Wapsi Square Forum

Cassettes.

I vaguely remember playing cassettes when I was a little kid. Like, really little. I also vaguely remember pulling the tape out on purpose, because I was a little kid.

My current car (The FrankenStratus died its final death) has a cassette player and I'm trying to get this cassette adapter to work.

Problem is, the damn thing keeps ejecting almost immediately after I put it in. It goes slow for a little bit, then it goes faster for a little bit, then it ejects.

I've tried flipping it, I've tried fiddling with the buttons, I've tried screwing with the volume on my phone (maybe the signal isn't strong enough?), I've tried inserting the tape while the music is paused, while the music is playing, I've tried pressing play on my phone during various times while the adaptor is in...

I have been p, so far, summarily defeated by obsolete tech. I don't really know what I'm doing here, and most of you are quite a bit older than I am, so I figured at least one of you know what the hell is going on here.

I am more than a little bit pissed that I can't work a damn cassette player. It seems so wrong. I can do all sorts of fancy stuff with a Windows computer, but this simpleton thing has me stumped.

Harrumph.

The adapters have a fundamental problem. They want to be "left in" the cassette deck, but they lack the thing that a cassette deck expects: a tape.

Cassette decks usually drive one tape hub forwards with a motor, and put a bit of mechanical drag on the other (supply) hub to create the proper amount of tension in the tape. They often sense the motion of the supply or take-up hub as a way of knowing that the tape is moving forwards as it should. If the hub does not move, the deck may inspire this as a "tape is at the end, is jammed, or is broken" condition, and may stop playback or perhaps eject the tape.

It sounds as if your cassette deck may be too smart to be fooled by whatever mechanism your adapter may be using to simulate the presence of a tape.

That's sikh...

Perhaps the groove size on the wax cylinders is too narrow for your car's system? Try getting a smaller stylus.

And this is the first I've heard of a "cassette adapter". What does the thing adapt, and how does it connect?

Cassette adapter: Bluetooth version $20 at Walmart, corded versions $5-$15 elsewhere (this GE goes for $6.24 at Home Depot), as low as $0.99 on eBay.

Body inserts into deck, cord plugs into iPhone/Android/MPS player/computer audio or even... a Walkman. Saw that use a few times as workaround to an in-dash unit whose transport was FUBAR.
Cord/bluetooth drives a pair of electromagnets that replicate the fields that would normally be created as the tape passes the deck's heads.

Also used for satellite radio units in cars without OEM or built-in systems. Had one for pretty much all of the cars I had prior to my HHR.

Dave wrote:The adapters have a fundamental problem. They want to be "left in" the cassette deck, but they lack the thing that a cassette deck expects: a tape.

Cassette decks usually drive one tape hub forwards with a motor, and put a bit of mechanical drag on the other (supply) hub to create the proper amount of tension in the tape. They often sense the motion of the supply or take-up hub as a way of knowing that the tape is moving forwards as it should. If the hub does not move, the deck may inspire this as a "tape is at the end, is jammed, or is broken" condition, and may stop playback or perhaps eject the tape.

It sounds as if your cassette deck may be too smart to be fooled by whatever mechanism your adapter may be using to simulate the presence of a tape.

Most of the adaptors have a belt that drives the supply hub off the take-up side.

Having worked briefly (among the many other things i've done) as a repair tech on the damned things, i know that most modern (so to speak, being essentially obsolete tech) sense whether the supply hub is turning and kick off (or reverse) if it isn't.

Turn one hub with your finger and see if the other kne turns, too. If not, then there's your problem.

Glytch, good luck. I remember having a player waaay back when, where if I wanted to listen to a tape. I had to use a nail file on one side and help it wind occasionally.
And now I really want to see StoryGlytch confronted with/stymied by obsolete tech. ^_^

chicgeek wrote:And now I really want to see StoryGlytch confronted with/stymied by obsolete tech. ^_^

Me too! Me too!

lake_wrangler wrote:

chicgeek wrote:And now I really want to see StoryGlytch confronted with/stymied by obsolete tech. ^_^

Me too! Me too!

I think he could quite easily create a mnemonic memory circuit using only stone knives and bearskins.

Dave wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:

chicgeek wrote:And now I really want to see StoryGlytch confronted with/stymied by obsolete tech. ^_^

Me too! Me too!

I think he could quite easily create a mnemonic memory circuit using only stone knives and bearskins.

He'd need redstone dust too

GlytchMeister wrote:

Dave wrote: I think he could quite easily create a mnemonic memory circuit using only stone knives and bearskins.

He'd need redstone dust too

Sticks and Blocks a-plenty, but finding Nether Quartz for the Comparitors will be a toughie. Diamond picks are a bit rare, too.

One last thing; the GMC truck I keep on the road for my good friend has over 400K miles and counting.

The current radio has the benefit of being a 'shaft radio' in that the volume and tuner are actual shaft/knobs vs modern button type radios- with a corresponding virtue of being less than desirable to smash and grab radio thieves.

(Hmmm, even _I_ can tell I've had neither coffee nor breakfast this morning...)

This radio is also a cassette model, and we use that type of adapter when way out in the boonies, between radio stations (the cassette's drive band snapped long ago, but for our purposes, the adapter still functions.)

The point of my ramble is to get the thing to work correctly, and this is a very mechanical radio mind you, you need to really seat the cassette adapter in there firmly, with authority, to get it to seat all the way.

In Glytch's case it sounds more like his cassette transport mechanism is the 'logical' type with motors n' stuff and it's spitting the adapter out like an old VHS machine would. If thats the case then being Stronger and More Forceful isn't likely to produce a better result, but I thought it worth mentioning...

Yeah, this is not a case where percussion maintenance would do much good. It grabs the cassette and pulls it in and spits it out.

I've fallen back on the old FM transmitter I used in the FrankenStratus, but it's starting to die too, so I'll probably go out and find a better adapter that can fool my car. It seems my car is too smart and my adapter is too dumb.