I have an iPod Shuffle and just bought a car stereo cassette tape adapter. It looks like a cassette with a little cord hanging out of it that gets plugged into the headphone jack of the iPod. Then you put the cassette in the car stereo and it plays songs from the iPod…sort of.
It will play fine for a little bit, then intermittently but frequently it will turn off then back on again, making the tape stopping chunk-chunk noise. This renders it virtually unlistenable. Do I have a problem with my cassette player, my iPod, my specific adapter, or are these adapters pieces of junk in general?
I have the same configuration sometimes. I think it could be a combination between the cassette adapter and the stereo. For example, my cassette adapter used to work with everything. I think it’s sticky now that it’s old. Now it causes some sensitive tape players to stop because they think it’s the end of the tape.
I have a cassette tape adaptor, too, that I’ve used with an iPod, an older MP3 player, and a few walkman-like thingies before that (stop me if I get to technical).
It’s always behaved that way, on all the devices. Although usually it was a matter of getting it “started” on a given day rather than keeping it running. I bought a new adaptor a while back, which didn’t have the problem, and my wife took it for her shuffle.
I think it’s just a vaguely unreliable technology, that it depends a lot on the specifics of the individual adaptor and the cassette player. I doubt it’s the shuffle itself, but you can confirm by just listening to it through headphones for a while.
Luckily, the adaptors are fairly cheap, so just keep buying them until you find one that works, or you give up and move to a more expensive solution like the radio transmitter (you plug it in to your shuffle, and then tune your radio to a specific frequency).
I don’t know how the cassette adapters work but if they still use a spool of tape inside the cassette could it be getting jammed or twisted - or (depending on the frequency) could it just be reaching the end of said spool and trying ‘switch sides’ on the tape?
Forgive me if this is all blatantly stupid and they don’t use the usual cassette type tape at all.
I have an ipod mini and I bought a radio transmitter for it, which works pretty well for me, I think you can get them for shuffles too. Here. Though it depends what you want to spend, I guess.
Also, some transmitters don’t work well in big-city-type places where there are lots of broadcasts all over the radio frequencies. I’m lucky enough not to be in such a place.
I assume that the auto reverse mechinism on your car stereo is being activated, there is probably something on the display that shows the stereo is trying to switch sides when this happens. I don’t know exactly what triggers the auto reverse mechinism but I would guess when it becomes to hard to turn the reel the player thinks it has reached the end of the tape and tries to switch sides. The problem is a combination of the stereo being to sensitive and the cassette adapter being to ‘stiff’. You could try the adapter in other players to see if it causes problems with every stereo. I used to have this problem in my work truck, but only in cold weather.
For a cheap fix, check your owners manual, some car stereos will let you disable the auto reverse function. A quick search at the iPod lounge fourums found the recomendation for a casette adapter made by radio shack (12-1999) that has worked for people who have had the auto reverse problem with other adapters.
This cassette adapter is $20. In most cases a cassette adapter will give much better sound quality than an FM transmitter. In addition an FM transmitter will require a power source, either a AA or AAA battery that has to be replaced or a cig lighter adapter that probably needs to be purchesed separately. In some areas or vehicles an FM transmitter will not give any kind of acceptable sound.
They do make FM transmitters that run off the iPods power (like the iTrip I have) and they can’t be beat for portabilty and compatability (every car has a radio) to different vehicles, but I don’t think they work with the shuffle.
What ever you buy, your best bet is to get it from a local store with a good return policy so if it does not work as you expect you can get your money back. If you decide to go with an FM transmitter the Road trip is highly rated by iPod lounge, has an intergrated cig lighter adapter and is only $15. Make sure you don’t get the model (Road trip**+**) that plugs into the iPods dock connector, I don’t think it will work with your shuffle.
I have a sony cassette adapter that I’ve been using with CD players and my iPod for five years or so and haven’t had a problem. Does the cassette player work fine when you use a regular cassette tape?
Cassette adapters are much better than FM transmitters for all of the reasons mentioned above, I have an iTrip I’d sell ya cheap cause it sucks. That said, cassettes are not as cool as going cordless and some newer cars are doing away with cassette players. I do find that I get much improved playback by turning on the dolby noise reduction on the cassete player. I wish the car manufacturers would start putting simple line out connectors in thier head units or that iPod would go bluetooth. That would be cool.
It depends a lot on the car deck. Usually, the older crappy decks function better with the adapter, since the newer decks have far more sensitivity to tape signals, tension, auto flip and auto eject functions, etc.
I’ve had success on one deck by cracking open the adapter and removing the little spinny sprockets entirely. It eliminated the deck noise and the auto-reversing that was occuring.
In my latest car, the deck has an annoying signal sensor, so if my iPod is silent for more than 2 or 3 seconds (like when I’m looking for a song, or there is a long pause between tracks) the deck will go into “seek” mode.
I do find that I get much improved playback by turning on the dolby noise reduction on the cassete player. I wish the car manufacturers would start putting simple line out connectors in thier head units or that iPod would go bluetooth. That would be cool.