I've been looking for a way to play music that I've collected on my PC easily in any of the various cars that I normally frequent. These cars have an assortment of CD players, 3.5mm aux inputs and cassette decks in addition to their AM/FM radios. The aux input is usable by any music device, the cassette can be used with a cassette adaptor, but the CD players would need a CD to be burnt. To cover all bases, I had to go for a cigarette-lighter-powered FM modulator, that broadcasts the output of a music player onto the FM band for a few metres, to be picked up by the car radio. As I don't already have an MP3 player, I went one step futher, and purchased an FM modulator that can read music files off a USB flash drive.
A variety of such devices are available in Australia on eBay, but only one has a brand name which leads to an independent review, the VRFM. It also has comprehensive official documentation online. From these two sources it was easy to decide which model I required, the VRFM8. The cheaper and older VRFM7 lacked the essential shuffle feature, and the much more expensive VRFM9 only really added a display that I wouldn't use.
I couldn't find any reputable shops in Australia selling the VRFM8, though Jaycar has the VRFM7, labelled as a "Wireless MP3 Modulator For In-Car Use" for $70. Back on eBay, a US company was selling the VRFM8 for only $40 including postage. One week later, I had it in my hands.
For what it does, it's surprising small and light. I was worried that it would obstruct the gear stick, but as well as not sticking out far from the cigarette lighter, it also has a swivel joint that lets you push it to any convenient vertical angle.
As I don't have a USB flash drive, my first test was to plug the earphone from a portable radio into the VRFM8's side socket (using the included cable), and listen to the result on my car radio. It didn't sound too bad, considering it had been modulated as AM and then as FM in its journey to my ears. I then managed to borrow a smallish flash drive, plonk some mp3 files onto it, and confirm that it works perfectly. I haven't tried any WMA files, with which it also advertises compatibility. As a music player, the audio quality was good enough. If I turned it up louder than I normally would, then I could hear some hiss and crackle, so that's a pass from me.
The songs can be played in either sequential or random order, where sequential means raw flash drive order. You can't see this order with Windows Explorer, which is usually in file name or date order. However, you can use software such as the excellent free ReOrganize!. With a large drive, I expect this will prove invaluable, especially for audio books, where order is vitally important.
Speaking of audio books (and podcasts), the VRFM8 does lack a fast-forward or rewind within a track feature. When you turn if off, it remembers which track you're up to, but not where in the track you are. Thus, you can't resume a track in the middle, making listening on short commutes problematic. If this irritated too much, you should probably get a proper mp3 player, and plug that into the VRFM8.
In conclusion, it was easy and cheap to buy, performed as well as I had hoped, and has let me move my ephemeral sound from the computer to the car.
Updated 25 Oct 2006
Although it's designed to be powered by a 12 volt car cigarette lighter socket, it works perfectly well off a 9 volt battery (noting that the centre connector is positive). Thus, in combination with a portable radio you can create your own weird little portable mp3 player.
I have also had a chance to test mp3 and wma tracks in constant bit rate and variable bit rate modes, from 20 kb/s up to 200 kb/s, and they all played flawlessly.
In less positive news, the shuffle mode is peculiarly bad, and potentially useless. Whenever you activate shuffle mode (a setting which is forgotten when the power is removed) the second and subsequent songs are always in the exact same "random" order (mysteriously, the first "random" song is apparently random). In effect, the shuffling only occurs once for a particular collection of songs, and you're perpetually being put back to the same place in that shuffle. I found that I had to go back to sequential mode to hear something new.