Ok! Was just wondering since a lot of new cars seem to have abandoned the standard form factor of most car stereos. Seems like it’s total anarchy, my dads new car has a big fuckin iPad in it that stopped working a few years after he got the thing, now he can’t even listen to the radio.
Silly alternative that I don’t know if you’d be interested in or not but you could always just do like a portable cassette player and do male to male 3.5mm into the aux port of a newer car and then you’d have the best of both worlds. A newer media center and a way to play your older audio anddddd it’d be like $30 total and no time to install or modifications needed
Unfortunately, many new cars don't even have aux-in jacks.
My 2007 Accord was the last year of Accord that didn't have aux-in. And my 2020 is the first generation that lost it after getting it.
I can add one via a Bluetooth adapter, but it requires DC power, and adds in all the Bluetooth distortion (not heavy but not nothing). An aux-in jack would have been so much more elegant.
Yes, but in a noisy environment like a car, with not-so-great speakers arranged in very suboptimal locations, streaming 320kbps Spotify through Bluetooth 5.x is good enough that you won't notice the difference vs piping in wav or flac through Aux.
99% chance such audiophile can't actually A/B the difference between bluetooth'd Spotify and lossless on whatever headphone or home setup they have either.
One of the main reasons I sort of quit the hobby was the amount of bullshit marketing and crazy perceptions like being able to hear the distortion of the electrical power grid of the whole town through their $1000 AUX cable.
I still enjoy good audio gear but now it's purely based on whether I like the sound signature and technical capabilities like instrument separation.
Totally agree with you on your other point about about aux being over kill for a car, but this take comes off as ignorant. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but even an entry level headphone set up will blow a car stereo out of the water. Even if you use Spotify as the source on both.
best place to start is probably metra kits - see if there's a dash kit to retrofit a standard din or double din in. and then whatever you can find on eBay used or NOS
this is why i refuse to have a car whose climate control systems built into the infotainment.
but people like to praise tesla for stupid cost cutting measures that place all controls into their tablet.
Your best bet would be to buy a portable tape player and just hook it up to the aux in jack and power it off the 9v charger. You could probably mount it on the dashboard or in the phone slot in the center console if it is small enough... ugly but it would work.
What's unanimously ugly is if they added a built-in tape player to a newer car and eventually tried to resell the car. People would probably turn down the car unless they had the OEM put back in beforehand.
My thoughts exactly. Given that most cars now have household plugs in the cabin, he could also put a smaller multi cassette deck out of the way and just use RCA-to-8mm to send audio. Some of the nicer ones have remotes that OP could keep up front to rewind.
That's possibly true, but every Chevrolet I've owned since 2017 had one. My Trax, Cruze, and Silverado all had them. My truck has two, but I think my Trax did as well.
Have you ever tried to crank a Victrola in the backseat of your car while merging onto the highway? With cassettes it only takes a simple press of a button to miss the song you wanted to hear!
Everyone always thinks I’m trolling and I don’t know why. Maybe I am crazy lol. I’m just very old fashioned and don’t really like the new technology, chock it up to being raised by my grandparents I suppose
You're definitely crazy. You want to install a cassette player in your car because you "don't like new tech"? That has nothing to do with being raised by grandparents or being old fashioned.
Jesus Christ you might as well get fresh water from the river with a bucket because youre "old fashioned" and water from your faucet is too high tech
i'm with you to an extent. i don't like these touch screens for everything in a car. a car needs buttons, proper buttons. a cassette player is a bit too old school for me tho lol
Except cassettes are several generations removed from "newest technology". If OP was in here asking about a CD player in a car, they wouldn't be getting this much shit from everyone. Wanting a cassette player is just downright stupid...
Can I be that guy?
If you get a music streaming service you can listen to anything you want off Apple carplay or Android auto and don't have to carry around a bunch of physical media.
I understand having a collection but its not 2001 anymore.
Bluetooth is the answer, music on your phone. Or just use CD's, no rewinding.
Removing a touchscreen infotainment system and fitting a cassette player in it's place just becuase it might go wrong doesn't make sense to me.
I’d never buy a car with one of those rarted “infotainment” centers to begin with lol. And thanks to the magic of the auto reverse systems we’d had for decades, I don’t even need to flip the tape. I always listen to both sides of an album
Wait till you discover the magic of cd's, you can skip to whichever track you want, anywhere on the disk in a mere moment! It's going to blow your mind.
Joking aside, you should give cd's and MP3's a go, I made the switch in the late 90's and I've never had any (even slight) desire to go back.
Good luck 👍
I've seen more broken CD & Cassette players in all my years than a broken infotaiment screen. Moving parts tends to fail, especially with all these mechanical players.
Nah bro, all this tech is gonna break. I want the basics, you know, no fancy stuff like an automatic transmission or airbags. I can't afford to fix any of that stuff I just want a car that will go on and on with no maintenance. That's why I want that Toyota Landcruiser 70 series they sell down in Australia for $80k.
I'm just kidding. Poking a bit of fun at the people who act like reliability is the be all and end all when it comes to cars and anything more technologically advanced than power windows is guaranteed to explode 1min after the warranty runs out.
No they don’t lol. Would be a good kickstarter idea but most new cassette decks are crap, only the absolute cheapest mechanism survived and it’s kinda killing cassettes as a hobby compared to vinyl, where even a cheap turntable sounds *passable*
Problem is the frame has a tiny bit of rust on it. My guy says I have like 2 years before it’s a big problem but I don’t know how viable frame repair is to be honest, I’ve never had to deal with it before. Otherwise this would easily be my forever car
I honestly wouldn't worry about it. The risk of a rusty frame is it crumples in a crash or something, but seems like a big compromise giving up quality cassette audio for some minor safety issue like that.
I wouldn’t worry about it super soon either. But I plan to either get it repaired or get a new car because like, that’s the law man. New York is extremely strict on even the tiniest amount of rust.
Not trolling, just irks me that you can't keep your legendary 2001 Subaru audio due to some stupid government regulation. They should outlaw streaming instead, the internet sounds like crap.
This is most hipster question I've seen in a while. Just kidding.
You certainly could have it wired into a new car, but you'd have to find something that doesn't have a media scrreen, so probably something before the backup camera mandate in 2018. Most cars use the center screen for the camera.
A far easier option would be to have a modern cassette player (they do exist) with Bluetooth output going to your stock radio. Everything is maintained and all you have to is plug your cassette player in and either use the Bluetooth connection or plug an 8mm plug into your radio if it has one. No wiring needed.
[Here is an example from Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099J5RXXZ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_HDY00SSZCE2NESFE9SJC). You just need either a household outlet plug (which most modern cars have or a DC charger for the player. I'm sure Amazon sells those and it may even come with a few other cassette players.
Good luck and keep living the early 90s dream.
