in your favorite stations with pre-sets. Best of all, the unit requires no cables, wires, or software, so playing your favorite iPod tunes on your home or car stereo, and listening to your favorite radio stations with your iPod is as easy as 1-2-3.

Compatible with any iPod with a dock connector--including the iPod nano 1G, iPod nano 2G, iPod mini, iPod 3G, iPod 4G (Click Wheel), iPod color, and iPod 5G/5.5G Video--the Kensington digital FM radio and transmitter is backed by Kensington's 1-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Kensington 33169 digital FM radio and transmitter, a user's manual and warranty information.

Product Description

Unique 2-in-1 FM transmitter and radio lets you play your favorite FM radio station through your iPod or transmit iPod tunes through your home or car stereo. The blue backlit digital display is simple to read and tune to any station, and you can lock in your favorites with four pre-sets. Patented Aerielle -enabled FM transmitter technology delivers cleaner, higher quality audio when compared to any other FM transmitter on the market.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

143 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rocks both ways!, October 5, 2006

By	Philip Ryan (Victoria, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This unit does both: receives FM as a radio, and transmits FM to your radio. Just purchased this yesterday, so I don't have good numbers on how long it takes to drain the iPod's battery. I do know that you can get a solid 4 hours at least. This unit does a fantastic job of transmitting my iPod selections to my FM stereo radio. I can take the iPod 30 metres away, around the house, and the music continues without interruption. I've heard that some of the FM transmitter systems didn't have much of a range, and was pleasantly surprised to find that this one is quite good.

For FM reception - you stick your headphones into the unit itself, rather than into the iPod's headphone jack - so I presume that it is just using the iPod as a power source rather than anything particularly intelligent.

Not needing to buy two different units seems like a good idea to me.

The one downside is that there is no way to charge the iPod while the Kensington unit is connected, whereas some of the FM transmitter-only systems can be plugged into car power supplies.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read my user tips of how to make it work., September 3, 2007

By	Anonymous "Anonymous" (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

First tip, there is a a moment of latency after plugging it into the cigarette lighter or plugging an iPod into it. For a few seconds but often less than five seconds, there may be static as the device is acquiring the iPod or before it begins transmitting on the FM signal.

Also, and this has to be said because it obvious some people are unaware of radio frequency warbling after reading some of the reviews, FM frequencies bleed over incrementally, in other words if you have a strong radio station broadcasting on 102.3, you're also gonna hear a weaker version of their signal on 102.1 and 102.5, this phenomena is called "warbling". It is almost funny watching the newer generation (that has never used FM radio) being introduced to the idiosyncrasies because they're trying to plug in their digital iPod into their analog car audio.

If your car FM tuner has a traditional tuner, meaning a button or analog dial that lets you rake across the entire RF range then you need to use it to find a truly unused frequency between two radio stations then tune your Belkin to it. Just using the "seek" function on your car stereo is always going to land you on a strong channel and trying to pick an empty freq off of it will perpetually frustrate you.

Some reviewers complained the device doesn't work as well in certain areas, or around mountains. That is irrational since this device is a mini radio station broadcasting to your car antenna, the reason it stops working around some mountains is because the mountains are affecting a broadcast radio station in your area and it is stronger in the spot you're having problems.

Again, the solution is to find empty airwaves for your FM tuner and this effect won't matter.

Here is a factoid that applies to most areas in the USA, National Public Radio (NPR) is often in the 89 - 91 MHz frequency range, and NPR being publicly funded doesn't have the strongest wattage so you can find an open frequency 2-3 frequencies off NPR and get clean sound with your FM mini transmitter.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pretty decent, January 26, 2007

By	A. Andreini (Hayward, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My only complaint(s) with this is that there is no way to charge the iPod and use the transmitter at the same time (this was known at time of purchase) as it tends to drain the battery. The price was right though (got it from my gold box, marked way down).
Other than that, it works great and sends out a strong signal.