Coby CA-747 Dual Position CD/MD/MP3 Cassette Adapter Reviews

• Excellent Product

  
  By A1US7XTK43CCJY on 2005-10-26
  This is an excellent product. I have been using it to connect my portable MP3 player to my car audio system. I have been using it daily for over a month and it work EXACTLY as it should. The sound is truely excellent and indistinguishable in quality from my car radio or CD player. The construction quality also seems to be excellent.
  
  One thing I especially like is the coiled cord. I had used a similar product some years ago and the long connecting cord was always an inconvenience - it would hang down and get in the way during use. When you wanted to store the item in the glove box, it would just add to the clutter. With this product the cord stays neatly coiled and out of the way - it does not clutter the dashboard or floor area and is easy to store.
  
  One thing to keep in mind when using any product like this - some (but not all) car tape players have a "skip" mode. When a tape player's "skip" mode is active, it listens for silent portions of the tape. If it is detects any silence for more than a few seconds, it will automatically go into fast forward until it "hears" sound again. If your tape player has a "skip" mode, be sure to cancel this mode - i.e., put the player in "normal" play mode. Otherwise, you will find the tape player trying to "fast forward" over any silent portions of your audio feed.
  
  I would highly recommend this product.
  
  

• having problems with an auto-reverse tape deck?

  
  By A1WX5D3H4P5EOE on 2007-03-27
  I bought this product and found like many other people out there that if you have a tape deck with an auto-reverse feature, that you'll have some problems with just about any cassette adapter. After looking online, I found out how to fix most brands, but not this one. So after tooling around for about half an hour, I figured out how to get this cassette adapter to work in an auto-reverse tape deck. If you open the adapter and look inside, you'll see a small gear between one of the center teeth wheels and the little assembly that contains the guide wheel near the edge of the adapter that can only rotate in one direction. Remove this small gear. This will allow the tape to spin freely in either direction. If you look at the guide wheel, you'll notice that it can shift to two positions. One that protrudes closer to the outside of the adapter and one that has it sit more inside the adapter. Tape this piece so that it stays permanently in one of these two positions. That guide wheel moving is how the auto-reverse in your tape deck knows to activate. After I made these changes, I found that the adapter worked in my Ford tape deck flawlessly. No need for an FM transmitter, after all! Hope this helps those of you with the same problem!
  
  

• The Coby works great!

  
  By A2T64NRJ2OFHK3 on 2006-01-06
  I just got mine, and have tried it in two different front loading car players. It sounds terrific in both. However, the second player is smart, and almost outsmarted me. :-) I found that, if the music isn't playing through the Coby when it is inserted, the player doesn't think a tape is there, and it won't enter play mode. If you turn the volume all the way up, you can hear a fuzzy version of the music anyway, which confused me for an hour or so. Once I realized the music needed to be on, and the Coby plugged into my iPod before putting it into the cassette player, it started working perfectly. Keep this in mind if you have trouble with yours...
  Highly recommended!
  
  

• Wanted to like it, but...

  
  By A3NSBU0ODUT2AO on 2006-11-11
  When I first started using this, I loved it. It worked fine in my car cassette deck and had decent sound. In fact, I bought a second one for my wife. Then, after about two weeks, it stopped working. It would no longer play in my cassette deck, which ejected it as soon as I put it in every time. I tried contacting Coby's support on the Web, but they were unresponsive. Luckily, Amazon took it back for a refund. Note that they no longer sell these directly. Bet they had too many returns...
  
  

• Fixing the auto reverse problem

  
  By A15K3J2BCXBAYL on 2007-05-24
  I just received my unit and was aware of the possible problem with auto reverse when I bought it. But being unhappy with the quality of FM transmitters, I thought the price was worth the risk. When I plugged the Coby into my car cassette it did a couple of auto reverses and then spit the Coby out. Having read the review from 3/07 about taking the unit apart and removing the center gear, I got out my small Philips and had at it(2 screws on one side and a bunch on the other). Be careful because the parts inside the cassette fall out pretty easily. But removing the center gear worked and the sound is very good except for a little clatter from the cassette. I would guess highway noise will cover that up.
  
