Hands-On Review--AirPlay for iPod shuffle

AirPlay from XtremeMac was the first FM Transmitter for iPod shuffle to hit the market. The AirPlay allows one to play audio wirelessly from their iPod shuffle through any FM radio, but it's made especially for an automobile, one without a cassette player or audio input jack. AirPlay for iPod shuffle is powered by its cigar lighter (or power port) adapter which also charges the iPod shuffle.

The AirPlay with its attached adapter comes with a one-page instruction sheet, a warning to upgrade one's iPod shuffle's firmware to at least v1.1 and a card that provides three free audio programs for download from audible.com. The AirPlay nicely matches the dimensions of the iPod shuffle but it is just slightly grayer than the stark white iPod shuffle. AirPlay has an illuminated digital frequency display. There are three buttons for presetting frequencies that have no FM broadcast stations in one's area. There are also "-" and "+" buttons for selecting an FM station.

We plugged our 512MB iPod shuffle into the AirPlay and plugged the adapter into our cigar lighter (left). We quickly found three FM frequencies on our car's radio without broadcast stations--88.1, 93.7 and 96.1. The latter was theoretically the best because there were no stations broadcasting on adjacent frequencies. The frequencies were easy to see on the AirPlay's digital display and it was easy to tune using the "-" and "+" buttons, if a bit tedious. The preset buttons worked to remember the stations. When tuned to each of the three stations, the music was clear and static/interference free. We drove around our area for awhile and encountered no problems on any of the three frequencies. A cool AirPlay feature is that when iPod shuffle begins to play, AirPlay automatically transmits on the last used radio frequency--very handy.

Our car has a power port in the center console (right) for devices like the AirPlay/iPod shuffle. We tried it out there too and AirPlay worked just as well there, loud and clear.

In summary, the AirPlay for iPod shuffle from XtremeMac works as designed and plays the iPod shuffle's music through our car's seven-speaker Bose stereo system very well, heavy bass and all. It was simple to set up and easy to use in keeping with the iPod shuffle's design.

XtremeMac sells the AirPlay for iPod Shuffle for $49. They also have AirPlay models for the iPod and iPod mini and many other iPod shuffle accessories. [Bill Fox]