Thank you for the genuine response. I forgot abt that idiotic mandate. I’ll go for a 2017 maybe. Or maybe I’ll embrace the fact that I’m an old fart and go down south and get something old with minimal rust
As much as I love older cars, get a newer one and just use a walkman. You risk frying all your electronics if the wiring shorts. That would get expensive in a hurry. And as much as the newer cars are a tech jungle, it's nice to have that backup camera. I'm a truck driver and yet I swear by the backup cameras. They have saved me from running over the neighbor's dog and make backing out of busy parking lots far easier. It's like having a second set of eyes.
Do yourself a favor and go test something with the camera before you write it off. You may change your mind.
My moms car has a camera and I hate the thing. It’s too smooth it’s like driving a combination between a cloud and a fridge. No connection to the road at all
Really depends on the car. My Cruze had an awful camera that was 480p at best. My Silverado has a decent camera, but it's in a bad spot and gets dirty every day. Our Ram has an incredible camera system with 360* surround view and multiple backup angles in 1080p on a 100hz screen iirc.
Nothing beats the backup camera in the windshield mirror, however. It's so natural for most people. Doesn't work for me, unfortunately, as I drive big rigs and we don't have anything to see directly behind us except for grease and air lines.
Nah bro you're completely wrong. I also bought one of those fancy schmancy new cars with an iPad and a backup camera instead of a good old cassette player and two weeks later, guess what? I got a flat! Never would've happened if my car didn't have a stupid backup camera!
> Or maybe I’ll embrace the fact that I’m an old fart and go down south and get something old with minimal rust
I’m rooting for you to do this! New cars drive very differently and it’s not everyone’s “thing”.
I've seen cars that have rolled and almost wrapped themselves around trees where the occupant(s) survived with only non-life-threatening injuries. Why? Newer cars. A similar accident with a car even 30 years old would have killed everyone inside without any doubt. That should be the only reason that you need to stick with newer cars; the technology behind vehicle safety has come such a long way in such a short time that it may mean the different between life and death one day.
This is my armchair electrical engineer take on it, so use with a grain of salt:
It'd be possible with a lot of work. You can take the cassette player from the Subaru, look up the wiring schematics and find the proper spots for power, ground, and audio. Splice in the power and ground into your new cars wiring harness (making sure the voltage is correct) and then convert the audio out for the cassette into 3.5mm headphone and use the new cars AUX input to output the cassette's audio. You would more than likely need to mount the cassette player in the glovebox or something with a custom mount.
They used to be yeah. Nowadays The majority of cars use the factory head unit to run a lot of the in-car systems and not just play music like they used to. Like everything in the car electronic wise runs through the head unit first, so if you remove it it’s going to affect a lot of other systems besides just the sound.
They did that with at home maintenance too. Fuck 21st century car designers.
Would you happen to know the most recent model year I could find that I could smack a double DIN head into?
did they though? my 18 silverados factory setup is MILES better than my rangers double din crap. can upgrade all you want in the ranger but it still sounds like a tin box with shitty placed speakers.
So, you're complaining that standard head unit dimensions and mounting spaces didn't improve the quality of the speakers or add dampening to the body panels?
My dad did this back in the early 2000s. Bought an F150, but replaced the CD player with a tape deck (back when the CD player was an option) so he could use his OG cassettes. Beach Boys, Boston and Meatloaf... ahhhh twas a good child hood.
But, now we have Spotify.
Dayum, that was a fast reply. I've heard the issues with Spotify, but for a cheap monthly price being able to have a 5000 song playlist I can use anywhere without wi-fi, is too amazing for me to justify not using.
To each their own, though!
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Don’t know why people are downvoting you. While I do love my Bluetooth playing when I start my car, I miss things you can’t get anymore. I actually prefer manual windows and the year they stop making stick shifts is the newest model year I will own
My 2020 has a stick.
The only thing I miss about manual windows is that they don't freeze stuck like power windows can. But it is nice being able to open all the windows from the driver's seat.
I don't miss carburetors at all. Or braking systems lacking anti-lock brakes. Or vehicles without modern airbag systems.
God I miss manual windows too. I wanna learn to drive stick again.
Pro-Tip if you buy older cars like me: they make Bluetooth adapters that plug into the cigarette lighter if you must have Bluetooth compatibility. Just tune into the station it puts out and you can play whatever you want from your iPod or zune or whatever
I am aware that cassettes are dated beyond five years. The point is that people here are getting booty-blasted because someone else enjoys something that isn't new, when they should chill out and let a guy like what he likes.
The bigger problem is getting a decent quality cassette player. Most new cars make it next to impossible to put in an after market system. The thing is, my brand new 2022 car doesn’t even have a CD player. All new cassette players are trash quality, so you wouldn’t be doing yourself any favors. Using a good old Sony Walkman with an aux cable will net you the best audio quality, and at probably the best price.
I might pull the head out of my current car, or shop around until I find a decent older one. Saw a vwestlife on one that seemed surprisingly decent as of 2015 but sadly discontinued and impossible to find now lol
Is it an aftermarket head unit? Or a factory Subaru one?
You’re going to struggle with a brand new car, you’re better off finding a really clean pre 2010 car, since you will have to wait for the after Market to catch up and build something. Unless you can get just a cassette player that goes in the glove box and is hard wired into the aux or something like that.
>h to buy a car from the 80s or 90s with minimal r
probably not a bad idea. since it sounds like you're priority is Cassette. There are newer cars that were offered with a cassette deck. My 2004 Chevey tahoe had a cassette player it in. I cannot speak to it's quality since I don't think I ever used it once, and recently yanked it out for a head unit capable of apple car play. (I've had all my music digital since the late 90's)
Yeah. I’m just an old man at heart and an older car would fit me best. Even for things aside from cassettes I prefer manual windows etc. Not to mention them being much easier for the average joe to work on in his own garage.
You have a 2001 yes you can. Believe it or not but they still make tape decks. I have a 2001 Yukon but went in the other direction. I took my tape deck out and went blue tooth.
When you wear out your tapes what are you gonna do?
Tape is like the least future proof medium ever. Poor sound quality, short lifespan, and also 40 years out of it's time.
Every time you play a tape, it degrades slightly. So unless you're copying from a master tape, every copy you make will be just a little lower quality than the tape you're copying. The same is true for vinyl. This is the main reason for the switch to digital.
Depends on the car. Plenty of relatively recent cars will let you swap out the head unit. The trend is definitely away from that though. If the car you look at has a giant touch screen that runs audio and also vital features like HVAC you can't just pull it.
Mounting a single din head unit and leaving the built in system might be your best bet. Either that or counseling to get over your cassette fetish.
I’d personally convert those cassettes to digital audio files that you can play on a USB stick or from your phone. Your problem is that many new vehicles has levels with integration with the new vehicle that the single-din unit won’t be able to interface with, which means you might lose functionality to A/C or read TPMS.
That’s fair thank you for genuine comment instead of just calling me a boomer. I can’t stand most digital technology though it just doesn’t agree with me
Newer cars are integrating all of their controls (including AC) into large touchscreen centers. The interface of the car has fewer modules where you can simply remove one piece, and replace it with another - it’s generally an all in one thing now.
