The iTrip, according to its own advertising, is the "coolest iPod accessory in the world. The iTrip FM transmitter for the iPod can play your music through any FM radio in your car, at a party, wherever the mood strikes you - and you have a radio."
The iPod has given a new lease of life to personal music players, with its high capacity - yet physically tiny - hard drive that can store thousands of songs downloaded from a PC. The iTrip adds to the attraction.
Unfortunately, in the UK, the FM radio frequencies are licensed, with license holders having total and unique rights to use the bandwidth that they have licensed. As there are no frequencies unlicensed at present then the iTrip cannot legally broadcast within the UK.
Griffin Technology, the iTrip's manufacturer, and AM Micro Distribution, the distributor of the product, sought legal advice on how the iTrip could be brought into the UK. They have now announced that the product falls foul of the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949, which forbids the installation or use of radio equipment in the UK without licence.
Consequently, the sale or distribution of the iTrip within the UK is prohibited.