The good:The Zune Car Pack FM transmitter and in-car charger offers a classy design, decent broadcast quality, a detachable interface, autoscan, and two station presets.
The bad:The Zune Car Pack only works with Zune MP3 players, and lacks advanced features such as line-out, line-in, mono mode, and a USB charge port for other peripherals.
The bottom line:The Zune Car Pack FM transmitter is an attractive, useful way to listen to your Zune in your car.
The Zune Car Pack ($79) is Microsoft's in-car FM transmitter made especially for its line of Zune MP3 players (including the first generation Zune). The Car Pack shares the same aesthetic as Microsoft's second-generation Zune players, offering design-conscious Zune users an elegant in-car listening solution.
The Zune Car Pack isn't the most feature-packed FM transmitter we've seen. Unlike other in-car supergadgets, such as the DLO TransDock Deluxe, the Zune Car Pack doesn't come with auxiliary AV inputs and outputs, USB charging ports, or audio adjustment settings. Fortunately, the Zune Car Pack delivers most of the features people want. It looks classy enough to put in your car, works well, and is easy to operate.
The Zune Car Pack offers a bright LCD display, two buttons that autoscan for empty stations, and two that act as presets. Surprisingly, the whole interface is magnetic, and it can detach from the charger base to make changing stations less of a driving hazard.
Donald Bell has spent more than 5 years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series. Full Bio