Cassette Tapes Are Back, Don't You Dare Call Them Obsolete

[FlyingPenguin]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/techno ... o-company/

[Err]

I have purchased a few cassettes in the past couple of years due to the fact there was no other way to get a physical copy. I still have my Pioneer 650R. It needs serviced but I don't even know how to get that done. It's not something I'd ever attempt. I've been keeping an eye out on ebay for a good serviced deck from a reputable seller. I just haven't pulled the trigger on anything.

[Pugsley]

My friends Deadpool pinball machine came with a cassette of the soundtrack. We were both like WTF is this doing in here and why did they put the bag that contained it so close to the damn speaker magnet!

Speaking of sound quality... I have a VW jetta for a rental and I don't know whats going on with it but the sound is horrible. I carry a USB stick around with me and in the last few years 80-90 percent of cars will play it. Any way it does not sound like a blown speaker but more along the lines of how the radio is processing the MP3. It kinda sounds like a shittyish stream of music. Like it is some how down sampling the music to a lower bitrate... and there is no low end. Im starting to think that there is a speaker out of phase, but its just strange and I would never buy this car if they all sound this bad.

[Err]

On the Jetta, you may want to see if someone fiddled with the bass, mid, and high. Does it sound bad on an FM station? If so, it just a crappy radio. If not, you're right in that it's processing the MP3s badly. I had a Nissan Altima rental with a crappy radio and I had my phone plugged into the Aux jack. It sounded like it was playing crappy low-bit rate MP3 rather than lossless flac. Anything at low volume had a glassy sound to it.

I think the DA converters in many of these cars are crap.

[Pugsley]

That's exactly what it sounds like. I have everything flat and even messed with them and no difference. FM sounds just as bad. Who gives the OK for shit like this?

[Err]

Who signs off? The guy that figures out he could save $1.00 per vehicle buy using cheap DACs in low end models. They want you pay the $800+ upgrade to the the premium sound system.

I'm really not looking forward to the day I have to get a new car. I'm really hating the direction interiors are going with all touchscreen and no option to have an aux jack. What focus group said they wanted a 10" tablet sticking out of the middle of the dash?

[FlyingPenguin]

The media center in a car is now the most important thing to me. The problem is that until you actually use it, you have no idea how well it works and what the functionality is.

The Navigator I'm driving now has much better audio quality and integration with my iPod (via USB) and phone (via BT) than the Yukon I used to drive. It's the first car I ever had that allowed media to play over BT. But I do miss one feature from the Yukon: it would automatically turn down the AC fan during a phone call.

[Losbot]

Our kids will never know the struggle we had to face.......wait.....maybe they CAN experience it like we did. LOL

[Err]

One thing I forgot to mention earlier. You can't license Dolby NR anymore. All of the new cassettes don't have any noise reduction on them. For the stuff I buy, experimental and ambient, this isn't a problem. I also managed to snag Metallica's "No Life 'Til Leather" demo reissue a few years ago on cassette.

Although I own cassettes, I don't like them. As soon as I installed a CD player in my car, I never made another cassette. For me they were all about portability.