Kensington's iPod FM transmitter with RDS

Ever wonder what that "RDS" function was on your car stereo? Now your iPod has the ability to show you, as this particular FM transmitter takes full advantage of the often overlooked feature. The folks at Kensington are releasing yet another iPod FM transmitter into the mix, but have added quite a nice feature previous models have lacked. Along with charging your iPod, offering three FM stations to be programmed into memory, and coming in a stylish black and chrome finish to match your car's interior, this unit now displays the song name and artist information on your RDS-enabled car stereo. Kensington's RDS FM Transmitter/Car Charger for iPod plays nice with 4th-gen iPods and newer (nanos and videos included) but fails to support Apple's 3rd-gen player (even though it has a dock-connector, oddly enough). Watch for the $89.99 device to drop later this month.

[Via Playlist]

[JP @ Jul 11th 2006 12:07AM]

From what I have learned from the people at http://ipodlinux.org it seems that the communications changed slightly with the 4th gen. I think it has something to do with how the processors differ. You would have to check it out for yourself, as I don't really get it, but I would hazard to guess that the changes between the 3G and 4G are enough to make it less than worth it to them to be 3G compatible with the available install base.

[Jordan @ Jul 11th 2006 1:08AM]

Now that is genious! $89 seems kind of steep though.

[Nate @ Jul 11th 2006 1:35AM]

This was XM's idea!!!

[Jason @ Jul 11th 2006 3:56AM]

Nate,

I am sorry to say but you are mistaken. "Think before you speak" should be adapted to "Google before you type". :-)

At any rate, the European Broadcasting Union created the RDS (Radio Data System) standard in the early 90's. The implementation that is of particular interest here is the RT function. This allows the sending and recieving of Radio Text.

Is this really ground breaking? This technology was around before apple even applied for an iPod patent... (and for that matter before the emergence of any satelite radio venture)

This to me seems to be more of a strategic move. This is nothing more then product pipeline management.

Nevertheless, I am a slave to technology, I'll have one in a week. :-)

[Jorweeck Kingsu @ Jul 11th 2006 4:15AM]

So what does RDS mean? You didn't even post what it does.

[Adrian @ Jul 11th 2006 4:47AM]

RDS is widely used here in Switzerland. They started with transmitting the station's name but have since added song and artist info for each music track played. Very handy if you hear a good song and want to know who it's from.

[Jorweeck Kingsu @ Jul 11th 2006 5:40AM]

ah! Thanks Adrian.

[overboard @ Jul 11th 2006 7:14AM]

the good thing about RDS its free and widely used, unlike Visual Radio used by Nokia phones.

[frank d @ Jul 11th 2006 9:03AM]

RDS is great for many reasons. I've never understood why the US did not jump on the bandwagon, if not for one sole reason. The US has lots of cars and lots of traffic jams.

The super advantage, in my opinion, is TA or Traffic Announcements.

You listen to any RDS station, CD, Tape or MP3 and when there is a TA signal received, your car stereo will jump to the station (usually a national public radio station) that has the announcement. These are both the rush hour announcements and the emergency alerts. Is highway x blocked because of severe accident, you will know within a matter of minutes. Traffic can detour, less congestion, delays, ... as drivers, highway police and emergency services call into a type of traffic department which co-ordinates the announcements.

And, this goes throughout Europe!

You cannot believe how tough it is to live with RDS for many years in Europe and then move to the US, where car is king, and not have RDS TA.

Other useful things:

- Station information (name)
- Alternate frequencies for the same station. If there is a national station with different frequencies in different areas/provinces; the system keeps you tuned to that station without having to hunt for it.
- Artist & Song info (if used, back in 2000 it wasn't in my experience)
- Station Genre, tune to a certain genre of station classic, pop, news, ...
- Clock, it sets your car stereo's time based on the atomic clock somewhere

One downside. Smaller commercial stations started to scroll ads through RDS. Not sure what the situation is now, as I haven't been in Europe recently. There are a few other things part of RDS, but I forgot or didn't really use them.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

[frank d @ Jul 11th 2006 9:14AM]

PS: the artist & song info sits on a the RT channel

"RT, Radio Text, Radiotekst. This function allows a radio station to transmit free-form textual information that can be either static e.g. station slogans or in sync with the programming such as the title and artist of the currently-playing song. "

[Galley @ Jul 11th 2006 9:17AM]

For $90 you can get a new head unit with an auxiliary input, and thus have much better sound quality.

