BBC NEWS | Magazine | 10 uses for audio cassettes
Behold: All manner of funky ideas for cassettes, which have now been "declared" obsolete (by the media; read into that what you will) because some outlets have stopped selling them.
I think they're still very useful in cars, as many still have cassette players fitted. They failed to die out in cars due to those CD-to-cassette adapters you could get, and unlike an iPod they don't go flat or rely on trailing leads.
I was going to use cassettes myself in the car, after frustration at my iPod going flat after 2 minutes and issues with the adapter, but Minidisc was a better option (I have an MD recorder in the house, but not cassette, which has been relegated to the loft). Attempts to fit that, however, led to temptation in Halfords which then led to the purchase of a CD player.
As it turns out it's superb: it has the option to attach an MP3 player through a front port but I prefer to pop an MP3 CD in as it "just works" and can be left in the car (the idea of using cassettes in the first place). As a bonus it acts as the best-integrated bluetooth handsfree kit I've seen yet, automatically connecting to the phone as you turn on the ignition and using the existing speakers.
But I digress.
Not everyone wants to fork out £100 for a new head unit, especially the younguns on their first banger where it'd double the value of the car! Until the cassette player leaves the humble panel between the driver and passenger seat, and I've seen them included with relatively new cars too, I suspect the cassette is perfectly alive and well. You'll just have to go somewhere other than Currys.
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
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2 comments:
You may be right. Still, the sound quality of cassettes is so poor compared to CDs and MP3s, I can't see anybody who loves music messing around with them.
Personally, I went to a great amount of trouble to mount my laptop in my car, which now acts as a giant iPod. I used an FM transmitter for a while, but finally bought a deck with a line-in jack, and so I connect the laptop to the deck with a wire. It works really well, and I have about 25 Gig of music on the LT.
A laptop in the car? And I thought I was a geek haha, good one.
I find MP3 CDs more than adequate as there's usually something specific I want to listen to in the car rather than something random.
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