iPod to Stereo Integration may sound complicated, but it's so easy to do! Just imagine the hundreds of songs in your music library playing over your high-quality stereo system. And you don't need a bunch of cables and devices either. All it takes is you iPod, your stereo and GEAR4's Cassette Adapter. The Cassette Adapter is the simplest and easiest way of integrating your iPod with your sound system. All you need to do is plug the adapter into the iPod's headphone jack, then insert the cassette side into your tape deck. Choose a song, hit the play button, sit back and relax while your favourite tunes fill the air. But that's not all! The GEAR4 Cassette Adapter utilizes automatic tension control for little or no sound quality loss. Only pure audio enjoyment for the discerning listener. Apart from its audio fidelity, the GEAR4 Cassette Adapter has other features in its design. It has a coiled cable for reduced clutter, an important feature if you're using it in the car. It works with both front and side loading cassette decks and is compatible with other accessories such as the GEAR4 CarDock. Quick and easy iPod to stereo connection with GEAR4's Cassette Adapter.
Happy with purchase, 18 Oct 2008
I was nervous that this would not work because I was aware that when a cassette goes into my stereo it moves downwards behind a small metal plate - I was therefore concerned the cable would be cut or jammed - it wasn't a problem.
It does work best with the iPOD volume on full, rather than the stereo volume high up - there is a bit of hissing in between songs, but I guess that was always the case with tapes!!
I would recommend this product for those that want to use their iPOD in the car
useless, 20 Aug 2008
The mechanical noise of this adapter is so loud that it is useless for listening to music.
The Pefect Solution, 06 Aug 2008
So, I have bought this great Volkswagen Lupo, but alas! It has a tape player, and who even knows where to buy those anymore, unless they are in wire basket cages in the co-op, where the most diverse music to be found is 'Popular Brass Band Music of the 70s! Volume 3' (where to be honest, we all know they exhausted all the best 'popular brass band music of the 70s in volumes 1 & 2). Anyway... to the crux...
So I needed a solution to this problem, someway to get what I want coming out of my little car's speakers. I own a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, which is brilliant for holding all the music I want, so the music coming out of something problem was sorted. It's just... how was I to get this music coming out of my car speakers?
I spent a good couple of weeks looking into the best solution. FM transmitters seemed to have all their little niggles and faults, from the frequency needing changing every now and then, to poor battery life. So I looked to cassette adaptors. I had owned a couple before, both bought from Argos, a couple of pounds a shot, and they were extremely poor quality, and promopty broke within a few months. I decided then to go for it, and try this time for a 'high end' cassette adaptor. And I am extremely glad I did!
The sound quality is perfect, coming out of my phone, the sound is exactly as if a cd were playing from an inbuilt cd player. The noise never becomes crackly when it gets loud either, it's good for that too, as bass isn't interferred with. As a product, it simply does as you ask, without any problems, something rare to find. Worth every penny.
I sadly have had to buy two, but through my fauly entirely; I caught the cable around my foot (I'm not even sure why) and proceeded to exit the car, and feeling my foot caught, thinking it was just a shoe lace, I pulled hard on the cable and it proceeded to break. Very sad that it happened, but again, something that could have been easily helped!
If you are even thinking of buying this adaptor as potential solution to your problems, I would struggle to advise it more.
Totally does what it says on the pack, 13 Jun 2008
Bought to connect an iPod Shuffle to the car stereo. Worked perfectly. Small amount of wow at high stereo volumes readily corrected by adjusting volume of iPod. Recommend without reservation.
Works well for me., 01 May 2008
I was going to buy a wireless transmitter for my ipod, but came across this instead. Very pleased I did, too. It works very well, even though my in-car cassette player itself is rather old and knackered. Much simpler to use than the wireless devices, and best of all no interference or loss of signal.
The sound is pretty good, and if you've only got a standard in-car system, you probably won't need anything better.
I just hope it lasts!
Beware though, according to the instructions:
It cannot be used in a cassette deck in which you insert a cassette with its tape opening facing away from you.
Worth mentioning I guess.
Gibbys new car, 01 Dec 2007
The first review nailed the problem for me,it's the clear plastic covering on the silver tape head which in my opinion seems to be causing all the issues.So take it off and happy motoring.
Believe all the bad reviews, 09 Aug 2006
Believe all the bad reviews and don't buy it! It's rubbish.
I've tried it on a number of stereos around the house, and a number of car stereos. The best sound you can expect to get resembles hearing the music under water. It also make annoying ticking noises and confuses the hell out of some auto reverse tape players.
Not so bad..., 03 Apr 2006
Hello,
I got one of these last week and I was getting almost no sound out of one speaker. I asked amazon for another one and this time I noticed there was a clear plastic tape over the casssette head on the adaptor. I picked this off and cleaned the head with some lighter fluid and the new one worked fine. I then checked my old one before I returned it and it also had this plastic tab over the head. So I'd say if you get one of these make sure you peel this off else it wont work properly. There are no instructions to tell you to do this so its a bit poor really.
Don't bother, 10 Jan 2006
Having had many cassette adaptors over the years for my iPod, I figured paying a little bit extra for a supposedly very good one was worth it. I experienced exactly the same problems as other reviewers in that it would only output to a single channel. And even that stopped working within 20 minutes, leaving me with nothing but very base-y static from the left speaker, and nothing at all from the right. A complete waste of money.
It also has a very poor design whereby the cable comes out of the top of the cassette rather than the side like most other adaptors. This made it a very tight fit into the tape deck.
oversize jack plug, 29 Oct 2005
The jack on this product was a very tight fit on my ipod and damaged the socket. If you do buy it, whatever you do don't push the plug in if it feels tight. Better to spend a bit more money on one of the many other products available I think. I had one made by Sony that worked fine and only wore out after two years constant use. Oh, and I thought the cassette mechanism on this was VERY noisy.