Griffin iTrip Universal review

There are more sophisticated ways to broadcast your computer's music collection around your house, but the USB-powered Griffin iTrip Universal is by far the cheapest.

A teensy half-inch backlit LCD spans the center of the iTrip Universal, clearly indicating the battery life, audio mode (stereo/mono), and transmission frequency. Below the LCD you'll find soft buttons for adjusting the transmission frequency and a preset button that can cycle through three station presets. We're not sure what Griffin was smoking when it decided to make the iTrip Universal's buttons pitch black with small, black labels, but the end result is a device that is difficult to adjust in a dark car.

Because the performance of FM transmitters varies wildly depending on your location, it's hard to know how much wireless range to expect. Griffin rates the iTrip Universal at 10 to 30 feet of transmission range, and around 8 hours of rechargeable battery life. If you plan on broadcasting your computer's audio around the house, you have the ability to keep the iTrip Universal continuously powered over your computer's USB port.