[m @ Jul 11th 2006 10:00AM]

Jorweeck Kingsu, RDS is Radio Data System. Google it or go to answers.com and type it in.

[David @ Jul 11th 2006 10:30AM]

RDS is alive and well in the US, it's just that most radio stations just plug it in, and then never use any of it's features!

The no 3G support is a no sell point for me. I can't afford a new iPod, just to see the data on the display. Plus, I'd rather have Bluetooth support.

[Ottergoose @ Jul 11th 2006 11:35AM]

Heck, for about twice that price you could buy a new head unit for your stereo that has the ability to directly connect your iPod, and allow you to see artist/track as well as navigate playlists, etc. I just did this last week with a Panasonic CQ-C7203U ($200 with free iPod adapter at Crutchfield). Unfortunately, that unit doesn't have RDS support, but who needs it if you have an iPod?

[DarkStar @ Jul 11th 2006 1:04PM]

This would be awesome if we had RDS radios in the US. Heck, I have a Panasonic HD radio and it doesn't even do RDS!

[Nate @ Jul 11th 2006 2:44PM]

We have RDS here in the Boston area. It's not quite so spiffy as some of the European stations, but about half the stations show the name and artist for their songs, and the rest just show their radio station identification.

I'd definitely like this for my car - I have RDS, but no aux input (stupid bose HU costs a billion dollars but doesn't have aux....). I can't really replace the HU since it's also the controller for a lot of the systems in the car. I may pick one of these up when they come out.

-Nate

[Patrick @ Jul 11th 2006 2:55PM]

Not only is it completely incompatible with 3G iPods, but the RDS features don't work with 4G iPods or Minis either.

[Nate @ Jul 11th 2006 5:01PM]

Jason,

Actually i am correct. The utilization of RDS technology via cable transmitting data was developed by XM. They created a cable to transmit XM radio song data into RDS format and broadcast it WITH the FM Modulated signal. They introduced this 2 years ago.

XM DID NOT create RDS, its been around for years.

Sadly though, the market has not generally embraced RDS and most OEM's are starting to delete it from radio design.

[frank d @ Jul 11th 2006 5:07PM]

" Sadly though, the market has not generally embraced RDS and most OEM's are starting to delete it from radio design. "

By market, you mean the US market?

As this is widely popular in Europe, and once you have used TA/TP, there is no way back without it.

I think it is a two part thing, the US consumer doesn't know about it and the only RDS broadcasted is sporadic and just limited to station ID & genre; in the US. If US consumers had reliable TA / TP broadcasts for their region, RDS would be in demand big time.

[Nate @ Jul 11th 2006 5:57PM]

You are 100% correct Frank...

[JD @ Jul 11th 2006 6:02PM]

RDS is definitely alive in the US (at least the San Francisco Bay Area). My Toyota and my friend's Nissan both have factory installed RDS radios.

Most stations originally only displayed their call letters (if anything). Within the last 6 months, many stations list the currently playing song. It's definitely a nice feature, but my iPod is usually in front of my radio so if I want to see what's playing, I just turn on its backlight.

[mistahpatah @ Jul 11th 2006 7:16PM]

In the DC Metro area, there are many stations offering RDS. On some stations, my Volvo shows both the call sign and scrolling text of the lyrics being played. And yes, it will cut out if I set it up to cut to a traffic announcement while I'm playing a CD. However this gets pretty annoying because the stations will do that during a commercial break and you get blasted with some idiot trying to sell you something. Some set their station to always broadcast with the traffic flag whenever they have news. There's very little regulation.

This is a great feature, but there are obvious problems with this gadget. Only offering three stations is terrible in an area loaded with radio stations. The other issue is the FM transmitter itself. Why can't they be clearer sounding? I really think effort needs to be placed into sound quality. I hear radio stations that sound better than when my Ipod is plugged in via FM. That should not be the case! The cost is also outrageous.

[Gelli @ Jul 26th 2006 11:23PM]

Great Idea!! RDS is alive and well in South Africa!!

Does anyone know the quality of the FM transmitter in this device as comparwed to others eg Itrip, Icarplay, etc??

Does this device have Auto Frequency shifting like RDS stations do?? (so that if you get inteference on one frequency it will shift to another and your radio will shift frequecies accordingly) Many of these Ipod FM Transmitters have crappy reception and get continuos interference!!