How can I play my ipod in a German rental car? I know the FM transmiter is against the law in Germany.

???

Apparently the transmitters are now legal.

See this:
http://tinyurl.com/klsgy

Legal FM transmitters cost about 25€. Get one at a "Saturn" electonics store. Your US version will most likely be illegal!

Can someone explain why the US version is illegal? I bought the adaptor specifically for our trip in September.

Thanks

The max. transmission power must not exceed 50NanoWatts. The US Version has FAR! more power and is highly illegal.

Thank you everyone for the information, this really is very helpful. Logos, is Saturn electronics through out Germany? My brother will be in Stuttgardt (sp?)next week and he can pick one up for us.

There is a MediaMarkt store downtown Stuttgart, they have them too. It's only a few meters from central station in the pedestrian area. Saturn is throughout Germany too, but I don't recall where exactly the stores in Stuttgart are..

use the cassette adapter if the car has a cassette deck

bookmarking

I'm curious about the illegality. Do the German cops use scanners to spot people who have the wrong transmitter?

If you're constantly moving, it's very unlikly. When I was young it was a big sport to operate illgal transmitters. There still were prison terms possible if you were cought (Leftover from long ago...) Today it's just expensive and the channels used by the police are a little below 87Mhz. Starting on 118 there are the airport markers. If your illegal device transmits at those frequencies you're in (big) trouble...

If somebody finds out, you're operating illegal transmitters, he or she may call the "Bundesnetzagentur" (Federal networks agency?) 0180/3232323 ;-) any time. It's more like "Hey, they're doing somting illegal here" :=). From that point it's all going the "official" way.

See also:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34796915

Anyone know if this is an issue in France?

Anyone? I'm leaving in 4 days!

If it's illegal in Germany, it's likely to be so in France and the rest of Europe too. EU tends to standardise these things.

The regulations are the same.

Blast! That could be a problem.

I do hope the car we rent has a cassette deck. Or better yet, an auxilliary input jack.

Cassette decks are pretty much extinct nowadays (as are audio cassettes). You'll most likely get a CD/DVD radio probably with mp3. And SD cards on the more expensive models. Why don't you burn a few CDs to be on the safe side.