Remember back when people carried Sony Discmans in their cars, and used those cassette adapters to listen to them through their tape decks? Well, while a lot of those same cars are still on the road, the Discman has now given way to the MP3 player. That's why ION Audio has released its Cassette Adapter Bluetooth.
First of all, there are already cassette adapters that will let you listen to MP3 players, but they all require the one to be hard-wired to the other. The ION device, however, is wireless.
It looks just like a cassette, but contains a Bluetooth receiver. When inserted in a car's tape deck, it automatically turns itself on and picks up audio streamed from the user's Bluetooth-enabled music player. As a result, that audio is pumped out of the car's speakers – just like it would if it were on good ol' magnetic tape.
Not only can the adapter be used to listen to music, but it also allows drivers to take calls on a paired phone hands-free. It's powered by a USB-rechargeable battery, that should be good for about six hours of use per charge.
The Cassette Adapter Bluetooth was recently unveiled at CES, and should be available in the spring (Northern Hemisphere) for US$40.
Source: ION Audio via Digital Trends
Yea, I have a car with a cassette deck.
The only reason I can think of to not incorporate the "auto-power" system is that electricity generation creates significant drag. Most of the tape decks I've seen internally are belt driven so I imagine you'll probably just cause the belt to slip and possibly break over time.