tape adaptor vs radio transmitter

[Unknown]

hi, i recently purchased my 1st car, an old merc 190e on impulse cause
it was going cheap at an auction and it came with a blaupunkt cambridge
sqm 39. now to my tone deaf ear it does sound ok and the fact its an old
tape player makes it less likely someone will smash my window and try to
steal it hopefully.

the thing is i have a pretty huge music collection (about 4000 songs) on
my iaudio M3 mp3 player and would like to listen to them in the car and
was thinking of getting a tape/radio adaptor and i have 40 gigs worth of
mp3s in my car for under £10.

now the only problem i have is that tapes used to hiss and it was
annoying, i read that the radio transmitters may do the same, anyone know
which is better.

failing that would it be worthwhile upgrading to one of the £70 stereos
you see on ebay which have a usb socket which allows you to connect an mp3
player to it. im not sure if these only work with the usb stick mp3
players but my iaudio isnt locked down by any or the drm crap a lot of
disk based player are so may be ok.

[e-nigma]

"Unknown" > wrote in message
. ..
> hi, i recently purchased my 1st car, an old merc 190e on impulse cause
> it was going cheap at an auction and it came with a blaupunkt cambridge
> sqm 39. now to my tone deaf ear it does sound ok and the fact its an old
> tape player makes it less likely someone will smash my window and try to
> steal it hopefully.
>
> the thing is i have a pretty huge music collection (about 4000 songs) on
> my iaudio M3 mp3 player and would like to listen to them in the car and
> was thinking of getting a tape/radio adaptor and i have 40 gigs worth of
> mp3s in my car for under £10.
>
> now the only problem i have is that tapes used to hiss and it was
> annoying, i read that the radio transmitters may do the same, anyone know
> which is better.
>
> failing that would it be worthwhile upgrading to one of the £70 stereos
> you see on ebay which have a usb socket which allows you to connect an mp3
> player to it. im not sure if these only work with the usb stick mp3
> players but my iaudio isnt locked down by any or the drm crap a lot of
> disk based player are so may be ok.

Being an older tape deck, your best bet may be the transmitter as the tape
deck
could go out at any time now

[Matt Ion]

Unknown wrote:

> now the only problem i have is that tapes used to hiss and it was
> annoying, i read that the radio transmitters may do the same, anyone know
> which is better.

Tape hiss is a factor of the tape, not the deck. Tape adapters don't
have hiss.

FM radio hiss is a byproduct of a weak signal. At the range you're
talking, it also isn't an issue.

Both have limited separation, frequency response and dynamic range, but
of the two, the tape adapter is probably better.


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[Matt Ion]

e-nigma wrote:

> Being an older tape deck, your best bet may be the transmitter as the tape
> deck could go out at any time now

As long as the head and audio electronics work, it doesn't matter. The
most common thing to die on a cassette deck, especially in the car, is
the transport, the mechanical parts that pull the tape through, and the
adapter doesn't use that.


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[Dale Brisket]

Your going to get better sound from a tape adapter than an FM transmitter.
Better yet is a direct input, which your deck likely does not have. Tape
adapters are inexpensive, so try it and if it doesn't move you, save up for
a better head unit.
"Unknown" > wrote in message
. ..
> hi, i recently purchased my 1st car, an old merc 190e on impulse cause
> it was going cheap at an auction and it came with a blaupunkt cambridge
> sqm 39. now to my tone deaf ear it does sound ok and the fact its an old
> tape player makes it less likely someone will smash my window and try to
> steal it hopefully.
>
> the thing is i have a pretty huge music collection (about 4000 songs) on
> my iaudio M3 mp3 player and would like to listen to them in the car and
> was thinking of getting a tape/radio adaptor and i have 40 gigs worth of
> mp3s in my car for under £10.
>
> now the only problem i have is that tapes used to hiss and it was
> annoying, i read that the radio transmitters may do the same, anyone know
> which is better.
>
> failing that would it be worthwhile upgrading to one of the £70 stereos
> you see on ebay which have a usb socket which allows you to connect an mp3
> player to it. im not sure if these only work with the usb stick mp3
> players but my iaudio isnt locked down by any or the drm crap a lot of
> disk based player are so may be ok.

Your going to get better sound from a tape adapter than an FM transmitter.
Better yet is a direct input, which your deck likely does not have. Tape
adapters are inexpensive, so try it and if it doesn't move you, save up for
a better head unit.