Lexus FTW. I need to forward this to my brother as he's still in the ancient times and has a tape adapter
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CES 2014: Ion Audio Introduces Bluetooth Cassette Adapter to Upgrade Older Stereos
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Lexus FTW. I need to forward this to my brother as he's still in the ancient times and has a tape adapter
I could use it
I drive a 2005 Prius that has Bluetooth built in but it only handles voice for hands free phone usage, it does not handle music. I currently use a cassette adapter that plugs into my iPhone or iPad headphone jack but I don't like having to plug it in every time I get in my car. If the USB port is lined up properly, it might be possible to leave this adapter plugged into a USB outlet while it is in the cassette player - that would work great for me.
I drive a 2005 Prius that has Bluetooth built in but it only handles voice for hands free phone usage, it does not handle music. I currently use a cassette adapter that plugs into my iPhone or iPad headphone jack but I don't like having to plug it in every time I get in my car. If the USB port is lined up properly, it might be possible to leave this adapter plugged into a USB outlet while it is in the cassette player - that would work great for me.
Not a bad idea, but I do have a simple problem... why does it not use the tape spindle for power? one of those two sprockets will fit over the spindle and will be spinning, so it would have been easy and logical to use it to power this device (as I can't image it needing tons of power). A great idea, with just one flaw... a battery.
Tip: if possible, avoid the hassle and just get a new stereo ...
Once upon a time this would have sounded good to me. I have a 2002 car with an OEM CD+Cassette+Radio (notably no aux input available) deck in it. Thing is, like most "modern" (since the late 1990s) cassette players, the cassette deck is too smart for the (wired) cassette adapters. This was also the case with my previous 1997 Taurus. Which sucks, because those are cheap and give relatively good audio. So, over the leads I have burned through four (4) $50-100 FM adapters getting audio (poorly) from my iPod and then iPhone to the stereo.
This year I got a new iPhone 5s, which instantly turned the most recent of my FM transmitters (hooking up via the dock port) obsolete. Instead of shopping around yet again for another adapter that will last a year or so while providing crappy and interference-prone sound, I asked "why are there so few of these" and started looking into replacing the car's deck with an aftermarket stereo. Being a good husband, I first experimented on my wife's vehicle (which was also in the same situation).
Her vehicle is a full-sized van, and replacing the stereo in that was listed as complicated install by Crutchfield (because it needs an additional box to be wired in between the stereo and car to keep OnStar and "other safety devices" functioning, and because getting to the radio requires removing the *entire* dashboard from door to door instead of just a little insert around the stereo). It took me about four hours to get through, but even that wasn't terribly complex. In the end, the stereo I bought to replace her OEM double-DIN deck sounds much better, provides hands-free dialing, connects to her phone via bluetooth or a single power+audio wire (audio through the lightening cable), and has an extra "pocket" beneath the stereo perfectly sized for her phone to sit where it will always be accessible. A great upgrade, and all told cost less than $200.
For my car, the install should be a 30-minute ordeal start to finish (I've already done a dry run to confirm this) and cost $120.
So, I think the natural market for this bluetooth tape adapter is really small. You have to have an OEM deck old enough not to try to do "fancy" stuff with the cassette (the guy talking about his Buick's stereo going into "seek" mode was fortunate enough to have a stereo just smart "enough" to cause goofiness but not so smart that it won't work at all with a cassette adapter). AND, you have to be in a vehicle where buying an unending stream of adapters as they fail and technology advances is cheaper than just replacing the stereo when the cost of a replacement stereo and the (dependent upon your vehicle and your level of mechanical adeptness) labor cost are taken into account. Further restrict that market to just those people technologically advanced enough to want/need a Bluetooth solution, who value having no cord connecting their device to the car more than the hassle of periodically charging this device and the cost of this device above a really cheap cassette adapter, and it seems like we're talking about a handful of people, and quickly diminishing.
