January 18th, 2006
Virtual Reality Sound Labs VRFM7W Plays MP3s Directly From Any USB Flash Drive
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Call them thumb drives, flash drives, or key chain drives. I think key chain is fitting in this instance, because here is a simple gadget that does three things at once: It lets you connect your keychain drive to an FM transmitter and play your MP3 music files in your car - with no batteries required. And at $27, the price is nice.
Simply insert the Virtual Reality Sound Labs VRFM7W MP3 FM Modulator into your vehicle’s 12 volt cigarette/accessory socket, connect the supplied audio cable to your music device and the music/audio transmits to your vehicle’s stereo FM radio system! You can also download your music files onto a USB Flash Memory Drive and simply plug your Flash Memory Drive into the USB port on the VRFM7W.
FEATURES:
* Plays All Your Audio Devices Wireless Through your Car’s Stereo FM Radio System
* Plays MP3 and WMA music files on USB Flash Memory drives - Turns USB Flash Memory Drives into an MP3 player.(USB 1.1 flash memory in 64MB, 128MB, or 512MB sizes. You may also use USB 2.0 flash memory that is backward compatible. USB flash drive not included)
* Compatible with MP3 players, CD players, DVD Players and Laptops via supplied audio cable
* Control panel with 7 LCD Preset Indicators for FM Frequencies
* Standard USB Port
* Play, Stop, Volume and Track Selection Controls when using a USB flash memory drive
* 3.5mm Stereo Input
* Includes 3 ft. Audio Cable and detailed instructions
More Details Here
Product page via Digg
Scott G. says:
I bought one of these at Target just this weekend! It is awesome to have it play my MP3’s from my iPod shuffle without having to plug any wires anywhere. The only slight drawback is that you can’t get the ’shuffle’ mode when you are playing from the USB drive mode. It only plays files that are in the root directory, and it always plays them in the order that they were copied to the drive. But a side bonus, I get to retain the charge on my iPod while still playing it’s songs!
January 18th, 2006 at 6:38 am
Alice says:
I think this is simple and smart. If they could add an LCD screen, it would be all I need.
January 18th, 2006 at 7:11 am
Cheese Toast says:
This is cool, Thanks Alice!
January 18th, 2006 at 7:13 am
Norman says:
Has anyone seen a device similar to this for portable use? Plug your keychain drive and headphones into a small battery powered device for portable music. Seems like a very simple concept, but I have not found this type of portable product on the market yet. This one looks like a great car device, thanks Alice!
January 18th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Alice says:
That’s a great idea. We will keep our eyes open for one.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:02 am
MissingFrame says:
Wow this is pretty cool! I wonder if it will play from my USB hard-drive?
January 18th, 2006 at 9:10 am
Alice says:
It should. I am assuing it acts as a true power source.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Cheese Toast says:
Oooh, good idea missingframe! Nothing like bringing 80gb of mp3’s on a road trip. My uncle is traveling the US in a RV and he would love this.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Lockergnome's Tech News Watch says:
MP3s Directly From Any USB Flash Drive
Call them thumb drives, flash drives, or key chain drives. I think key chain is fitting in this instance, because here is a simple gadget that does three things at once: It lets you connect your keychain drive to an FM transmitter and play your MP3 mus…
January 18th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
szym says:
Why did they skip 256mb? It doesn’t make any sense, and it doesn’t seem like it supports anything above the 512mb either, wierd.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
usb_guy says:
There a couple of other USB drive MP3 players, the only problem is they require using the manufacturers key:
SanDisk Cruzer Micro Mp3 Companion
Lexar MPC-231 JumpGear
Amazon has both.
January 18th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Jeff T says:
I purchased one of these at Wal-Mart several weeks ago. It works as advertised and generally quite well. I have used 512, 256, and 128 MB jump drives from various manufactures. On the plus side, you can plug your MP3 or CD player into it as well (cable supplied). On the negative side: 1) The order of songs is linear as mentioned in a previous posting. If you turn off the power, it always goes back the the first song. Frustrating if you have a lot of songs. Maybe not as big of issue if you have an outlet in your car that is powered then the ignition is off. 2) The literature included says that the songs must be 128 bps. I have not tried higher recording rates to see if this is an absolute. It does work with lower rates (audio books, for instance). 3) If the lower FM frequencies in your area have radio stations there could be a problem finding a frequency that is available. In my area this is not a problem with the 6 or 7 possible frequencies available. However, I went through a major city recently and could not use it due to interference from radio stations on the all of the possible frequencies.
January 19th, 2006 at 4:17 am
Tom says:
I have one too and am generally happy with the device.
