I recently had a conversation with our product manager Will about tapes. Specifically audio cassettes. Remember those things? We happen to carry the little adapters that fit into car stereo cassette players so you can use an AUX jack to connect your iPhone or other music player to your old stereo. Will was flabbergasted that anyone was still buying them. “Who still has these stereos? Who uses cassettes anymore?” he asked. I told him that I did! I recently purchased a “classic” car and was very insistent that it come with the factory stereo and not one of those cheap aftermarket stereos that grace the DIN slots of so many older cars.
Unconvinced, I tried to explain to him that people were actually still releasing new music on audio cassettes. They can be hard to find, but a lot of really small or quirky labels still do it (to satisfy their old-car-having fans maybe?). For me, it’s all about the nostalgia factor. When I’m driving around in my car, I want to actually feel like I’m sitting in 1991, tape deck and all. Nothing hurts my car sensibilities more than seeing a nice classic Porsche with an ugly out-of-place aftermarket stereo slapped into the dash.
That said, I do get it. I understand that people nowadays have an iPhone, iPad, iPod, or something that they’re using to play all their music. Surely they want to use that device while in their car, but what do you do if you don’t have a car new enough to have Bluetooth or a built-in AUX jack? As far as I know, there are only three options:
- First, you can replace the stereo. On most older cars with a standard DIN head unit, this isn’t that difficult, and a basic aftermarket stereo with an AUX jack can be found for under $100.
- Second, if your car isn’t old enough to have a cassette player, but not new enough to have an AUX jack, your only option will be to use an FM transmitter. These work well sometimes, and not so well other times. It really depends on the car and how the radio antenna is built and positioned. A friend in high school had a 1995 Dodge Neon and his FM transmitter worked pretty much flawlessly. Another friend had a 2003 Subaru Outback and could almost never get the FM transmitter to work.
- Finally, if you have a car with a cassette player, you can get one of those AUX-cassette adapters. There’s no radio transmission, so there’s no interference to fight.
You can always choose to be like me though, and embrace the retro-ness of the cassette player. Don’t try to hide it. Take pride in your pre-Clinton era car. Where do you get new releases on tape? I recently ordered King Tuff’s (a Brattleboro, VT native!) second full length album on cassette from www.insound.com!