In my estimation, that's a pretty small subset for a natural market. On the other hand, I think there are a large number of people who think installing an aftermarket stereo is too hard and/or expensive and who will buy into this type of half-solution when they really should just bite the bullet and move forward technologically.
In any case, if you think you are in that narrow market, my advice is to look around and verify that this is your best option before buying another device like this. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Once upon a time this would have sounded good to me. I have a 2002 car with an OEM CD+Cassette+Radio (notably no aux input available) deck in it. Thing is, like most "modern" (since the late 1990s) cassette players, the cassette deck is too smart for the (wired) cassette adapters. This was also the case with my previous 1997 Taurus. Which sucks, because those are cheap and give relatively good audio. So, over the leads I have burned through four (4) $50-100 FM adapters getting audio (poorly) from my iPod and then iPhone to the stereo.
This year I got a new iPhone 5s, which instantly turned the most recent of my FM transmitters (hooking up via the dock port) obsolete. Instead of shopping around yet again for another adapter that will last a year or so while providing crappy and interference-prone sound, I asked "why are there so few of these" and started looking into replacing the car's deck with an aftermarket stereo. Being a good husband, I first experimented on my wife's vehicle (which was also in the same situation).
Her vehicle is a full-sized van, and replacing the stereo in that was listed as complicated install by Crutchfield (because it needs an additional box to be wired in between the stereo and car to keep OnStar and "other safety devices" functioning, and because getting to the radio requires removing the *entire* dashboard from door to door instead of just a little insert around the stereo). It took me about four hours to get through, but even that wasn't terribly complex. In the end, the stereo I bought to replace her OEM double-DIN deck sounds much better, provides hands-free dialing, connects to her phone via bluetooth or a single power+audio wire (audio through the lightening cable), and has an extra "pocket" beneath the stereo perfectly sized for her phone to sit where it will always be accessible. A great upgrade, and all told cost less than $200.
For my car, the install should be a 30-minute ordeal start to finish (I've already done a dry run to confirm this) and cost $120.
So, I think the natural market for this bluetooth tape adapter is really small. You have to have an OEM deck old enough not to try to do "fancy" stuff with the cassette (the guy talking about his Buick's stereo going into "seek" mode was fortunate enough to have a stereo just smart "enough" to cause goofiness but not so smart that it won't work at all with a cassette adapter). AND, you have to be in a vehicle where buying an unending stream of adapters as they fail and technology advances is cheaper than just replacing the stereo when the cost of a replacement stereo and the (dependent upon your vehicle and your level of mechanical adeptness) labor cost are taken into account. Further restrict that market to just those people technologically advanced enough to want/need a Bluetooth solution, who value having no cord connecting their device to the car more than the hassle of periodically charging this device and the cost of this device above a really cheap cassette adapter, and it seems like we're talking about a handful of people, and quickly diminishing.
In my estimation, that's a pretty small subset for a natural market. On the other hand, I think there are a large number of people who think installing an aftermarket stereo is too hard and/or expensive and who will buy into this type of half-solution when they really should just bite the bullet and move forward technologically.
In any case, if you think you are in that narrow market, my advice is to look around and verify that this is your best option before buying another device like this. You might be pleasantly surprised.
I'm actually surprised someone hasn't done something like this yet. Image using it for Apple TV or Chromecast.
TEG
The problem is that jam-detection systems in cassette adapters have been around and widespread for a very long time (mid-80s at least). So, if you start putting resistance against the cassette drive's spoolers (there's a technical name for those that is lost to me now) you're likely to trigger either (1) the auto-reverse mechanism or (2) the anti-jam system, neither of which would allow your music to continue playing.
Basically trying to get power from the cassette's spool motor would be wildly inefficient, and make the cassette adapter even less compatible with even fewer "modern" (where "modern" is in terms of how-many-decades-obsolete) decks. I'd be surprised if this ever happened.
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Car stereo needs to be an OEM stereo older than late-1990s (when tape jam detection and type detection grew too fancy and varied for these adapters to fool).
