When I first got my current car, I tried playing my iPod through the cassette deck with one of those fake cassettes made for that purpose, but it kept rejecting it so I gave up. Then my brother put his in and that worked. But now the part that plugs into the iPod is wearing out and only makes a good connection if I fiddle with it. So I bought a new one. But the new one keeps getting rejected and spat out! I checked and made sure I was inserting it with the correct side. So…
Why is this happening? Why would the deck even eject a tape by itself? If I could figure out how it determines it hates a tape, maybe I could physically alter it.
Alternately, is there a way to resurface the headphone plug so it makes a good connection again?
I have had this problem myself, and the solution was to turn the tape over. Most tape adapters have a way to thread the wire (possibly by unscrewing a little plastic door) so it sticks out of the other side. In my particular case, the adapter had a little mechanism by which to fool the player into thinking there was an actual tape in there, but it only worked if the adapter was inserted in a certain direction.
My guess is that it’s a feature to try to prevent the cassette player from “eating” a tape: if the cassette’s wheels aren’t turning freely enough, it suspects something’s wrong and spits it out.
Anyway, I’ve had the OP’s problem too, and I don’t know what the solution is, though as far as I can remember I never tried Wheeljack’s suggestion.
My guess is that your deck has an auto-eject feature that ejects the tape when it reaches the end. Your deck isn’t detecting any movement when the adapter is in place.
Some of the adapters are detected as bad tapes by the players and get ejected due to the failure of the supply reel to turn. Some adapters include a mechanism so both reels turn. You need the latter type.
I second that. Moreover get one that also charges your ipod while it’s plugged in. I’ve got this: CLICKY and couldn’t be happier. Just toss the damn dollar store cassette adapters in the bin.
Well yeah, I had a fancy radio tuner thingy at one point, but the wire eventually failed and became disconnected. I can’t really justify spending $60 again when the old one became disconnected within a year and the new one (and the one I had before the gift of my brother also) is only $12 and not working for a reason I can’t fathom. If I really really wanted to pin this down regardless of money, I’d pay to have a direct stereo input installed and be done with it.
I’m left with the options of 1) reinforcing the old plug that got worn out somehow or 2) modifying the new cassette to be somehow non-rejectable or 3) buying an expensive radio tuner that might fail within a year or 4) somehow jury rigging my old working cassette with my new working port or 5) buying an expensive direct stereo input
#1 and #2 and #4 are free and require only informed instructions. So they are the preferred methods.
Note that the fancy tuner thing is still functional as a charger and I use it as such, but the transmitter wire has disconnected so I can’t use that particular aspect of it.
I do appreciate the suggestions. But, due to my financial situation, only suggestions that are relevant to me not having cash to burn can be realistically enacted.
Those little cassette adapter things are pretty simple on the inside. On one of my old cars, I used to accidentally trip over the cable and yank it out of the cassette part all the time. If you’re at all handy with a soldering iron or itty-bitty wiring connectors, it’d be pretty easy to replace the audio connector on your old one. Heck, you might even be able to just pop out the whole recording head doo-dad and swap them without any wiring at all.
I opened up the tape, and took out the little gear that makes everything only turn one direction to simulate auto-reverse. But it was still rejected so I’m guessing there’s some other issue.
The two heads are different so I’m loathe to switch those, but just switching out the wire that leads to the plug might work. I have no idea where I stuck my soldering iron but I’ll start the search!
