Gotta Velcro that bitch to the dash!
I’m still doing that in 2024. Get on my level.
Boss
Respect. The casette-aux is way better than the radio transmitters, if you don’t have bluetooth nor an aux input. I was using one up until about 2015 (with my ipod instead of a cd Walkman though), before my car finally gave up the ghost. Now I just use bluetooth
I had one of these and somehow it also picked up a radio station, so no matter what I played it’d be mixed with some random techno music
Mid 80’s me had a cassette player that plugged into the car’s 8track tape player
My buddy in the 80s drove a shit station wagon from the 70s that his parents gave him that had only an 8 track.
Aw hell yeah, Sparkomatic!
My best friend in high school in the '80s had something on his home stereo I’ve never seen before or since: an 8-track tape recorder. We would make 8-track mix tapes and take them to parties … which we promptly got kicked out of because they were tapes of stuff like Yes, King Crimson, Laurie Anderson, Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, and didn’t nobody want to listen to that kind of shit back then.
Techmoan on YouTube covers stuff like this. Here’s a video for anyone interested.
Mid-’80s* me
I always thought these things were brilliant but was never sure how they worked. They basically had a recording head that sat against the playback head of the tape player and sent a signal into it, right? I was never even sure of that.
So normally the magnetic tape would spin by the reader in the player. However instead of a tape they put an electro magnet there. Then they use the same technique to simulate a magnetic tape. Tadaa you made digital audio into electromagnetic audio
There’s actually no digital audio involved anywhere in this process. It’s all analog.
A magnetic tape cassette holds raw wave data of the sounds it records. Just like a vinyl record, except the groove is in the magnetic field instead of physically etched into the surface of the tape, and the needle is an electromagnet instead of, well, a needle.
An audio cable using a standard 3.5mm jack also transmits raw wave data. It has to, because the electromagnetic pulses in the cable are what directly drive the electromagnets in whatever speakers they’re hooked up to. If it’s coming out of a digital player, the player has to convert the signal on its own using an onboard digital-to-analog converter (a DAC).
The neat part is that since a tape deck read head is looking for an analog wave signal, and an analog wave signal is what an aux cable carries, the two are directly compatible with one another. If you actually crack one of these tape deck hacks open, you’ll find the whole thing is completely empty, save for the audio cable wires going directly to the write head that mimics the tape. Beyond that, there’s no conversion equipment, no circuit board, nothing. It’s a direct pass-through.
The body of the thing is nothing more than an elaborate way to trip all the mechanisms in the tape deck to trick it into thinking it’s holding a valid cassette, while simply holding the write head fixed in the proper spot.
I’m sure you already know all of this. I just think it’s really cool and I enjoy talking about it. Analog tech is amazing.
And the best part is, because the signal is so clean, and there’s no crappy tape grinding across the head adding noise, the audio quality is damn near on par with just connecting the aux directly to the amplifier.
This is my favorite thread of the day. I learned something, and it brought back memories of plugging one of these into my parents '87 Buick LeSabre wagon. Complete with wood grain panels. Yeah, I didn’t date much back then.
That’s what I always thought - I think it would work to use a recording head as the electromagnet, treating the player’s playback head like tape.
Gonna drop this here for those interested.
I saw that thumbnail of the table and immediately knew what channel it was.
Get a poorly made one and it doubles as an AM radio too, or I should say it is only an am radio since you get nothing over the speaker but Am interference.
I had a Bluetooth cassette adapter as recently as like 2021, I like old cars
These comments are blowing my mind. It’s like no one here knows that you can easily upgrade the stereo to a modern one. Plug and play in most cars with the right adapter.
Ha! Nope actually, not in my old Cadillac or my Mercedes. Those both had anti theft. That would have been nice though.
The “anti-theft” feature merely disables the stock radio if it’s stolen. It doesn’t stop you from replacing the stereo completely.
I used to install stereos as a hobby for 20 years; there’s not a single vehicle I’ve seen that couldn’t have the stock unit replaced. Not a single one. In rare cases you may have to occasionally do something weird like install it in the glove box or under the dash, but literally every car can have the stereo replaced.
I drive a 2001 which is in that dead zone after cassettes but before aux plugs. I still had to be burning CDs a few years ago but eventually stumbled across an adapter that tricks the car stereo into thinking my phone is a 6-CD changer in the trunk.
I was using one of these, and then later a short-wave radio to play on my car radio that was too old for USB but didn’t have AUX-in either.
I still use a radio adapter because phones no longer have headphone jacks.
wha? my phone still has an audio out jack. but of course it’s 6 or 7 years old.
You cannot possibly be ignorant to this. Do you live in Somalia?
Well I finally got a USB hole and Bluetooth this time, but now I have the Blues Brothers soundtrack stuck in the CD slot (which seems like a pretty ideal choice to be stuck in a car radio).
1995? … I keep this adapter for my old 2004 GM Truck … and no I don’t want bluetooth. The atrocious sound quality is nostalgic to me and reminds me of being a teenager.
I heard the sound quality was really good because it was a direct feed to the reader.
this is very very wrong. the sound quality was a dumpster fire
Yup! I have a drawer of these things because my brother & I used to fight over them. Still use one in my dad’s truck when I steal it from him.
Leave those air pods in your pockets kids. Nothing brings the heat like the annoying clacking of the auto reverse on a cassette deck, constantly trying to flip over a cassette that doesn’t flip, while matching the rhythm of your current jam.
I think yours might be broken.
noo… you’re not moving the wire right. You have to move it back left when it does that & then hit the ff button twice.
fuckinghingworksjuatfinedroveacrossthreedamncountiestofindafyckinradioshack25goddamndollarsassholewouldnttakediscover
See. Told you it works!
shitbirdbettersitstillandnotjostlethatdamnwireifuckinlovethissong
… or the faded degraded sound of ‘Appetite For Destruction’ from the worn down cassette you’ve been playing over and over again for the past ten years.
I was still using one of those til 2012. That’s what I get for having an old car. I did upgrade to a mini disc player tho.
Why didn’t you just upgrade the radio? A decent head unit with an aux jack and bluetooth can be purchased for as little as $40-50, and takes less than an hour to install in most cars with the right adapter. Literally plug and play in most vehicles.
It was one of those times when you already have something that’s working for you just fine and it wasn’t important enough to change it.
I was still using one of these in 2008 to play music from my PSP.
New Hotness:
Why is there no wifi cassette adapter? That would be so cool.
It’d drain the batteries quickly. Wifi uses a relatively large amount of power, and low-power wifi variants like HaLow aren’t widespread yet. Bluetooth has a low energy mode for low-power devices that works well for this use case. I guess it could have a power cord, but then why use wifi when it could just plug into the phone instead?
Not an audiophile spotted!
You can’t be in audiophile mode in a car. You don’t even get proper stereo separation.
You should try the Bowers and Wilkins system in the BMW iX some time. In the USA it’s $3,400 extra compared to their mid-range Harmon Kardon system (which itself is an upgrade from the base system), but it sounds amazing. 30 speakers including one in every head rest, two subwoofers under the floor, and 4 bass shakers in the front seats. 1615 watts total. Sounds better than some home cinema setups I’ve heard.
The most expensive thing I own is less than $3,000. I don’t think I’m this target demographic.
Yeah, people obsessed with car stereos are usually of the “I want everyone to know I’m playing music” variety.
And occasionally of the “I want it to be dangerous to listen to music coming from my sound system” variety.
Which I do kinda get, since I, too, thrive on wtf faces, though I generally don’t want to be a nuisance or damage my property in the process. Like it’s usually a wtf face from an unexpected combination that turns out to be better than one would expect, like saying I like chocolate sauce on sausages (which works because chocolate doesn’t have to be combined with tons of sugar).
Good, we don’t have time for the demented.
omfg if it does pass thru power i’ll lose my mind. my car has a “modern” cassette player with a hole in the door for one of those 3.5mm to cassette converters, i could make this WORK
Pretty sure they have a little battery.
I have one of these, not sure if its the exact model but i can confirm. Comes with a battery.
Can also confirm (to my annoyance) that you cannot have it charging and play music at the same time. So don’t bother buying a slim angled micro usb cable like I did…
Does it work alright though? How long do you usually expect it to last on any given day?
It’s not too shabby, never really counted it but I believe it lasts for about 6h at least on a full charge? I usually only drive for around an hour max though so it’s more of a guesstimate
That’s very doable. Thank you
They missed an opportunity to use the spinning gear to generate its own power.
That’s what I’m thinking too! The housing is probably too small to house it all but man it would be cool
She’s a witch!
That’s fucking dope.
What is this black magic?!
Na, forget CDs and check out my sweet minidisc player! Waaazaaaaaaaa!!??!
Peasant.
My CD player had an FM transmitter that I tuned the car radio to.
My Nokia N97 had that too it was so sweet
What I wouldn’t give for a modern N series. Those phones rocked.
And I just broadcast my own radio station…
Joke’s on you - that’s literally what I use in my 03 Jetta 😂