User needs to have an iPhone or other bluetooth music device.
User needs to not be happy with radio.
User needs to not be comfortable spending a little more to install a new stereo altogether (the older the vehicle, until you get to "classic" cars, the easier this is).
User needs to be bothered enough by the wire leading from their music device to their cassette tray.
User needs to be willing to charge this device in-car or lucky enough for the adapter to go in with room for the USB charging cable to stay attached (but in both cases not nearly as bothered by this wire and hassle as with the cable going from their music device to the much-cheaper non-Bluetooth cassette adapter).
I still submit that this is a vanishingly small market. I'd guess that the vast majority of buyers of this device would actually be better served with something else.
That is another major consideration. While the cassette adapter is typically better quality than an FM transmitter, it still really sucks compared to what is available with a new headset supporting either directly wired digital connection or bluetooth.
The cassette adapter is only as good as the cassette drive it goes into, which will be >15 years old at this point and wasn't really great quality from an absolute perspective when it was new.
If this thing costs more than $50 bucks, it'll be worthless as you can simply upgrade to aftermarket radio with more modern tech for just a bit more.
Most people who have iPhone's probably don't drive a car with a tape player anyway.
Is this an OEM stereo? I have a 2002 Toyota, and when I tried the cassette adapter with it it would not play. I called the dealership and Toyota tech support, and was told in no uncertain terms that their cassette players are "too advanced" for cassette adapters.
Perhaps there was a movement away from "advanced" cassette players because too many people complained they couldn't use cassette adapters with them, which would mean that ~2005-2010 there might be another "wave" of OEM cassettes for which this device would work. My three data points are 1997 (Ford), 2002 (Toyota), and 2004 (GMC), all of which would not work with a cassette adapter.
I think it depends on the cassette adapter your buying..
Most "newer" (1995+) cassette decks have features like auto-find, auto-rewind ect..
The cheaper made cassette adapters won't work in those machines.. However, if you spend decent money on a nice cassette adapter, they have the same mechanisms built into them to work on the newer players.
That's not actually the best choice.
The two reel hubs are only intended to keep the tape under tension. They're intensionally very low torque (usually due to clutches). The capstan and pinch rollers are what's really responsible for actually moving the tape. The problem there is that there isn't a really good way to harvest that power, except perhaps to set up an actual tape that goes through that part of the cassette and have it drive a generator. You could gear the generator up quite a bit - capstans usually have fairly high torque behind them. I suspect, however, that in the end batteries wind up being both more reliable and much, much cheaper.
I still use a cassette adapter in my '99 F250 since it doesn't have an audio input. I can't see buying this as it's not that much of an improvement. I see the battery life as a killer. I have a trip this Sat. where I have to drive about 8 to 9 hours and will probably catch up on some podcasts during the drive. Not enough battery life for that trip. It's also not much trouble to plug the cord into my iPad or iPhone.
I really should have worked on this because I have been saying this was needed for several years now. I could have been a thousandairre.
I am actually going to be a customer for this product. I had a wired cassette version that doesn't work with newer phones. Forget about iPhone 5 with the new connector. So, this is a great solution for the one car I still have which has a cassette player and no other way of streaming music. Now, if any of you know about a way of streaming to a Stereo that doesn't have a cassette player, has an iPod connector and an aux port, blue tooth phone integration, but doesn't have music streaming to blue tooth that might be also something to consider.
Exactly. $50-80 and you can get an inexpensive aftermarket radio from Crutchfield or Walmart that is Bluetooth ready. And probably a major upgrade from what you've got if you're still rocking a tape player head unit.
I am thinking that number might be higher since you have lots of old peole using iPhones and iPads now. So, that crowd might get some use out of a product like this.
Kind of. It's depends on your car. 2005-2009 cars still had tape players in them but it's cosmetically clean. My infiniti would look hideous with some single din aftermarket radio.