Where, and for what price, can I purchase an adaptor or device that
will allow me to play cassettes through my car CD player? Adaptors
that let you plug in a portable CD player through your car's cassette
deck are common; I need something that will let me do the opposite.

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Request for Question Clarification by bio-ga on 19 Jan 2003 21:29 PST

Hi Riviera,

Does your car stereo has an AUX input? If so, you can easily buy a
cable that connects your MP3 player's headphone ouput to the AUX
input. Note that the AUX input *may* not be on the front side of your
stereo, and may require you to have it checked by a technician.

If not, the other solution is to buy a relatively inexpensive car
amplificator and connect both the car CD player and the MP3 player to
it. You may have to turn one unit off while playing the other, though.

Please inform about the case.
Regards
Bio

I've been on the lookout for such a device myself.  I don't think that
this device exists; the best solution I have found is a cassette
player (with a speaker rather than headphones), which I believe you
can plug into the car lighter.  However, if no one else shows
immediate interest in your question, perhaps I'll take a look and see
if someone has created the device you've described.

Oh my!  Isn't this a sign of the times!  Next thing you know, we'll be
stuffing vinyl into our DVD players!  Interesting question though, I'm
curious to find out if such a device exists.   If your CD player has
an FM tuner, you can use a "car stereo transmitter" and a portable
tape player.

Sign of the times, indeed. Strangely enough, the reason I need such a
device is *not* to play cassettes. Let me explain: Last year I spent
$180 on a nice portable MP3 player (the type that plays from CDs
rather than from a built-in hard drive). Since my car stereo had a
cassette player, I was able to use a cassette adaptor to play my MP3
player through the car's stereo system. Well, I've just traded in my
old car for a newer car, and the newer car happens to have a built-in
CD player rather than a cassette player. However, the built-in CD
player isn't modern enough to be able to play MP3s. When I bought the
portable MP3 player, it was specifically so I could listen to MP3s in
the car, and now I haver this nice, expensive player that I can't use.
I can't afford to buy a whole new car stereo with MP3 capability. So,
ironically, it's not that I want to be able to use outdated technology
such as cassettes; rather, I need to use outdated technology in order
to take advantage of the *newest* technology! An odd situation,
indeed!

You can find products to do this as legomaniac-ga has suggested by
typing in "car stereo transmitter" in the new www.froogle.com search
engine.
My only concern is based on experience with these devices myself.
You will find cheap models in the 20-30 dollar range, but you will
have to hand tune them to match a digitally tuned FM car stereo.
If this device is not digitally tuned then there is no guarantee that
you will ever get an acceptable match in frequencies. The only problem
with getting a digitally tuned model is that you will pay the price
of a new car stereo ($100 and up).
I built one of these devices from a kit - big mistake.
The only real benefit I gained was soldering experience.

Why not just hook a tape player's output to your computer, and burn a CD?

Assuming that your car stereo has an FM radio, the Irock! 300w
Wireless Music Adapter will do the trick.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006BAKJ/ref=pd_sr_ec_ir_e//102-9160700-3678564?v=glance&s=electronics

I've seen it in Radio Shack sales flyers, but I can't locate it on
their website.