Although the instructions don’t say so you can also plug your iPod shuffle into the device to charge its battery. It also comes with a short cable that will plug into your shuffle (or iPod)earphone jack and then into the side of the device. Once you’ve connected your iPod to the device you can use it to play through your radio.
I’m a little disappointed in the number of channels that the device can use however. Some times a local station with a strong signal can bleed through causing interference on the selected channel. The Belkin TuneCast II is another FM modulator that will allow you to tune to any FM frequency. While the TuneCast won’t let you charge your iPod battery I think it is superior due to the wider frequency range.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:59 am
Lockergnome's Mobile Lifestyle says:
The jWIN JX-MP93 Plays Music Directly From SD Memory Cards
Yesterday we covered a device for your car that would play MP3s directly from any USB flash drive. It makes sense after all - we all have tons of storage devices. What if you could just load some files and…
January 20th, 2006 at 5:20 am
Mike M says:
I purchased one of these in Target about six months ago, and for the price I don’t think you can beat it. Jeff T’s comments (above) pretty much summarize it, but I’ll add a few things: 1) You CAN use MP3’s above 128 mpbs, and I’ve tried a few variable bit rate MP3’s without incident. You can only play the files in the order they were loaded to the USB stick, but I downloaded a free program called Re-organize! (Unfortunately I don’t have the web address right with me), which allows you to arrange the order of the FAT as you wish. The other thing that this unit does is clip the audio at the beginning of the file when it starts playing by about 1 second…it’s mildly annoying, but it’s not anything that would make me return it. In short, you can’t go wrong for the price.
January 20th, 2006 at 5:59 am
Dale Mensch says:
I bought one at WalMart. It’s really slick, but mine often and inexplicably won’t play. The lights are on and I’m sure it’s transmitting FM (the static on the channel goes away) but the red LED doesn’t blink and there’s no sound. Sometimes waiting a while and randomly pushing the buttons for a while seems to wake it up. I love it… when it works.
January 20th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
J says:
I bought one several months ago, and stopped using it.
1. Sound is pretty tinny and gets distorted at any decent volume.
2. This is awful for podcasts, unless you have a commute that’s longer than your podcast. If you take a lot of 10-15 minute trips, there’s no way to get through a 1 hour podcast, because it keeps going back to the beginning each time you switch off the ignition, and there’s no way to fast forward to where you left off.
So basically, it works for listening to songs, because they average 3 minutes or so, but the sound quality is tinny and distorted enough that you won’t enjoy it too much. On the other hand, the sound quality is OK for podcasts, but it will drive you nuts if you can’t make it through the whole show in one trip. Consequently, it’s cheap and cool, but useless.
January 26th, 2006 at 7:48 am
H says:
I have bought one of these and use it with a 256 Mbyte memory stick and a Rave 2.5 (2.5 Gbyte) MP3 player. I use the memory stick for music and the mp3 player for podcasts, because as J stated this unit will not let you fast forward an MP3 file. My unit has a shuffle mode when using the memory stick that will shuffle the order of the MP3 files on the memory stick. When the audio cable is plugged in to the unit the access to the memory stick is disabled.
One of the strange effects I have experienced in heavy traffic is that I have picked up other people’s RF transmitter’s playing Sirius, XM or their MP3 player. It seems that the new “Sirius One” radios that attach like a radar detector to the front windshield seem to be the main culprits. FM being line of site this makes sense.
Changing the frequency to one of the other 13 available usually clears this up.
If the interference is really bad I hook up the cassette audio adapter that this unit replaced.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
huh? says:
Does this company have a website?
February 3rd, 2006 at 10:01 am
Max T says:
Okay, but I’m returning it. This thing could use just a little memory. When powered down, it doesn’t remember which FM station I’m using. Also doesn’t remember where it left off in the playing of songs from the USB. Works ok with my MP3 player though. A couple of times, it wouldn’t transmit on the both channels - I was only getting sound on the left channel and static on the right. Removing it from the plug and trying again (sometimes two or three times) seemed to fix the problem. Unless you have a 12V outlet in the position pictured with the product literature, the USB port location can be a problem. It’s very inconvenient on both of my vehicles when using the USB. Also noticed that the unit seemed to get kind of hot after a short time.
March 10th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
phentermine says:
phentermine
wit wash Jules distance redisplayed phentermine http://phenterminehclhere.blogspot.com/
May 18th, 2006 at 10:39 am
Benzo says:
I found the main website for this device
October 27th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Walt says:
Bought one to play mp3 audio files from a usb 2.0 flashdrive of 2 gigs . It didn’t Work. thought it was the particular one I had, exchanged it and still doesn’t work with a flash drive. What are you selling here?
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm