I think after almost 8 years and 150K miles my tape player has died on me. I went to listen to my ipod this morning and the tape spit back out. Thinking it was the adaptor, I switched it out for a working one when I got home, but that did not work spit that one out too. Is there any way to fix it. Does it just need to be cleaned? Can it even be cleaned?

 

DUDE!! i am having the same problem, i was listening to Kingdom Hearts music on my phone then all of sudden my tape deck decide to spit out and switch to FM then freaking Miley Cyrus came on the radio LIKE WRECCCCKING *****, i almost had an accident, i thought i didn't insert it well or the spring inside the tape is loose so i force it in hard (yes that's what i said) but it keep spitting out few second later.

I never try switching to another tape to test but I dont' think the dealer would wanna bother testing it even tho my car is CPO




this is what i used, not sure why the bad review but i have had it for 8+ years and sound is superb.

for the last few months before my car keep spitting the tape out i could hear loud clicking clicking clicking clicking noise sound like something grinding inside.



this came out not long ago i don't know if i wanna give it a shot, thinking of spending few hundred on a VAIS and call it a day... will see

 

if you have CPO, it should be covered no problems lol.

 

Guys forget the tape deck and install the Vais kit or I simple you will be happy as can be. It's about an hours worth of work. You can play your ipod or plug in a USB hard drive.

Good luck

 

Continuing to use the tape deck is sure as hell a lot cheaper of an option for them if they've been happy with it thus far.

 

I tried to use my tape deck with an adapter, but the sound quality is just horrible. The VAIS unit is well worth the couple hundred bucks. I'm embarrassed my car even has a tape deck haha. Might as well have a record player in the trunk.

 

You are correct of the tape deck, I have an 08 and find it odd it's still there. I am sure it's never been played.

Another option is the GTA kit I saw some videos on YouTube about it and looks like a good product also. It runs about 130 the i simple was around 110 and Vais ran me 225. I tried I simple but it messed with all my controls and constantly freeze up. That got old fast. So I returned it and installed Vais. Been happy so far. The only thing you cannot search while driving. I plan to install the bypas kit for that soon.

I like the flexibility that these kits allow their control thru the factory controls. Hence keeping eyes in the road and not fumbling with wires etc.

 

You'll get better sound from a good record player than you will from VAIS actually.

 

If you get the one that emits digital (VML), and not analog, the VAIS will def sound better than tape deck.

I used to use one of those amazon tape deck adapters. Vais tech VML was def an upgrade in terms of sound quality and ability to utilize factory HU and steering wheel controls. Maybe the new one they have now supports the new iphone 5s with the different adapter. The version i have which i got about 3-4 years ago doesn't support it properly. I use my ipod touch 32gig with it.

 

here is their current model the MML. Their website says digital signal. http://www.vaistech.com/site/mml.php $249 was pretty much the same price when i got the VML years back.

 

I purchased a cleaner/demagnetizer from Radio Shack because I read that someone fixed the problem with the tape popping out but that still did not work. I found an old fm transmitter from way back when....nothing more to say on that subject. It's a piece of crap probably why I never used it. I mainly listen to audiobooks so I was not too worried about sound quality for the audiobooks. So it looks like I am going to look at buying one of the iPod adapters.

 

Oh yeah, tapes never sounded good... but vinyl still sounds better than CDs and definitely way better than MP3s.

 

Random and OT, if you do replace your HU you can use your tape deck as the perfect gum pack holder.

 

So I got the ISimple installed yesterday, First impressions, I thought the user interface would be similar to newer model Lexus and iPod intergration. But it is not. If u want to control to iPod from the iPod, it must be on aux 1. I will probably use this one. I can use the steering wheel controls and the buttons and the radio. If you want to see the songs that are playing. It has to be on IPod mod. But in iPod mod, it locks out controls on the iPod. And you can Only Move up and down song in the current playlist you are in. You can not move to a different playlist using the cars radio controls. For Aux 2, you can use the aux cable for another source.

I noticed there is a delay when switching from aux1, aux2, iPod and at time the iPod does not play. I have to disconnect and reconnect to get it to work. Still learning all the tricks to this.

The tech also said the iPod will continuously charge even when the car is NOT turned on. I may want to disconnect the iPod before I get out the car.

Overall, going from a tape deck to the isimple is still a 100% improvement. I just need to set my expectations.

 

Good luck with the i simple for some reason mine always locked up and it would not respond to any screen inputs tried all sorts of settings etc. Mine may have been bad not sure. I returned mine and got Vais. No issues so far good luck with yours.