LET ME TAKE YOU ON A TRIP

06-12-2006

Edward Cameron wonders whether his latest in-car accessory could take him on the ultimate journey.

The latest in-car gadget, the iTrip, can be legally sold in the UK from Friday.

iTrips and similar gadgets allow motorists to play their mp3s through their car radio by transmitting on a shortwave radio frequency.

For the last couple of years these technological marvels have been outlawed under archaic broadcasting laws.Never one to bow to outdated authority I've had one for the last six months.

The best bit is that I no longer have to have an annoying bit of wire connecting my mp3 player to a cassette deck in the car.

But the problem is they just make it so easy to want to change song on a whim.

To prevent my little gadget popping out the bottom of the player every time I go over a speed bump I keep it upright in the ash tray. This means I lean in to switch tunes.

But I'm finding myself picking up my favourite gadget more and more to change playlist, album or podcast. Several times I've been wondering why I haven't listened to Radiohead's The Bends in years when suddenly my car nearly careens off one.

Seems I'm not alone either. Privilege Insurance is warning drivers to use them with caution. Their research claims that nearly half of British motorists admit to being distracted by in-car accessories, and 600,000 drivers have had near misses as a result.

Now far be it from me to side with an insurance company but they've got a point.

It's not just the danger you pose to other road users either; there's also arisk you could get pulled over yourself, because last night it occurred to me that in the dark the light from a fully loaded iPod looks an awful lot like a mobile phone.

So even though Parliament has scrapped the broadcast laws which got in the way of technology we music junkies could find ourselves on the receiving end of a ticking off from plod for being too fickle with Feeder or too picky with the Prodigy.

If more and more of us take to playing our mp3s on the road, how long before they have to change the law again simply tostop us joining Led Zep on the Stairway to Heaven every time we sing along?