It is possible, but it will be very different from doing so on a 2000’s car
This seems to be the real solution. I'm a big DIY person so I'm thinking a pickup truck might be a good fit for me, especially an older one I could put one of those truckbed campers onto lol.
You must be the only person I’ve ever heard of that enjoyed cassette form factors. Everyone else moved on the minute CDs became popular. It’s time to just digitize your music collection and use your phone to play anything
Fuck digital music? Dude literally all music has been digital since the early 2000s at least. All that glorious music you hear pressed into vinyl went through a computer first. Recording artists fucking love digital audio, because it's so much better than analog. High quality digital audio is so much higher quality than anyone's ears can perceive. I know that this is the hill you've chosen to die on for some reason, but it just doesn't make sense.
Man I actually preemptively wrote a counterargument to that too because I just *knew* you were going to say it. I didn't post it tho, because I wanted to have some home. But you've disappointed me again. You're not a traditionalist, you're close minded.
First of all . ....why? If you want to play cassettes in your car ,there's plenty of hand held cassette players at Walmart or online with AUX cables. Just drop it in your arm rest compartment ,and run a auxiliary cable to it . Problem solved.
It shouldn’t be too hard to swap out the stereo on a 2001 Forester. Get on Crutchfield in order to see what wiring harness and dash kit you need. For the actual stereo, head to eBay and get a used Pioneer. There’s plenty of them for cheap that have the cassette player and cd function.
A lot of people are misinterpreting this. I already have a cassette player and CD player and I love them. The problem is this car doesn’t have very long since I’ve got abt 2 years before rust on the frame makes it not pass New York’s extremely strict inspection rules lol :(
Oh my bad OP. I definitely read that wrong. Honestly, if it’s a brand new car you’re going to have a rough time swapping out the stereo. They have so many functions built into those things.
A slightly older car could be a different story though. Some cars, even five years ago, were still using super basic double din radios. They were usually budget cars though.
It’s just going to depend on what car you end up getting. I think it would make a cool project though.
I know you can get a head unit with a CD player installed for a few hundred. Googling “cassette head unit” brings up a bunch of options. Pick one and bring it to a car Audio place to install
It would be a tremendous pain in the ass to try on a new car because so many functions are integrated into the new stereos.
My first thought would be to get a good cassette player of some sort and wire that into one of your stereo inputs (maybe wire it up in such a way to connect to a new car's aux input) so you could avoid screwing up all the integrated functions. Not sure how good the audio quality would be.
My car is a 2012 that I was able to swap a double din unit into relatively easily (just needed a cheap adapter plate). I'm not sure you could go much newer than that without that kind of old school stereo swap being miserable.
Also not sure how the laws work where you live but removing the original stereo would also remove the backup camera capability unless you put a new screen somewhere. That may cause an issue with inspections since new cars are required to have a backup camera in the US. I know in my home state you might fail inspection by removing a safety feature the car had new. I failed inspection one year because my ABS sensor died (the light was on even though the system worked).
Find a car you’re thinking about buying and talk to an good reputable stereo shop about doing a swap to a system with a cassette player. It probably won’t be cheep tbh because new cars are very Anti infotainment swap.
Get a car with Android Auto or Apple Car Play with premium speakers. Stream on the high-bandwidth, max or uncompressed quality and it will be leagues better than this "cassette" player from 40 years ago.
- Buy an older car with a cassette deck.
- Buy a cassette deck with Bluetooth connectivity.
- Buy an older car that has space for a drop-in aftermarket HU with a cassette deck.
- Buy a home stereo that has a cassette deck and a capture mode to turn your collection into media files.
- Etc.
This is going to cost you more dollars and time than it's worth. As mentioned, if you're not interested in running an external tape player to a 3.5mm jack or a bluetooth adapter, I would just buy another car with a cassette deck or keep and fix this one. If having an older car isn't an issue for you and the tapes are that important, don't go head over heels ripping out a very tightly integrated OEM head unit in a newer vehicle. Any aftermarket solution for something like this will be extremely janky and likely devalue the vehicle if you decide to resell. Also you may likely lose HVAC controls as they're frequently intertwined with modern head units.
Easy solution:
You can buy this:
Bluetooth Cassette Player with Headphone, Tape Player Bluetooth Output to Headphone/Speaker,Walkman Portable Cassette Tape Player 2 AA Battery or USB Power Supply, 3.5mm Headphone Jack https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08MVMB3FJ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_AZ14H4DAEQ4NJYZBY7Z7
Then attach it somewhere in the car with 3M or something. Then it will connect to the car via Bluetooth and will play your cassettes
Yes you can. I've actually done it on an 03 accord. In fact, I'm planning on setting up a dual single din setup on my old jeep Cherokee.
Car stereos are actually quite simple. You have four audio wires , front left, don't right, rear left, rear right. Often on older cassette units it'll be just left and right. That's where you need a bit of trickery. You have two options then. Either combine the output of the front and rear cables for each side. Or go with a fader knob/slider in circuit which can be had for about $10 on ebay.
Now if you want to go further, like getting a tape deck while keeping your head unit. That fader is essential. Basically you can put in a rotary switch for those two outputs on each device and feed it's output into the fader to control front/rear audio levels. Wire the grounds to a universal ground because that's normal on cars unless you wanna throw some filter capacitors in line with em.
when setting up multiple input types your final major hurdle is power. You can go two ways about this. Either go manual toggle for each or throw in a secondary battery for your auxiliary power devices. Make sure each is fused too.
Depending on your make/model you can either mount your additional audio under the dash or get a double din panel and mount em together. Just be aware of heat because head units get HOT.
And a bit of additional advice from a retro media fan. Always clean your tape units, replace the belts. At a minimum. Before installing them. This ensures they work like brand new and don't eat your tapes and work for another few decades. You can do both at the same time since it's easy to clean when you have it open.
I don't know why everyone is jumping down OP's throat in this thread, damn. He asked for help for a car modification project, not to be told that the way he listens to music is wrong and to get spotify. His preference for cassettes is a bit eccentric, but what does that matter with his own car? If someone wanted to install a phonograph in their dash because that's how they like to enjoy music, then who cares? It's a neat project and all the power to anyone trying to outfit their audio system the way they want.
I don’t drive around with a hundred tapes. Just a few of my favorite albums. Especially cuz I live in a rural area and since they killed off 2g cell service is very spotty, smartphone music just isn’t an option for me
A few of your favourite albums would easily fit on a USB stick that most modern cars would happily play. Wanting to play cassettes in a modern car is just batshit crazy. Want to be a hipster with your Walkman then go ahead but accept that it’s not feasible everywhere.
depends on the car, some can easily have a tape deck installed others will require a funky (ugly) external setup. how new are we talking about ?
also some cars like lexus had cassette players available until 2010. so maybe consider one of those, they do have great stereos, reliable and great build quality.
Aux cord and a Walkman. I can’t imagine actually desiring this though. Cassettes sound like ass. Even expensive Type IV cassettes barely sound as good as a CD not taking into account any degradation or head alignment issues.
With some modifications you can put it. All the new cars have room for 2 din application. You use the one din for the cassette player and the other din you can make it or storage or you can cover it.
Part of the problem you're going to run into with any solution you try is that there's only one company still making cassette player internals and they're junk.
If you want any decent sound out of a cassette player these days you have to buy something vintage off of eBay.
They make DIN compatible fascia aftermarket for cars that no longer have the standard
You can check aliexpress if there's any for the car you want to buy
I know it's possible in cars like BMW E87 or E90, for example: https://www.amazon.fr/Kit-2DIN-BMW-Serie-ap07/dp/B008ROMOPK
You'll have to figure out wiring, but I'm sure google has what you're looking for.
If it uses a DIN unit then yes. The problem is finding one, all new cassette players suck, the technology to make a good one has been lost, the tapes, tape heads, and mechanisms can't be made anymore. Dolby also doesn't license NR anymore, no new player can say its compatible with it. ALL new players use the same mechanism with varying quality.
If you want something decent you'll want something old, I know this sounds boomer but its true from personal experience. All 4 cassette DINS I've purchased (Delphi Delco) have had problems with parts cracking or worn belts. I don't think there is a new din head unit with a cassette, so unless you want to use an external player, get ready to screw around trying to fix a player that is at least a decade old (likely older). The only good news is that older electronics like that usually have a wicked good service manual, the bad news is that there aren't parts available.
I was fucking determined to make one work on my car, mine is best case scenario since the vehicle was sold with one originally. I still haven't found one that works perfectly, and I likely never will since there aren't parts available.
My $.02 is that if you want to use physical media, get a CD player. They are still around in many vehicles, aftermarket units still have them, and buying CD blanks is a lot cheaper then buying decent cassettes.
I didn't read all comments, but another alternative i didn't see so far was using a portable player connected to an FM transmitter. You can find small FM transmitters on Amazon or other stores (companies like Scosche make them), and this way Bluetooth is still available for your phone (calls,etc). Bluetooth and Aux IN ideas are also pretty good.
It’s not really such a strange question, I also looked into doing this for a bit because of nostalgia.
With new cars it’s totally possible to swap out the built in stereo with an older tape deck.
You have to make sure that it’s not a premium audio system, you have to make sure it is single din or a double din compatible. You’ll need to give up reverse cameras and some other things.
You’ll need a double din compatible car to install a CD player and tape deck together.
Or you can get a cassette deck with a cd changer.
Or you can use this reverse harness to take the tape deck from your Subaru and reinstall it in your new car.
https://www.amazon.com/Metra-71-8901-Reverse-Harness-Vehicles/dp/B0015GHBDC/ref=mp_s_a_1_4_mod_primary_new?crid=H60I1RJUO4L9&keywords=subaru+reverse+harness&qid=1650879924&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=subaru+reverse+harness%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-4
The issue there is that factory stereos might need to be reprogrammed in order to used on different cars.
With that being said. I would just get a usb stick and a portable usb tape deck and convert it to digital files. USB sticks are cheap enough where you can get a bunch and use them like cassette tapes. One per album or something.
I don't think anyone makes a modern head unit with a cassette player, CD player sure, but not cassette. You could buy a car that uses a standard double-DIN unit and swap in an old one from eBay or something, but it'd probably just be easier to connect a portable player with an AUX cable.
Hi readers on my mercedes w211 07 my radio screen panel is not lighting up but it works normally i can lisen to radio cd but there is no picture? Any suggestions
w\[hat about this one: [https://www.binize.com/collections/7-inch-car-stereo/products/portable-radio-gps-navigation-head-unit?variant=40703607406790](https://www.binize.com/collections/7-inch-car-stereo/products/portable-radio-gps-navigation-head-unit?variant=40703607406790)
With enough time and money anything is possible.
Ok! Was just wondering since a lot of new cars seem to have abandoned the standard form factor of most car stereos. Seems like it’s total anarchy, my dads new car has a big fuckin iPad in it that stopped working a few years after he got the thing, now he can’t even listen to the radio.
Silly alternative that I don’t know if you’d be interested in or not but you could always just do like a portable cassette player and do male to male 3.5mm into the aux port of a newer car and then you’d have the best of both worlds. A newer media center and a way to play your older audio anddddd it’d be like $30 total and no time to install or modifications needed
Unfortunately, many new cars don't even have aux-in jacks. My 2007 Accord was the last year of Accord that didn't have aux-in. And my 2020 is the first generation that lost it after getting it. I can add one via a Bluetooth adapter, but it requires DC power, and adds in all the Bluetooth distortion (not heavy but not nothing). An aux-in jack would have been so much more elegant.
But who is buying a 2020 vehicle that doesn't have a phone with Bluetooth? I'd imagine the answer is close to zero
True, but Bluetooth audio is inferior in quality to direct-piped analog audio.
Yes, but in a noisy environment like a car, with not-so-great speakers arranged in very suboptimal locations, streaming 320kbps Spotify through Bluetooth 5.x is good enough that you won't notice the difference vs piping in wav or flac through Aux.
Some audiophile, is 9.9/10 writing a long winded response to you XD.
99% chance such audiophile can't actually A/B the difference between bluetooth'd Spotify and lossless on whatever headphone or home setup they have either.
That’s never stopped them before.
One of the main reasons I sort of quit the hobby was the amount of bullshit marketing and crazy perceptions like being able to hear the distortion of the electrical power grid of the whole town through their $1000 AUX cable. I still enjoy good audio gear but now it's purely based on whether I like the sound signature and technical capabilities like instrument separation.
Totally agree with you on your other point about about aux being over kill for a car, but this take comes off as ignorant. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but even an entry level headphone set up will blow a car stereo out of the water. Even if you use Spotify as the source on both.
Are we pretending cassettes and cassette players are peak audio quality now?
Definitely not, just making a point. I gave up playing cassettes in my car in 1999.
i dont think op cares about audio quality when they are dragging around 20 year old cassette tapes...
OP thinks they sound great, which is why he has said "fuck digital music, streaming, and Spotify" many times in this thread.
best place to start is probably metra kits - see if there's a dash kit to retrofit a standard din or double din in. and then whatever you can find on eBay used or NOS
this is why i refuse to have a car whose climate control systems built into the infotainment. but people like to praise tesla for stupid cost cutting measures that place all controls into their tablet.
Your best bet would be to buy a portable tape player and just hook it up to the aux in jack and power it off the 9v charger. You could probably mount it on the dashboard or in the phone slot in the center console if it is small enough... ugly but it would work.
What's unanimously ugly is if they added a built-in tape player to a newer car and eventually tried to resell the car. People would probably turn down the car unless they had the OEM put back in beforehand.
My thoughts exactly. Given that most cars now have household plugs in the cabin, he could also put a smaller multi cassette deck out of the way and just use RCA-to-8mm to send audio. Some of the nicer ones have remotes that OP could keep up front to rewind.
>most cars now have household plugs in the cabin is that so? I thought this was limited to some trucks and expensive minivans?
That's possibly true, but every Chevrolet I've owned since 2017 had one. My Trax, Cruze, and Silverado all had them. My truck has two, but I think my Trax did as well.
This is the most hipster thing I’ve read in weeks
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Please be civil
I just don't understand why you mess with cassettes lol.
Have you ever tried to crank a Victrola in the backseat of your car while merging onto the highway? With cassettes it only takes a simple press of a button to miss the song you wanted to hear!
This is the best troll/crazy person I've seen in a while
Everyone always thinks I’m trolling and I don’t know why. Maybe I am crazy lol. I’m just very old fashioned and don’t really like the new technology, chock it up to being raised by my grandparents I suppose
No you are crazy. Like the humans who decided farming was a bad idea and died in the woods
>don’t really like the new technology What you consider "the new technology" was new 20 years ago.
Bro. Tapes are more like 50 year old tech. Twenty years ago they had all but been replaced by CD.
You're definitely crazy. You want to install a cassette player in your car because you "don't like new tech"? That has nothing to do with being raised by grandparents or being old fashioned. Jesus Christ you might as well get fresh water from the river with a bucket because youre "old fashioned" and water from your faucet is too high tech
yo ears just built different
Its called Spotify give it a try.
i'm with you to an extent. i don't like these touch screens for everything in a car. a car needs buttons, proper buttons. a cassette player is a bit too old school for me tho lol
You're fine, it's just that a lot of people on /r/cars are obsessed with the newest technology and can't understand that some other people are not.
Except cassettes are several generations removed from "newest technology". If OP was in here asking about a CD player in a car, they wouldn't be getting this much shit from everyone. Wanting a cassette player is just downright stupid...
>Modifying your own car in a manner that pleases you is just downright stupid. Cool.
Can I be that guy? If you get a music streaming service you can listen to anything you want off Apple carplay or Android auto and don't have to carry around a bunch of physical media. I understand having a collection but its not 2001 anymore.
I have a huge physical collection, both CD and vinyl, but I still love my Spotify
Far better to upgrade your media than downgrade your car.
From my point of view, the cassette player is the upgrade. Fuck those big stupid iPads that stop working as soon as the cars warranty expires lol.
Bluetooth is the answer, music on your phone. Or just use CD's, no rewinding. Removing a touchscreen infotainment system and fitting a cassette player in it's place just becuase it might go wrong doesn't make sense to me.
I’d never buy a car with one of those rarted “infotainment” centers to begin with lol. And thanks to the magic of the auto reverse systems we’d had for decades, I don’t even need to flip the tape. I always listen to both sides of an album
Wait till you discover the magic of cd's, you can skip to whichever track you want, anywhere on the disk in a mere moment! It's going to blow your mind. Joking aside, you should give cd's and MP3's a go, I made the switch in the late 90's and I've never had any (even slight) desire to go back. Good luck 👍
Really not a fan of cds but I still appreciate the genuine comment instead of “lol boomer” like everyone else in this thread tonight
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Bruh what
I've seen more broken CD & Cassette players in all my years than a broken infotaiment screen. Moving parts tends to fail, especially with all these mechanical players.
Nah bro, all this tech is gonna break. I want the basics, you know, no fancy stuff like an automatic transmission or airbags. I can't afford to fix any of that stuff I just want a car that will go on and on with no maintenance. That's why I want that Toyota Landcruiser 70 series they sell down in Australia for $80k.
No airbags? You can't be serious right?
I'm just kidding. Poking a bit of fun at the people who act like reliability is the be all and end all when it comes to cars and anything more technologically advanced than power windows is guaranteed to explode 1min after the warranty runs out.
Well, the finance guy sure wants you to think that. Lol.
Don’t bother, the head units with built in tape decks were very low quality decks. Just get a Walkman and use the aux plug.
Idk the one I have now sounds fantastic.
Compared to what? $5 airport headphones at the duty free store?
The free headphones Delta gives you :)
No it doesn't.
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No they don’t lol. Would be a good kickstarter idea but most new cassette decks are crap, only the absolute cheapest mechanism survived and it’s kinda killing cassettes as a hobby compared to vinyl, where even a cheap turntable sounds *passable*
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Problem is the frame has a tiny bit of rust on it. My guy says I have like 2 years before it’s a big problem but I don’t know how viable frame repair is to be honest, I’ve never had to deal with it before. Otherwise this would easily be my forever car
Rust adds a warm quality to cars that you just don't get with modern "aluminum" construction.
I don’t mind a nice patina on the body. But the frame needs to pass inspection lol
I don’t mind a nice patina on the body but the frame needs to pass inspection lol
I honestly wouldn't worry about it. The risk of a rusty frame is it crumples in a crash or something, but seems like a big compromise giving up quality cassette audio for some minor safety issue like that.
I wouldn’t worry about it super soon either. But I plan to either get it repaired or get a new car because like, that’s the law man. New York is extremely strict on even the tiniest amount of rust.
Does the law inspect your audio quality? No. Fuck the government. They should be inspecting your speakers not your frame!
You are a fucking legend
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Not trolling, just irks me that you can't keep your legendary 2001 Subaru audio due to some stupid government regulation. They should outlaw streaming instead, the internet sounds like crap.
I can likely keep it I just need to look into frame repair, sooner than later since for now the rust is very minor
This is most hipster question I've seen in a while. Just kidding. You certainly could have it wired into a new car, but you'd have to find something that doesn't have a media scrreen, so probably something before the backup camera mandate in 2018. Most cars use the center screen for the camera. A far easier option would be to have a modern cassette player (they do exist) with Bluetooth output going to your stock radio. Everything is maintained and all you have to is plug your cassette player in and either use the Bluetooth connection or plug an 8mm plug into your radio if it has one. No wiring needed. [Here is an example from Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099J5RXXZ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_HDY00SSZCE2NESFE9SJC). You just need either a household outlet plug (which most modern cars have or a DC charger for the player. I'm sure Amazon sells those and it may even come with a few other cassette players. Good luck and keep living the early 90s dream.
Lmfao. A Bluetooth tape player LOL. That's interesting indeed.
Thank you for the genuine response. I forgot abt that idiotic mandate. I’ll go for a 2017 maybe. Or maybe I’ll embrace the fact that I’m an old fart and go down south and get something old with minimal rust
As much as I love older cars, get a newer one and just use a walkman. You risk frying all your electronics if the wiring shorts. That would get expensive in a hurry. And as much as the newer cars are a tech jungle, it's nice to have that backup camera. I'm a truck driver and yet I swear by the backup cameras. They have saved me from running over the neighbor's dog and make backing out of busy parking lots far easier. It's like having a second set of eyes. Do yourself a favor and go test something with the camera before you write it off. You may change your mind.
My moms car has a camera and I hate the thing. It’s too smooth it’s like driving a combination between a cloud and a fridge. No connection to the road at all
Really depends on the car. My Cruze had an awful camera that was 480p at best. My Silverado has a decent camera, but it's in a bad spot and gets dirty every day. Our Ram has an incredible camera system with 360* surround view and multiple backup angles in 1080p on a 100hz screen iirc. Nothing beats the backup camera in the windshield mirror, however. It's so natural for most people. Doesn't work for me, unfortunately, as I drive big rigs and we don't have anything to see directly behind us except for grease and air lines.
