iPod Cassette Adapter - Listen Up!

An iPod cassette adapter works with your car's cassette player in pretty much the same way a CD player adapter does.

An iPod cassette adapter looks like a standard cassette tape. This wonderful invention goes into the cassette player of your dashboard (as if you're going to play a tape) and plugs into your iPod's headphone jack.

So how's sound quality on these adapters? Well, be prepared for moderate to poor quality. Although there are indeed some adapters that only give off a tolerable hissing noise, even expensive one may make lots o noise or, worse, not work at all with your car's stereo system.

A tip: A more expensive iPod cassette adapter doesn't necessarily mean it'll give you better performance.

In fact, I'd probably try out a cheap unit, or several inexpensive units, till I hit the right one. It seems even favorite audiophile adapter brands (if you're an audiophile you know which I'm referring to!) produce below par sound quality. And some, though costing much more than the cheap brands, will not work AT ALL with some car stereos.

If you just want to listen to music off your iPod and aren't really an audiophile, you'd probably be very content with a cheaper adapter brand. The sound quality is probably a little better than cassettes, but slightly less compared to CDs.

Some audiophiles actually even prefer cheap brands because they're more likely to work with any stereo and if they don't you can just move onto another cheap brand and not really dwell on so many dollars wasted.

iPod Cassette Adapter - Top Complaints

Here are the usual complaints about iPod cassete adapters – yes, even the really pricey ones (even more so, perhaps!). I've listed them in no particular order.

• Not compatible with certain iPods
• Doesn't work with steering-wheel controls
• Makes my cassette player constantly go on auto reverse
• Won't display song info
• Won't work with either a front-loading or side-loading player
• Won't work with my Bose System
• Keeps popping out and displaying an error message
• Makes noises louder than the music
• Muffled sound, not digital quality
• Sounds like a bad, worn cassette tape
• Packaging doesn't give full specs of the product (what it can be used with, noise ratio, etc.)
• Product makes false claims (like it'll work with certain sound systems)

iPod Cassette Adapter - Do Any Work?

Yes. One brand has gotten good reviews. At $29.99, it actually costs a little more than even well known brands. But I think it's better than buying several $10 units till you hit on the right one for your car.

It's called SmartDeck and works with all iPods except the 3G one. It works even with the 5G iPod (w/ video). SmartDeck technology seems to take care of all the complaints listed above, except for displaying song info, which it can't do.