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July 29, 2006
Flip the tape, your cassettes are cooked
A sign of the times? Perhaps. It seems that all but the final nail is in the coffin for cassette players.
I am car shopping. Now there's a surprise... It seems I'm always on the look-out, so to speak, but this week when my car gave me a real scare I started getting serious about my search. I tried out a couple websites to "build" my prospective car and see what it would cost for a brand new car (which is something that no one in my family has ever owned, to my knowledge).
I was surprised when I was selecting the electronics for the vehicles... CD players are finally standard (they weren't a couple years back). Cassette players are not an option, for the most part, but when they are (I was even more surprised if they were even offered) it was not like buying that third-hand Nintendo 64 for less than a third of its original price... For die-hards who absolutely need cassette players in their new cars, get ready to pay almost $300 to have one installed before the car leaves the factory. But know that iPod users can get a set-up installed for holding, charging, and updating the little miracle for less than $200.
Fascinating. I got a good laugh out of it anyway, considering that my current car's cassette player doesn't work. I can't find a soul to fix it at a reasonable price and, so, the tape converter I have won't work and I can't listen to my iPod. (No, I don't have an FM transmitter.) So it's the radio for me... and a lot of station flipping.
Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I don't actually own any cassette tapes any more. After our house fire in my senior year of high school, my media shrunk to what few CDs I could salvage. Tapes just didn't fare as well as CDs... not even all of those made it... But I suppose it's good that I don't really have any need for the cassette player, considering I'd have to pay a lot to have one.
Sorry to all of you who are stuck with ribboned tapes. Run those babies till they warp, since once your player breaks you're cooked... Or broke. Or just stuck with a bunch of broken tapes.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at July 29, 2006 11:23 PM
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If you're really dead-set on listening to tapes in your car, portable tape players are still sold for ultra cheap prices, sometimes for 10 cents at yard sales. Get one of those, 2 AA batteries, a cheap set of speakers (Big Lots has some for $5), an AC outlet converter for your lighter (this will be the most expensive item)and lastly, some really good glue. Glue the speakers and tape player to your dashboard, then plug in the speakers to your AC outlet, and let the party begin! The whole project will cost you a lot less than getting a tape player installed, and you'll look pretty fly with a modded car.
Oh and if you need some tunes, I still have a copied tape of Weird Al Yankovic's "Dare to be Stupid." I can lend it to you for a little bit.
-Danny
Posted by: Danny at August 2, 2006 12:29 PM