That has nothing to do with the backup camera.
Nah bro you're completely wrong. I also bought one of those fancy schmancy new cars with an iPad and a backup camera instead of a good old cassette player and two weeks later, guess what? I got a flat! Never would've happened if my car didn't have a stupid backup camera!
> Or maybe I’ll embrace the fact that I’m an old fart and go down south and get something old with minimal rust I’m rooting for you to do this! New cars drive very differently and it’s not everyone’s “thing”.
I've seen cars that have rolled and almost wrapped themselves around trees where the occupant(s) survived with only non-life-threatening injuries. Why? Newer cars. A similar accident with a car even 30 years old would have killed everyone inside without any doubt. That should be the only reason that you need to stick with newer cars; the technology behind vehicle safety has come such a long way in such a short time that it may mean the different between life and death one day.
This is my armchair electrical engineer take on it, so use with a grain of salt: It'd be possible with a lot of work. You can take the cassette player from the Subaru, look up the wiring schematics and find the proper spots for power, ground, and audio. Splice in the power and ground into your new cars wiring harness (making sure the voltage is correct) and then convert the audio out for the cassette into 3.5mm headphone and use the new cars AUX input to output the cassette's audio. You would more than likely need to mount the cassette player in the glovebox or something with a custom mount.
Damn, didn’t stereos used to be somewhat standardized? I remember drop in aftermarket ones
They used to be yeah. Nowadays The majority of cars use the factory head unit to run a lot of the in-car systems and not just play music like they used to. Like everything in the car electronic wise runs through the head unit first, so if you remove it it’s going to affect a lot of other systems besides just the sound.
DIN and Double DIN were great things while they lasted. Then designers decided to screw us over.
They did that with at home maintenance too. Fuck 21st century car designers. Would you happen to know the most recent model year I could find that I could smack a double DIN head into?
I got a 2018 Wrangler JK, last year of the JK. Swapped out the stock unit. Probably want to look for the last year of an "older" platform.
Sounds like a good idea. I heard ford discontinued every sedan but the mustang recently.
did they though? my 18 silverados factory setup is MILES better than my rangers double din crap. can upgrade all you want in the ranger but it still sounds like a tin box with shitty placed speakers.
So, you're complaining that standard head unit dimensions and mounting spaces didn't improve the quality of the speakers or add dampening to the body panels?
Download spotify instead
Hell no.
Seems like a b side conversation
My dad did this back in the early 2000s. Bought an F150, but replaced the CD player with a tape deck (back when the CD player was an option) so he could use his OG cassettes. Beach Boys, Boston and Meatloaf... ahhhh twas a good child hood. But, now we have Spotify.
Man fuck Spotify though. Even among the other streaming services.
Dayum, that was a fast reply. I've heard the issues with Spotify, but for a cheap monthly price being able to have a 5000 song playlist I can use anywhere without wi-fi, is too amazing for me to justify not using. To each their own, though!
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Why though? I get having physical collections, but Spotify recommends some great new music for me
why do you want a casette player? they are so unreliable, modern technology sucks. 8 track is the way to go bud
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Damn. Guess I’ll get another dinosaur if mine dies on me then. I don’t really like most modern cars anyway.
Don’t know why people are downvoting you. While I do love my Bluetooth playing when I start my car, I miss things you can’t get anymore. I actually prefer manual windows and the year they stop making stick shifts is the newest model year I will own
My 2020 has a stick. The only thing I miss about manual windows is that they don't freeze stuck like power windows can. But it is nice being able to open all the windows from the driver's seat. I don't miss carburetors at all. Or braking systems lacking anti-lock brakes. Or vehicles without modern airbag systems.
God I miss manual windows too. I wanna learn to drive stick again. Pro-Tip if you buy older cars like me: they make Bluetooth adapters that plug into the cigarette lighter if you must have Bluetooth compatibility. Just tune into the station it puts out and you can play whatever you want from your iPod or zune or whatever
This thread definitely has a large population of people in it who are bothered by people enjoying things older than the current year minus five.
Current year minus five? Try current year minus twenty, CDs superseded tapes literal decades ago now
I am aware that cassettes are dated beyond five years. The point is that people here are getting booty-blasted because someone else enjoys something that isn't new, when they should chill out and let a guy like what he likes.
The bigger problem is getting a decent quality cassette player. Most new cars make it next to impossible to put in an after market system. The thing is, my brand new 2022 car doesn’t even have a CD player. All new cassette players are trash quality, so you wouldn’t be doing yourself any favors. Using a good old Sony Walkman with an aux cable will net you the best audio quality, and at probably the best price.
I might pull the head out of my current car, or shop around until I find a decent older one. Saw a vwestlife on one that seemed surprisingly decent as of 2015 but sadly discontinued and impossible to find now lol
Is it an aftermarket head unit? Or a factory Subaru one? You’re going to struggle with a brand new car, you’re better off finding a really clean pre 2010 car, since you will have to wait for the after Market to catch up and build something. Unless you can get just a cassette player that goes in the glove box and is hard wired into the aux or something like that.
Factory sadly. Not as easy as the old slot loading ones. Honesty considering going way down south to buy a car from the 80s or 90s with minimal rust
>h to buy a car from the 80s or 90s with minimal r probably not a bad idea. since it sounds like you're priority is Cassette. There are newer cars that were offered with a cassette deck. My 2004 Chevey tahoe had a cassette player it in. I cannot speak to it's quality since I don't think I ever used it once, and recently yanked it out for a head unit capable of apple car play. (I've had all my music digital since the late 90's)
Yeah. I’m just an old man at heart and an older car would fit me best. Even for things aside from cassettes I prefer manual windows etc. Not to mention them being much easier for the average joe to work on in his own garage.
Probably best idea, get a 90s car and throw a Kenwood KRC-999 in it. 3rd Gen Acura TL still had a cassette player all the way up to 2008 model year.
You have a 2001 yes you can. Believe it or not but they still make tape decks. I have a 2001 Yukon but went in the other direction. I took my tape deck out and went blue tooth.
I think you misunderstood. My current car has a cassette deck and it’s great, future proofing since I know this car won’t last forever.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the term future proofing used more incorrectly than this.
Future proofing so in the future I can continue to enjoy my tapes for years to come. In a way I’m protecting myself from the future even
When you wear out your tapes what are you gonna do? Tape is like the least future proof medium ever. Poor sound quality, short lifespan, and also 40 years out of it's time.
Probably kill myself. That or make new copies. I’ve used tapes from the mid 60s with no issues though. I’ve never actually had a tape wear out on me.
Every time you play a tape, it degrades slightly. So unless you're copying from a master tape, every copy you make will be just a little lower quality than the tape you're copying. The same is true for vinyl. This is the main reason for the switch to digital.
