Britain is legalizing the small wireless transmitters commonly used to play music from iPods over car radios, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said devices such as the finger-length iTrip have been banned in Britain because they are considered radio stations under the country's 1949 Wireless Telegraphy Act.
The Associated Press report quoted Steve Hawkins, a managing director at A.M. Micro Distribution, which sells the iTrips, as saying this means a user must have the right to transmit over an FM frequency and pay royalties for any tunes played on the music players.
Amendments to the Wireless Telegraphy Act, effective Dec. 8, will allow Britons to use the devices without a broadcast license, the report said.
ITrip, made by Griffin Technology for Apple's iPod devices, is one of a number of devices meant to allow owners of music players to listen to tunes on their radios.
Legal in the US, the devices transmit signals over a short range, so they usually don't interfere with high-power commercial broadcasts. Britain joins Germany and Switzerland in legalizing the devices, but most other European countries still ban them, Hawkins said.