Did you check Amazon?

No, I have not. Do you know if new ones are still being produced?

I couldn't say for sure but there seem to be a lot of satisfied customers on Amazon if you check out their reviews. Plus I've found Amazon has a great refund policy.

Thanks I will look into it.

Another approach would be to buy what's called a "cassette adapter". They're inexpensive.

They look like a cassette tape but they have a wire coming out. The wire will plug into the headphone jack of your smart phone, ipod, ipad, or other music player, and so route the sound from those devices into your car audio system.

With some (now) old car cassette players, the tapes go in sideways. Others go in straight, the wide way. Be sure if you get a cassette adapter that the wire is coming out the open side (meaning, facing the back bumper) when it's inserted into the player so that it's accessible and doesn't get stuck in the tape handling mechanism.

Nothing wrong with used ones if you get good quality in good condition. I have plenty of tapes recorded in the 80s that are in fine shape. The tape itself has not deteriorated just from sitting.

They do make new ones, but I find that high quality used ones are generally made better - the internal mechanism especially.

Check your local Craigslist, garage sales, etc. too. Many people are unloading their 'obsolete' recording media. Whereas I tend to accumulate it. :-]

I understand after a number of years the tapes deteriorate.

I know what you mean about new ones most likely are not as well made as older ones. I certainly have found this to be with every thing I have replaced in the last few years is already going bad.

I tend to accumulate also and not get rid of on a lot of things.

Amazon sells them for a for less than a $1.50 each.

And at least Maxell (HItachi) still makes them.

Perfect I will go to Amazon right now. Thank you so very much.

I don't see why you are using cassettes when you can use a smartphone like the iPhone or a MP3 player or flash drive and have tens of thousands of songs, ebooks, movies, TV shows or audiobooks store at your leisure that will last 100 year or more! I have an iPod Touch that has 64Gb of storage and I have over 37,000 songs, 90 ebooks, 2 movies, 8 TV shows and 30 audiobooks on it! It still only 60% filled up.

I think you need to update your technology!

This post was edited by harry_wild on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 2:43

How does a MP3 player work in a car? What does it plug in to?

We do not have a cell phone as we do not get service in the area that we live. I am thinking a Smart phone wouldn't do us any good if we do not have service.

A car that's less than 5 or 6 years old should have an auxiliary (AUX) input that you can use to connect your player to your car audio.

If not, my prior post in this thread from nearly a month ago suggests a different approach if your car has a cassette tape player.

This will solve the cassett issue. I just may look into this. I printed this out and will go to Best Buy and talk with some one there. We have two cars that have the cassetts players in them.
We could even use it in the newer car that has a jack.

Christmas is coming up soon and this would be a great time to invest in one.

I am very behind on all the new technology.

Harry: Believe it or not, amplifiers are STILL made with vacuum tubes (McIntosh, for example). And up until recently, reel to reel tape decks were still made (Otari MX5050). There are people out there willing to spend money for high end equipment.

An real audiophile would laugh if (s)he were asked
to trade a JBL L112 speaker for a bluetooth one.

The fact that my 25 year old Otari still runs speaks volumes for the quality of the machine. Let's see a POS CD or iPod last that long

The OP wants cassettes. Nothing wrong with that

hi tom418,

Just pointing out that technology keeps on getting smaller, better and more portable. You cannot do better the today's system on a chip. After all, it now the internet age. You can get recordings at Studio Quality masters on iTunes Store. Reel to reel cannot capture this quality recording since it is not digital. As a matter of fact; iTunes song is over 20 times more dense then any reel to reel recording ever made.

This post was edited by harry_wild on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 16:56

>Reel to reel cannot capture this quality recording since it is not digital.

There are many, many people in the sound/music industry who would totally disagree with that statement, FWIW.

Guess what, I went to the local store to pick up some CD cases. Going to make some new CDs. Yep, I still use these also.

Right next to the CD cases were you guessed it blank 90 minutes Cassets! Snapped them up in a hurry. Came home and made some new cassets.

My husband has a 1951 Chev Pickup that he put a casset/radio in it years ago. Now, he has some new ones to play.

I am still going to look into a i pod for the 65 chevelle which uses CDs.
In our house we still use a CD player, it will hold 5 at a time and use the ster =io equipment to make copy our cassets.
Thanks everyone for your in put. I learned some new things here. Its always great to have more updated information.

I guess, it get down to technology you are familiar with and is the easiest for one use. Many people are still threaten by technology - even in today's internet age. That why reel to reel users are still around - they are lost in the 60s analog era and never got out in the real digital world. For example, I sure their are people who are still using the CRT TV to view stuff. They don't care to compare one's 1960s CRT black and white TV to the new 32 million color 4K LED TV. It still the great to them because that all they are familiar with. LOL!

But the way; nothing is being recorded in any major studio in reel to reel anymore. It all on the computer hard drives - mostly on SSD type drives. The control mix board are connected to software on a computer and hooked up to the audio system - speakers!

This post was edited by harry_wild on Sat, Sep 6, 14 at 11:17

Harry: Those of us using half track reel to reel machines (Like my Otari) are NOT threatened by technology. I have to match the eq (IEC or NAB) setting , set the bias levels to match the brand of tape I'm using (they're NOT made new),etc

We're lost in the 60's and want something easy to use? I bet most CD buffs couldn't even thread these machines, let alone make proper adjustments to bias/eq.

Half track machines are NOT comparable to your uncle's TEAC, Wollensak, Akai, or the like.

And if you've never heard equipment like McIntosh, Apt Holman, etc. then you're really missing something.

I learned this having worked at Harman Kardon in Plainview, and Stanton Magnetics, both on Long Island

This post was edited by tom418 on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 16:17

I really don't want to be in an argument but one argues from a point of weakness when one denies that some of the "older" stuff is not as good or better than the best of today's "modern" stuff.

Not talking eight tracks or steel wire recorders here, y'unnerstand.

It's not a matter of misplaced nostalgia for the good old days. To deny that is to have not compared things in the real world and found the whiz-bang stuff is so awfully lacking. It's truth, it's actual, it's observed.

And, to comment obliquely on one really stupid opinion above, we should all be shooting major motion pictures on our cell phones, no?

Now that I am finished with my summer and fall canning I can try to find the cassett player adaptor. Its been a busy summer.

Just last weekend I thought about the adaptor and wished I had it in our car. We went to a car show 120 miles from home. I was wishing I an IPOD set up or MP3 or something else.

In another two or three years; you will get Wi-Fi for the car! Cellular will still be there too! You will not even need a smartphone or iPod or MP3 player. It will be in your audio system in your car! You still have to pay however!

I would try Ebay over Amazon. Amazon is great for newer products but something as dated as cassette's is much easier to find on Ebay

Here is a link that might be useful: Ebay

While you are looking for cassette tapes, you might want to look for a spare tape player as well. Those units will start to fail, mostly due to rubber belts and wheels. And be sure to keep heads and guides clean - better for the tape and better sound. The cassettes themselves last pretty well, not like reel to reel tape that has to be baked before playing.
Oh, and for the record, I'll take any 30ips Dolby SR master over anything digital - except maybe DSD.;)