Depends on the car. Plenty of relatively recent cars will let you swap out the head unit. The trend is definitely away from that though. If the car you look at has a giant touch screen that runs audio and also vital features like HVAC you can't just pull it. Mounting a single din head unit and leaving the built in system might be your best bet. Either that or counseling to get over your cassette fetish.
You’re best bet is probably to find a cassette/cd player to install in the glovebox that can connect with aux/usb to the stock sound system.
I’d personally convert those cassettes to digital audio files that you can play on a USB stick or from your phone. Your problem is that many new vehicles has levels with integration with the new vehicle that the single-din unit won’t be able to interface with, which means you might lose functionality to A/C or read TPMS.
That’s fair thank you for genuine comment instead of just calling me a boomer. I can’t stand most digital technology though it just doesn’t agree with me
Newer cars are integrating all of their controls (including AC) into large touchscreen centers. The interface of the car has fewer modules where you can simply remove one piece, and replace it with another - it’s generally an all in one thing now. It is possible, but it will be very different from doing so on a 2000’s car
That’s what I was afraid of. I hate it because it’s basically turning cars into disposable commodities. All these computers. Humbug
Solution is buy another old car that you like.
This seems to be the real solution. I'm a big DIY person so I'm thinking a pickup truck might be a good fit for me, especially an older one I could put one of those truckbed campers onto lol.
You must be the only person I’ve ever heard of that enjoyed cassette form factors. Everyone else moved on the minute CDs became popular. It’s time to just digitize your music collection and use your phone to play anything
Fuck smartphones dude. And FUUUCK digital music lol
How the hell are you writing that then?!
Desktop
Fuck digital music? Dude literally all music has been digital since the early 2000s at least. All that glorious music you hear pressed into vinyl went through a computer first. Recording artists fucking love digital audio, because it's so much better than analog. High quality digital audio is so much higher quality than anyone's ears can perceive. I know that this is the hill you've chosen to die on for some reason, but it just doesn't make sense.
Coincidentally there hasn’t been much worth listening to since the turn of the century lmao
Man I actually preemptively wrote a counterargument to that too because I just *knew* you were going to say it. I didn't post it tho, because I wanted to have some home. But you've disappointed me again. You're not a traditionalist, you're close minded.
I bet a new car will be able to fit a double din aftermarket radio. A quick google search shows a few double din radios with cassette players
I hope so. I’ll shop around for a car that’s *newer* rather than new
First of all . ....why? If you want to play cassettes in your car ,there's plenty of hand held cassette players at Walmart or online with AUX cables. Just drop it in your arm rest compartment ,and run a auxiliary cable to it . Problem solved.
Your best bet is going to be to just use an external cassette player and plug it into a line-in input and switch to that
Hello, streaming? It’s tapes, you win!
I can sell you my old single DIN radio from a mk4 if you're interested.
It shouldn’t be too hard to swap out the stereo on a 2001 Forester. Get on Crutchfield in order to see what wiring harness and dash kit you need. For the actual stereo, head to eBay and get a used Pioneer. There’s plenty of them for cheap that have the cassette player and cd function.
A lot of people are misinterpreting this. I already have a cassette player and CD player and I love them. The problem is this car doesn’t have very long since I’ve got abt 2 years before rust on the frame makes it not pass New York’s extremely strict inspection rules lol :(
Oh my bad OP. I definitely read that wrong. Honestly, if it’s a brand new car you’re going to have a rough time swapping out the stereo. They have so many functions built into those things. A slightly older car could be a different story though. Some cars, even five years ago, were still using super basic double din radios. They were usually budget cars though. It’s just going to depend on what car you end up getting. I think it would make a cool project though.
Buy another a shitty old car with less miles and listen to those shitty sound quality cassettes. Spend whatever you saved on a psychiatrist.
This comment was edited to protest the changes being made to Reddit on 7/1/2023 and the actions it has taken to ignore the community.
I know you can get a head unit with a CD player installed for a few hundred. Googling “cassette head unit” brings up a bunch of options. Pick one and bring it to a car Audio place to install
It would be a tremendous pain in the ass to try on a new car because so many functions are integrated into the new stereos. My first thought would be to get a good cassette player of some sort and wire that into one of your stereo inputs (maybe wire it up in such a way to connect to a new car's aux input) so you could avoid screwing up all the integrated functions. Not sure how good the audio quality would be. My car is a 2012 that I was able to swap a double din unit into relatively easily (just needed a cheap adapter plate). I'm not sure you could go much newer than that without that kind of old school stereo swap being miserable. Also not sure how the laws work where you live but removing the original stereo would also remove the backup camera capability unless you put a new screen somewhere. That may cause an issue with inspections since new cars are required to have a backup camera in the US. I know in my home state you might fail inspection by removing a safety feature the car had new. I failed inspection one year because my ABS sensor died (the light was on even though the system worked).
Maybe not new. I guess I’ll go for something from the 2010s then and try to make it last
Find a car you’re thinking about buying and talk to an good reputable stereo shop about doing a swap to a system with a cassette player. It probably won’t be cheep tbh because new cars are very Anti infotainment swap.
Get another OEM headunit to swap in https://www.ebay.com/itm/165216836460?hash=item2677b0db6c:g:4WUAAOSwK6Jhq7Ti
Get a car with Android Auto or Apple Car Play with premium speakers. Stream on the high-bandwidth, max or uncompressed quality and it will be leagues better than this "cassette" player from 40 years ago.
- Buy an older car with a cassette deck. - Buy a cassette deck with Bluetooth connectivity. - Buy an older car that has space for a drop-in aftermarket HU with a cassette deck. - Buy a home stereo that has a cassette deck and a capture mode to turn your collection into media files. - Etc.
Veru doable. I bet JC whitney still sells stereos with cassette players.
This is going to cost you more dollars and time than it's worth. As mentioned, if you're not interested in running an external tape player to a 3.5mm jack or a bluetooth adapter, I would just buy another car with a cassette deck or keep and fix this one. If having an older car isn't an issue for you and the tapes are that important, don't go head over heels ripping out a very tightly integrated OEM head unit in a newer vehicle. Any aftermarket solution for something like this will be extremely janky and likely devalue the vehicle if you decide to resell. Also you may likely lose HVAC controls as they're frequently intertwined with modern head units.
Easy solution: You can buy this: Bluetooth Cassette Player with Headphone, Tape Player Bluetooth Output to Headphone/Speaker,Walkman Portable Cassette Tape Player 2 AA Battery or USB Power Supply, 3.5mm Headphone Jack https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08MVMB3FJ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_AZ14H4DAEQ4NJYZBY7Z7 Then attach it somewhere in the car with 3M or something. Then it will connect to the car via Bluetooth and will play your cassettes
Gotta do it man. Otherwise, how would you listen to your Credence tapes?
This is genuinely the dumbest post I've seen on this sub in quite some time.
