Support NeoGAF

[Sailor]

I ordered a Zune a couple days ago from eBay since I was pretty tired of listening to the radio all the time in my car..and just wanted to hear my own music. I was planning on getting the Zune (4gb) with one of those Zune Car Packs, but after hearing mixed reviews about the thing, and since my car has a cassette player I figured a cassette adapter would be the best option, since it's much cheaper.

Does anyone have experience with these things? Like, do they have good sound quality and such? Does it matter what company I get it from (Sony, RCA, Coby), or could I just buy a cheap knockoff from ebay?

Also...my car cassette auto reverses the tape when it gets to the end of one side. What happens with those adapters when it reaches the end of side A? I know you can't flip them, so would you have to rewind it or something?

 

[DrForester]

I'd try cassette, not great quality, but good enough.

Those radio transmitter ones just suck in my experience.

 

[bonesquad]

If you don't have any kind of line-in jack, the tape adapters work great.

Also...my car cassette auto reverses the tape when it gets to the end of one side. What happens with those adapters when it reaches the end of side A? I know you can't flip them, so would you have to rewind it or something?

There's no actual tape in these adapters so they just keep on going forever.... there's just a head that matches up with the head in the tape deck to transfer the data.

 

[Core407]

I've got a cassette adapter for my Nano and it works flawlessly.

 

[Windu]

I use a FM adapter for my Zune. Its alright, but I don't have a cassete player so its my only choice.

 

[jamesinclair]

A cassette adapter is fine. I have no idea how they work though, theyre like little magic plastic boxes.

 

[Karakand]

I use an FM adapter. It's pretty shitty (I'm an audiophile snob) but it gets the job done.

 

[Sailor]

There's no actual tape in these adapters so they just keep on going forever.... there's just a head that matches up with the head in the tape deck to transfer the data.

On the Accurain one from the radioshack website someone posted this in a review:

If you have an auto reverse tape deck then DON'T BUY IT!!! Popped it in and the LOUD teeth jaring chattering started, along with a constant reversing of the tape. Sounded like it was going to bust right up inside my tape deck. Tried taking it out and putting it back in... same. Taking it back tomorrow!

so do only some models have the auto reverse problem?

 

[Flo_Evans]

Fm adapters blow. What kind of car/stereo is it? I don't know about zune but there are a ton of iPod adapters that intergrate directly. I have one that plugs into the cd changer port in my trunk. It's awesome. I can skip tracks with the buttons on my wheel and it displays the song name on my radio.

 

[Sailor]

Fm adapters blow. What kind of car/stereo is it? I don't know about zune but there are a ton of iPod adapters that intergrate directly. I have one that plugs into the cd changer port in my trunk. It's awesome. I can skip tracks with the buttons on my wheel and it displays the song name on my radio.

It's just a standard stereo that comes with a 1996 Toyoa RAV4 (my current car).

 

[bonesquad]

so do only some models have the auto reverse problem?

I'd guess either they got a bad one, or there was something wrong with their tape deck. In general I wouldn't think this would be a problem. As long as the little wheels can spin freely it won't reverse... I know a few people with these (including me!) and never heard of this being an issue.

Take that as you may

 

[Sailor]

I'd guess either they got a bad one, or there was something wrong with their tape deck. In general I wouldn't think this would be a problem. As long as the little wheels can spin freely it won't reverse... I know a few people with these (including me!) and never heard of this being an issue.

Take that as you may

Which kind do you have (what company makes yours)?

 

[sarcoa]

That quality on my tape adapter is passable, but sometimes it pauses like the tape is switching sides, and it does it with no recognizable pattern. It's puzzling.

 

[Juice]

I use a cassette adapter with my iPod/iPhone.

I feel sorry for anyone with a car w/o aux in or a tape deck

 

[Hazaro]

Friend has a cassette adapter. You plug it in and it makes music.

It works and is really cheap so why not?

 

[Flo_Evans]

It's just a standard stereo that comes with a 1996 Toyoa RAV4 (my current car).

A quick search doesn't come up with any direct input adapters for that car. So yeah your best bet is a tape adapter.

 

[Sailor]

A quick search doesn't come up with any direct input adapters for that car. So yeah your best bet is a tape adapter.

thanks

but which one? can you recommend any models?

 

[GoldenEye 007]

I use an FM transmitter for my iPod Video. It works perfectly.. I rarely get any type of interference and it sounds great. Obviously the main limitation being the quality of the car speakers themselves. Griffin is the company, I think.

 

[Sailor]

I use a FM adapter for my Zune. Its alright, but I don't have a cassete player so its my only choice.

Do you use the official one or a 3rd party?

 

[zaxor0]

I bought a headphone cable and cut one tip off and soldered it to the left and right pins on the board inside the radio. With a blank tape in I can play music from my mp3 player.

But I did this after reading an article on it for my specific radio, stock bmw tape deck from the 90's. But I don't see why this couldn't work for others as long as you knew what pins to solder the wires to.

 

[superbank]

I bought a cheap cd deck at walmart with a headphone adapter that comes out the back, connected that to an extension cord and ran it through the inside of the car to the center compartment (its where your hand would be if you put your right arm on the arm rest). Drilled a hole through the plastic so the cord could come out. I noticed my sansa mp3 player fits perfectly in the ash tray so I had my brother cut some pieces of clear plastic and I sanded it to wedge nicely in the ashtray to serve as a platform. Theres also a light in the ashtray so at night when I turn on my lights theres a ring of green light around my mp3 player. Looks very classy and professional. It was a fun project, if you can do something like that it will be worth it in the end.

There is a problem with static noise if my engine goes below a certain RPM. Dunno what the hell that's about but its tolerable.