Comments on: Why Are Car Stereos So Ugly?

By: James

James — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:35:02 +0000

The cassette adapters are by far the easiest, but unless they’ve drastically improved don’t they still carry that analog hum and low hiss sound?

I agree those old punch buttons? Timeless. In 1992 I drove once through Nebraska with a family car that still have had those bulky buttons and heavy feeling manual dials.

The same reason 1940s metal toasters win out to today’s cheap plastic ones!

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:51:34 +0000

It’s not very elegant, but I use a cassette-shaped adapter thingy that goes in the car stereo, with a cable that plugs into my MP3 player’s headphone jack. Works great and costs less than $25.

By: Claire Walter

Claire Walter — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:02:50 +0000

When there’s a glare on the digital display (which seems like most of the time), I would be happy with a car radio that looks and works like one from 1967 or, for all I know, 1947. I’d be happy with a little mechanical indicator that could be seen in all kinds of light. I’d be happy with buttons that stayed where you set them, even after the car had been in for its 15- or 30,000-mile service, when everything electronic (except for the odometer) gets “erased.”

I don’t own an iPod, but I do have satellite radio in my car, and the digital display also gets caught in the glare.

Claire @ http://travel-babel.blogspot.com

By: Kitt

Kitt — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:11:21 +0000

I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. The stereos were all so hideous! But then the boyfriend bought some doohickey on eBay and wired it into my stereo, with a little switch on the dashboard and a cord sticking out that the iPod plugs into. Works great!

If you want, I can ask him what that doohickey is called. You have to take the dash apart to install it, but if you know cars, it’s not hard.