Review
Have you ever thought about transforming your unused cassette player into a modern day Bluetooth speaker? If so, you're in luck! Introducing the Ion Audio Bluetooth Cassette Adapter. Although its main purpose is to be used in a car stereo with a cassette deck, you can use this adapter in a home cassette player as well. Even if your cassette player cannot play audio cassettes properly or at all, this nifty little adapter will still work.
What's In the Box
Inside you will find the adapter itself, a micro USB charging cord, and some paper work.
Specs
The adapter is the size of a normal audio cassette, however, if you take a feel around, you will notice the differences. On one side of the cassette you will find an on off switch, and the slot for your Micro USB adapter. Just below that you will find this small thing that is moveable. When pulled down with your thumb, it reveals a microphone hidden inside. Since this adapter is mainly for use with a car stereo with a tape deck, the microphone is for making hands free calls. Once you have pulled out the microphone, you will notice it only has one button. This button is so you can play or stop your music, answer or end calls, and activate Siri.
Paring Your Device To the Adapter
There are two ways to pair this device with your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
Method 1
Put the cassette adapter in your tape player, and press play. You should hear an ascending tone. If you don't hear it at all, you may need to turn the cassette adapter over and try again. If nothing works, you may need to charge the adapter for a while and then try again. Once you've heard the ascending tone, you should hear another tone, which at this point go to your settings, then Bluetooth. The device "Cassette BT" should show up in the list of devices. When it's paired, you will hear a brief ascending tone, and then you will magically hear Voiceover on your cassette player. You may need to turn up your paired device's volume to hear everything clearly.
Method 2
Flip the on off switch to the on position. From there, you should see a flashing blue light, or wait a few seconds. At this point, go to your devices settings, then Bluetooth. The device "Cassette BT" should show up in the list of devices. Once selected, if you are using Voiceover, you should hear no talking. This indicates that the adapter is paired. At this point, you should flip the adapter's on off switch to the off position, then put it in your cassette player and press play. Just like in method 1 for device pairing, you should hear an ascending tone. If not, you should turn the cassette adapter over and try again. If that doesn't work, you may need to charge the adapter for a while and try again. Once you've heard the ascending tone, just wait a few seconds and you should hear a brief tone. From there, the adapter has connected to your device.
Battery Status and Charging
While the adapter is turned on, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will show you what the battery status is. You can use this information to determine when to plug in the cassette adapter for charging.
Usage and Observations
One thing you may notice is that you may hear a lot of rattling from the adapter. For cassette players in which there is a pause button / switch, when pressed you will still hear music on your player. That should solve the problem with the rattling. Also, a word of warning when it comes to the microphone that came with the adapter. If you attempt to use it, let's say, with Siri or for phone calls, Siri or the other person on the line will not be able to hear you really well. Your voice breaks up constantly, and it sounds really horrible in general. Other than that quirk, playing music isn't a problem at all. Also, there is no noticeable delay from when you perform a Voiceover gesture to when you actually hear Voiceover talk, which I think is wonderful.
Conclusion
I have had this adapter for two days and I like it. I find it amazing that someone has come up with a solution in which you can use your cassette player to listen to music from a modern device. So, for those who still have one or more cassette players laying around and those who are on a tight budget who cannot afford a Bluetooth speaker, the Ion Audio Bluetooth Cassette Adapter may be the solution for you.