Anydrive Car MP3 + FM Transmitter

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Julie

March 23, 2004

 

Not counting talk show broadcasts, how many of you still enjoy listening to your tunes via FM radio? Since I purchased my iPod, I rarely listen to the radio anymore. Besides the fact that they play commercials and the same lame songs over and over again, FM radio is just blah when you compare it to an MP3 player. Problem is, not everyone can afford an iPod. And even if you can, you'll still need to burn even more cash for a cassette adapter or an FM transmitter in order to play music through your car stereo. It's madness!

Good news though... There is a relatively inexpensive solution to this problem. It's actually a pretty cool solution really. It is the Anydrive Car MP3 + FM Transmitter from Merconnet. This device allows you to plug in any USB flash memory storage device into it and wirelessly broadcast the output to an FM radio. Not sure what I mean? Ok, picture this: You have an Intelligent Stick USB Drive like the one Judie reviewed, full of MP3 files. You plug it into the Anydrive, and it starts playing the music stored on it through your FM radio. Or, you have a 5,6,7-in-1 USB card reader with media cards full of MP3 files in every slot. You plug it into the Anydrive and music plays sequentially through your radio. Cool huh?

The Anydrive is a small plastic device. It is powered by an adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter in your car. Near the power adapter plug-in are input and output jacks. With the input jack, you can connect an audio source like a CD or cassette player, and have the sound play through the FM transmitter. The output jack allows you to plug in a cassette adapter if you would rather use that to play music through your car stereo, instead of the wireless method.

On the opposite side of the device is a full-sized female USB connector. Compatible with 1.1 or 2.0 devices, this is where you plug in such things as thumb drives, card readers, etc. There is a problem with the design of the Anydrive. In their infinite wisdom, they placed the connector in a kind of 1 sided trough. As you can see in the picture below, the problem is that if you have a small USB card reader or USB drive, that is strangely shaped, it might not to be able to slide into the slot. I don't know why they didn't just orient the connector straight out the side of the device. There is a way around this problem though... remember the FlexUSB adapter? It should pretty much allow any type of USB device to connect to the Anydrive.

On the top of the device are 4 buttons. A large Play/Pause button, a Rewind and Fast forward button, and an up/down Volume rocker button. All of the buttons have good tactile feedback, and as an added bonus, they light up Red in the dark. This is a great feature for those of you (like myself) who either go to work or come home when it's dark outside.

Selection of the FM station that you wish transmit on is accomplished through 4 dip switches that are located on the side of the Anydrive. The available stations are:

87.7 MHz
87.9 MHz
88.1 MHz
88.3 MHz
88.5 MHz
88.7 MHz
88.9 MHz
106.7 MHz
106.9 MHz
107.1 MHz
107.3 MHz
107.5 MHz
107.7 MHz
107.9 MHz

Not quite as many stations as other FM transmitters, so some people may have problems depending on the saturation of radio stations in your area. I was able to use 87.7 MHz without any problems. I was actually pretty surprised at the sound quality. The Anydrive is easily the best sounding FM transmitter that I've used so far.

The Anydrive is an easy way to bring MP3 playing capability to your car for little money. This is especially true if you already have a USB drive or a card reader with a bunch of spare media cards lying around. Of course, the Anydrive doesn't have a way to shuffle the songs or see the name of the song that is currently playing, but hey, what do you expect for $60?

Having your tunes in the car with you can make all the difference between an enjoyable drive or a mediocre one. While other people are rolling their eyes at yet another stupid song parody from local morning DJ's, you will be looking around at the people in the cars idling beside you when you stop at a traffic light to make sure they didn't notice you playing the drums on the steering wheel and singing off key to the song Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. Oh wait, maybe that's just me

 

Price: $59.00

Pros:
All in one FM transmitter and USB input device
Compact
Easy to use

Cons:
Oddly shaped USB memory devices might not fit in the connector area