Cool FM Boradcast Dongle really works!!

I've had this leetle beastie for a couple years now and have to say I just find it so useful. I can stream directly to anything that has an FM tuner/receiver. Originally I bought it to use my Creative Zen Xtra in the truck for audiobooks when I am taking a longer trip. It's better the most all radio we get around here.

Anyway, it works wonderfully for that need. Then one day it dawned on me to use it to stream audio to the home stereo...EXCELLENT results and the sound comes across FINE and in the same mode as comes out of the jack itself...

Only drawback is it uses batteries...eh, they are not too expensive and I might break down and get a LiOH set with charger this spring.

It cost me around $20ish at WallyWorld. Now I have a couple. It was the cheapest and easiest way I found to stream audio to the stereo.

I just looked it up and they are called the TuneCast...just wanted to pass it along I actually found something useful that was not for work...who knew such things existed???

 

Sounds interesting. I am thinking though, streaming a FM signal to a home theatre setup would not work on a surround sound setup right?

Is an FM signal as clear as streaming through WiFi? If FM works, why would one need WiFi anyway?

 

FM isn't as clear, and there are times when it isn't perfect, plus it uses batteries, and is range limited. If you are using WiFi, its better. But, as grumpy said, this is a good alternative, and it is (relatively) cheap. I have one of these too, but I broke the screen when I left it in a car in the winter, so it is very hard to use now. Oh well, thanks for pointing this out grumpy.

 

If you are not using DVD Audio or SACD the music won't sound right on surround anyways. Those are the only formats offered in a true surround sound mode.

 

You can always use the simulated surround mode of your stereo... But for my antique stereo from 1994 the surround works OK. BUT, I am not too fussy about audio.

If you do intend trying it for using it a lot invest in the the LiOH rechargeable batteries for sure. I get about 30-40hrs of use from a pair of batteries. Which is fine for me as it's a week or more...but I am definitely going to grab two sets of LiOH batteries so I can have spares in reserve.

But it sure is EASY...and actually I can finally consider getting one of those media center things might not be a such a silly thing after all.

Oh, I neglected to mention the range. I get about 30-40 feet which should be enough for even the largest rooms. 20 feet is a dead lock for my stereo tuners but at 30ish feet it can be somewhat twitchy.

 

Thanks Caleb (a fav character from Futurama for sure!!)

And right I like it as it's pretty easy and there is really no overhead to setup other then the ability to install batteries. Which is good for old guys like me...