Cables To Go Port Authority2 MP3-to-FM Car and Stereo Adapter for iPods and MP3 Players
- Send audio from your MP3 player, CD player, PDA, or laptop over radio waves to your car or home stereo
- 16-channel transmitter provides clear transmission of your audio files
- Conveniently powered by two AAA batteries or via the 12V DC car adapter
- Auto shutdown turns the transmitter off after one minute of inactivity to conserve power
- Battery run time: 6 hours (approx.)
Product Description
Don’t spend hundreds of dollars for a MP3 car stereo or home media server. Listen to your MP3s through any car or home stereo with the Cables To Go Port Authority2 MP3-to-FM Stereo Adapter. Installation takes just seconds: Simply connect the adapter to your MP3 player, select the frequency on the adapter, and turn on your stereo to the same frequency. It’s your own personal radio station except without all of the commercials and songs you don’t like. You’ll maintain all of the standard functionality of your MP3 player, including skipping tracks and selecting playlists.
The Port Authority2 works with any MP3 player–including iPods–and you also can use it with PDAs, portable CD players, and laptops, eliminating the need to purchase a separate MP3 player. It works with any personal audio device with a standard headphone output jack.
The Adapter can be powered by either the included 12V DC power cradle for use in the car or by two AAA batteries when you’re… More >>
Cables To Go Port Authority2 MP3-to-FM Car and Stereo Adapter for iPods and MP3 Players
I bought this based on the 2 reviews already published here. I live in a relatively rural area, but even so I couldn’t get a decent signal with this product. It covers a wide range of frequencies and is very easy and convenient to use, but my music came through full of static even on frequenies that are nowhere near those of broadcast radio stations. I ended up returning this piece of junk and buying and installing a car stereo with an aux input–the only reliable way to get MP3 player tunes to play through your car receiver.
This purchase was a big disappointment. I purchased it based on the good reviews it got ignoring the complaints on this product in the hope that I’ll get a good unit. But it was not to be.
I tried this unit on both our cars and came back with a negative experience on both counts. I did also try it on my home stereo with only slightly better results sound wise but it shut down after barely 2 min (using fully charged AA Cells)
PROS:
1. Included collapsible stereo cable.
CONS:
1. Size: Huge – This unit is unnecessarily large for its purpose & available features
2. Sound Quality: Very Very Poor – I had to have my MP3 player on full volume to be able to reproduce sound on my car stereo. The reproduction was poor and even my highest quality MP3 file did not playback clearly.
3. Static: After setting to a frequency, the unit will play briefly w/o static. Static is experienced continuously thereafter and worsened after driving around a bit.
4. FM Bands: You cannot set the device to a specific frequency but must use one of the many presets. This seems to interfere to local radio stations on/around the same frequency. Almost all the frequencies bordered around a local FM station in my area, a BIG negative if you want to listen to that channel.
I tried every available frequency on this device with the same negative result. Cannot recommend that you buy this device! There appears to be a dearth of good FM transmitters. I experienced static even on my GPS device but fortunately the sound quality is a million times better and the static intermittent.
I should commend the AMAZON returns procedure however. The process was easy, timely and devoid of frustration. A definite plus when making purchases online.
I got this device to listen to audio books stored on my Blackberry through the stock tape deck in my Corolla. The sound quality was better than I expected for this type of device. I use batteries instead of the cigarette lighter as my cigarette lighter is broke (for now). Battery life seems to be the same as described. Be sure to check the springs in the battery compartment. One spring was a little loose and not making contact and the device would not turn on. Once the spring was in place, the device worked great.
One other thing, 88.5 is pretty solid in the Inland Empire, CA.
I have an ‘07 Toyota Corolla. Mostly it works fine and sounds fine, but there are always intermittent bits of static. It varies which frequency will work best and I do wish you could go back and forth when selecting the frequency instead of having to scan through every channel when you accidentally go past one that is good. I am glad that I got it so cheap, because I would not be happy with it if I’d paid more. For the price though, it’s not so bad. It doesn’t work very good in my husband’s work van at all. My husband cannot tolerate it in the car either because of having to change the frequency so often to find the least static. I’ll probably just continue using my CD player in my car if I am driving and my mp3 player with head phones if I am a passenger.
The only negative I have to say about this product is that the directions are a little on the skimpy side but since I had another one previously I pretty much knew how to hook it up. But a first time user might not. But otherwise the sound quality is pretty good.