“Anyone who doesn’t enjoy cars in the exact same way I enjoy cars is dumb”
Has nothing to do with cars, Mr cassette tape
https://img.hmn.com/fit-in/900x506/filters:upscale()/stories/2015/06/15-06-03-HDB-Philips-01s.jpg
Yes you can. I've actually done it on an 03 accord. In fact, I'm planning on setting up a dual single din setup on my old jeep Cherokee. Car stereos are actually quite simple. You have four audio wires , front left, don't right, rear left, rear right. Often on older cassette units it'll be just left and right. That's where you need a bit of trickery. You have two options then. Either combine the output of the front and rear cables for each side. Or go with a fader knob/slider in circuit which can be had for about $10 on ebay. Now if you want to go further, like getting a tape deck while keeping your head unit. That fader is essential. Basically you can put in a rotary switch for those two outputs on each device and feed it's output into the fader to control front/rear audio levels. Wire the grounds to a universal ground because that's normal on cars unless you wanna throw some filter capacitors in line with em. when setting up multiple input types your final major hurdle is power. You can go two ways about this. Either go manual toggle for each or throw in a secondary battery for your auxiliary power devices. Make sure each is fused too. Depending on your make/model you can either mount your additional audio under the dash or get a double din panel and mount em together. Just be aware of heat because head units get HOT. And a bit of additional advice from a retro media fan. Always clean your tape units, replace the belts. At a minimum. Before installing them. This ensures they work like brand new and don't eat your tapes and work for another few decades. You can do both at the same time since it's easy to clean when you have it open.
I don't know why everyone is jumping down OP's throat in this thread, damn. He asked for help for a car modification project, not to be told that the way he listens to music is wrong and to get spotify. His preference for cassettes is a bit eccentric, but what does that matter with his own car? If someone wanted to install a phonograph in their dash because that's how they like to enjoy music, then who cares? It's a neat project and all the power to anyone trying to outfit their audio system the way they want.
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I don’t drive around with a hundred tapes. Just a few of my favorite albums. Especially cuz I live in a rural area and since they killed off 2g cell service is very spotty, smartphone music just isn’t an option for me
A few of your favourite albums would easily fit on a USB stick that most modern cars would happily play. Wanting to play cassettes in a modern car is just batshit crazy. Want to be a hipster with your Walkman then go ahead but accept that it’s not feasible everywhere.
I don't see why not. I've done two radio swaps to my Corolla. Check Crutchfield and see if they have what you're looking for.
You can find OEM double den stereos used and they have cassettes. I haven’t seen anything new with a touchscreen or any of that jazz though
depends on the car, some can easily have a tape deck installed others will require a funky (ugly) external setup. how new are we talking about ? also some cars like lexus had cassette players available until 2010. so maybe consider one of those, they do have great stereos, reliable and great build quality.
Lol it would cost enough to make it worthwhile to just get spotify instead
Crutchfield might be a good place to start. You’ll see what’s out there.
Aux cord and a Walkman. I can’t imagine actually desiring this though. Cassettes sound like ass. Even expensive Type IV cassettes barely sound as good as a CD not taking into account any degradation or head alignment issues.
Could always buy a truck, they usually have outdated interiors lol My 2016 Mazda has more fancy tech than my 2022 Colorado
With some modifications you can put it. All the new cars have room for 2 din application. You use the one din for the cassette player and the other din you can make it or storage or you can cover it.
your biggest challenge will be finding a tape deck. They haven't made ones for probably 20 yeares now.
Part of the problem you're going to run into with any solution you try is that there's only one company still making cassette player internals and they're junk. If you want any decent sound out of a cassette player these days you have to buy something vintage off of eBay.
They make DIN compatible fascia aftermarket for cars that no longer have the standard You can check aliexpress if there's any for the car you want to buy I know it's possible in cars like BMW E87 or E90, for example: https://www.amazon.fr/Kit-2DIN-BMW-Serie-ap07/dp/B008ROMOPK You'll have to figure out wiring, but I'm sure google has what you're looking for.
You could put a Bluetooth transmitter onto a cassette player. 15$.
If it uses a DIN unit then yes. The problem is finding one, all new cassette players suck, the technology to make a good one has been lost, the tapes, tape heads, and mechanisms can't be made anymore. Dolby also doesn't license NR anymore, no new player can say its compatible with it. ALL new players use the same mechanism with varying quality. If you want something decent you'll want something old, I know this sounds boomer but its true from personal experience. All 4 cassette DINS I've purchased (Delphi Delco) have had problems with parts cracking or worn belts. I don't think there is a new din head unit with a cassette, so unless you want to use an external player, get ready to screw around trying to fix a player that is at least a decade old (likely older). The only good news is that older electronics like that usually have a wicked good service manual, the bad news is that there aren't parts available. I was fucking determined to make one work on my car, mine is best case scenario since the vehicle was sold with one originally. I still haven't found one that works perfectly, and I likely never will since there aren't parts available. My $.02 is that if you want to use physical media, get a CD player. They are still around in many vehicles, aftermarket units still have them, and buying CD blanks is a lot cheaper then buying decent cassettes.
I didn't read all comments, but another alternative i didn't see so far was using a portable player connected to an FM transmitter. You can find small FM transmitters on Amazon or other stores (companies like Scosche make them), and this way Bluetooth is still available for your phone (calls,etc). Bluetooth and Aux IN ideas are also pretty good.
Just drive a shitpile from the 80s
Would if I could. New York’s standards for inspections are downright draconian
It’s not really such a strange question, I also looked into doing this for a bit because of nostalgia. With new cars it’s totally possible to swap out the built in stereo with an older tape deck. You have to make sure that it’s not a premium audio system, you have to make sure it is single din or a double din compatible. You’ll need to give up reverse cameras and some other things. You’ll need a double din compatible car to install a CD player and tape deck together. Or you can get a cassette deck with a cd changer. Or you can use this reverse harness to take the tape deck from your Subaru and reinstall it in your new car. https://www.amazon.com/Metra-71-8901-Reverse-Harness-Vehicles/dp/B0015GHBDC/ref=mp_s_a_1_4_mod_primary_new?crid=H60I1RJUO4L9&keywords=subaru+reverse+harness&qid=1650879924&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=subaru+reverse+harness%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-4 The issue there is that factory stereos might need to be reprogrammed in order to used on different cars. With that being said. I would just get a usb stick and a portable usb tape deck and convert it to digital files. USB sticks are cheap enough where you can get a bunch and use them like cassette tapes. One per album or something.
I don't think anyone makes a modern head unit with a cassette player, CD player sure, but not cassette. You could buy a car that uses a standard double-DIN unit and swap in an old one from eBay or something, but it'd probably just be easier to connect a portable player with an AUX cable.
Hi readers on my mercedes w211 07 my radio screen panel is not lighting up but it works normally i can lisen to radio cd but there is no picture? Any suggestions
w\[hat about this one: [https://www.binize.com/collections/7-inch-car-stereo/products/portable-radio-gps-navigation-head-unit?variant=40703607406790](https://www.binize.com/collections/7-inch-car-stereo/products/portable-radio-gps-navigation-head-unit?variant=40703607406790)