5. Kensington Pico FM Transmitter For iPod

• KENSINGTON Pico FM...
• • Payless Merchandise
  • $14.99

The Pico fits a Nano perfectly.

The Pico is about as small and simple as you can get; it's a tiny block that connects straight to the dock of an iPod, and the only control is the scrollwheel on the side. You can get the Pico in black or white; plug it into a Nano and it looks like part of the original design, although it works with any iPod that has a dock and clickwheel. The Pico doesn't need a battery or a charger, as it takes power straight from the iPod. You can't charge the iPod at the same time, but you can use the Pico anywhere without fiddling with cables - it really is wafer thin.

The interface takes a little getting used to, as you can scroll, click, click and hold, or click up or down to switch between tuning, saving a frequency and jumping to a saved frequency. The most irritating aspect is that when you've finished setting the frequency on the iPod screen, you end up back at the iPod main menu rather than in the menu you were using before you tuned the Pico.

You get good audio quality if you can find a frequency with no signal on it, but you may hear some interference or hiss if there's another signal nearby. The Pico is far better than other standalone transmitters, but it's still more sensitive than powered units.