Just curious, since TL in the only vehicle in Acura's stable that still comes with this artifact of last century's technology

Do you use the cassette deck to play cassettes, or for some other innovative purposes?

 

I've had my car since Nov. '06 and have not used it yet.

 

is it possible to convert that part of the head unit into the media player or some kind of adapter that'll play mp3 music?

 

Yea with enough money and work, anything is possible

P.S. I still used the tape player in my 99 to listen to old Jimmy Buffet tapes before I installed my new head unit.

 

I know some people use it with a tape adapter to plug in their mp3 players. Better quality than a fm modulator.

I didn't have one in my previous car and when I got this one I pulled out my old mix tapes to listen too. Stuff I will never get on cd. Live events etc.. etc..

 

Back in 2005 I tried to obtain a circuit diagram for the OEM TL headunit to determine which leads were the left/right and ground circuits for the tape deck -- in so much as to re-wire so that I could create a mini-stereo plug interface. Problem is.. that the tape deck is activated by a tape being placed into the deck which then switches the headunit to the tape input ..

I wasn't willing to do too much of a science experiment with a several hundred dollar Acura headunit to determine how to make this happen. Therefore I ended up create a stereo switch that tapped into the XM radio input .. works very nicely.

 

Hmmm, funny this thread came up. It has been staring me in the face for 3 months.. I dug into the closet and found a box of cassettes I saved from back in the 90's. I haven't had a tape player in my car since 1988. I found myself playing 'party mix' tapes I made back in 1985, off of 45's!! Fun to hear those scratches and that awful distortion due to wear on the inner tracks (they were borrowed 45's, which is why I recorded them)..

GEEZE, did I REALLY listen to that music back then?????????

Rick

 

at least we won't need this poll on the 4G.

 

The salesman told me the cassette deck was there because Acura figured that some people still listen to Books-on-tape.

 

Last time I went to Barnes & Noble or Boarders, all the audio books available were on CDs.

 

Yeah, I understand that the 4th Gen TL will replace the dual-track tape deck with quadraphonic sound from 8-track tapes. I can hardly wait.

 

I occasionally use it to play various mixed tapes that are too long to fit on a CD.

I don't know why it bothers some of you so much. Having the option to use it if for some reason you need to do so is not a bad thing.

Why anyone would want to play anything in MP3 (or other lossy) format is beyond me. Digital music, fine, but MP3 sounds like crap.

 

Mine is used solely and only with the cassette adapter for my Ipod. If my stereo had an AUX port, it would never be used.

 

I haven't ever used it. I should use it once just to check if it work.

 

i have to use it when my parents are in the car and they want to listen to the old songs that they have on tapes.

 

I've used the one in my '05 for old tapes that have no CD equivalent. But I've never had the sunroof open.

 

I have my '07 TL over 3 months now and I never used the cassette player. To be honest, I'm not even sure if it works. It doesn't really matter. As for MP3s being crap, maybe, but 75% of my MP3s are encoded at 192 kbps which I think are ok. Not great, but ok for entertaining me while I also listen to the minimal amounts of wind/road noise as I drive. Dolby Prologic II also helps.

On a related note, most of my MP3s still sound better than XM.

 

What's a cassette deck?

 

I actually put a tape in mine this morning, first time, figured it was worth a shot, just for laughs...

I've got the '07, so I don't care, but some of you might be able to use one of these:
http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/23/t...ereo-cassette/
You can't say the tape deck is worthless..

 

You beat me to it!

 

I owned an 03 TL and never used the deck. I asked the salesman, when I brought my ASM 06, why they still had it. He had no idea.

 

That's a cassette deck? I thought it was a really small and useless storage compartment. Seriously, I don't even know if mine works. All I really use is the FM radio, since my Ipod is hooked up to an FM modulator.

 

That's where I stick the remote for my S50.

 

x2