so, i bought an
irock
wireless music adaptor for my
ipod
today. coincidentally, i had been scoping it out around the same
time that
dave
was
pointing it out
to the masses [ i suppose this is where i should probably point out
in the interest of full disclosure that i am a
motorola
employee and the irock is produced by a
motorola-off spin
].
to determine whether or not the irock is right for you will require
being exquisitely in tune with your own personal sense of price and performance. the
ipod lounge
review
pretty much nails it:
“Kudos to all who were involved in the product’s
design, the Irock! unit exudes future-geek modern looks. Now, if
they had just paid all this attention to its reception
capabilities, this product would truly i-rock.”“The Good: Inexpensive, small, easy to use, unique design, cool red glow.
The Bad: Noticeable static, must find the right placement for best
reception.”
are you an audiophile? don’t get the irock. i
drive a ’97 camry sedan with stock stereo. my home system is a aiwa
all-in-one that is almost a decade old. since there’s no mistaking me for an audiophile, i figured i’d be willing to put up with the occasional static for the
price [ 30 bucks at comp usa ].
post purchase, i’d recommend taking doc’s
comments to heart before plunking down your hard earned cash:
“The problem is that the iRock radiates on a choice of
only four channels: 88.1, 88.3, 88.5 and 88.7. That’s not enough.
Say you’re in the Bay Area, where KQED is putting out a
110,000-watt signal on 88.5. Even a good car radio (and most of
them are remarkably good — much better than home receivers), that
signal is going to blow away not only an iRock signal on 88.5, but
also on either of the two adjacent channels.”
how big of a problem is this? well, the irock
has a hard time with
wyce, a local, independent community radio station that broadcasts on
88.1. it’s probably a good bed that wyce is putting out
considerably less that 110,000 watts. hi. ho. whoever
decided on the price point was a genious, because $30 bucks hovers just
on the upper edge of being cheap enough that i’ll put up with
having to move the unit around to occasionally pick up a better
signal. if you’re not that kind of person, then just spend 60 more
bucks on a higher-end fm modulator like those found at c crane
company.