You may remember our review of the Audia X Radio Transmitter. Plug it into your phone and it’ll broadcast your MP3’s to your car radio. It’s a cheap and effective way of listening to the music collection on your phone whilst driving. However, after we did the review there were many who said, “Hey, that’s illegal in the UK”. Well, yes. A piece of draconian law did indeed state that you’re not allowed to broadcast without a licence. The fact that these devices don’t “broadcast” much further than a couple of metres didn’t seem to matter – it was still breaking the law.
Until today, because Ofcom and the Government have finally agreed that yes, you can use low-power FM transmitters and they’ll be legal from December 8th. Any FM transmitter that carries the CE mark is OK to use.
Links – Ofcom – Audia X Radio Transmitter Review
FM Transmitters get the all-clear
November 23, 2006