  
• Excellent product.
  By AHS6PX6H22WW1 on 2006-07-03
  I have been using this Coby CA-747 Cassette Adapter for more than 2 years to use my car stereo to play audio of my DVD-player and CD-player. Until lately, my car tape player kept rejecting it out. I thought it was broken and I was about to buy this same product from Amaonz again. While reading some other people's reviews, I bump into R. Penny's feedback on 10/26/05 about the "skip" mode as following:
  
  "One thing to keep in mind when using any product like this - some (but not all) car tape players have a "skip" mode. When a tape player's "skip" mode is active, it listens for silent portions of the tape. If it is detects any silence for more than a few seconds, it will automatically go into fast forward until it "hears" sound again. If your tape player has a "skip" mode, be sure to cancel this mode - i.e., put the player in "normal" play mode. Otherwise, you will find the tape player trying to "fast forward" over any silent portions of your audio feed."
  
  This is exactly the problem that I was having. By turning off the "skip" mode of the car tape player, my car tape player does not reject the Coby Cassette Adapter anymore.
  
  Again, even if it is indeed broken, I will buy the same product again. Very good product for the money.
  
  
  
• Another tip for systems that eject the Coby CA-747
  By AIJSNHN8T46VC on 2006-07-19
  Clean the heads of the cassette deck per the usual schedule. My Coby CA-747 works exactly as it should as long as I keep the heads clean.
  
  Great value for the price, particularly if you just want to hear your portable over the car speakers and you're not looking for the highest fidelity. And still sounds infinitely better than the wireless FM transmitter I replaced.
  
  
• Royal Buzz Buster
  By A34LFVGWW8JFGM on 2005-06-24
  Don't waste your money. Spend the extra ten bucks and get something that will last.
  
  
• Works Flawlessly.....Until
  By A2ZWPL1EORPY55 on 2007-04-12
  I bought this adapter for my car, it works flawlessly!! However, there is this a warning that says not to leave the adapter in the cassette player while the car is off...I did it just once overnight and it was ruined, luckily, these can be picked up economically. I highly recommend this adapter...and I highly recommend not leaving in the cassette player.
  
  
• Couldn't Live Without It
  By AHBSQ7IJFUBOL on 2005-08-07
  I noticed a bad review here and I'm not sure what that person is doing wrong because I've had my Cassette Adapter for a long time now and have had absolutely no problems with it. I use it every single day, since all my music is on my MP3 player and I'm always driving. It works exactly as it's supposed to and it's cheap. There's absolutely no need to go out and buy an expensive adapter when this one works great.
  
  
• Inexpensive and works
  By A238WU0753MDVJ on 2005-12-06
  Bought this item for my 40GB IPOD, almost bought the itrip but I'm glad I didn't b/c this little tape works perfectly. The cassette adapter is quiet and works perfectly with the IPOD! Also, the cord is long but doesn't get in the way. I recommend!
  
  
• Best adapter out there
  By A23V4P9E7BZLSR on 2005-12-22
  This is the car adapter everyone should get. Just got it for my ipod in my Honda Accord. When I first popped it in, I thought quality was alright but fuzzy, until I started tuning my stereo and ipod. I set my ipod to half volume (great uses less battery!!) and set the car bass a little lower and BOOM. I had near PERFECT quality from this tape. This is my second experience buying a cassette adapter, and my first one kept popping out the cassette player of my car with horrible quality. However this adapter works great. The wire is coiled and very convenient. Highly recommended. Just look at all the good reviews on this product.
  
  
• Finally found one that works
  By A1UB4WWWXTMRTT on 2006-02-10
  I don't usually post reviews, but I thought I'd share my experience to help others save some time. After much frustration trying other brands/car adapters (including 2 tapes: Griffin smartdeck & Monster, and 1 fm transmitter: Monster w/ battery charger) for my ipod, then returning them because they did not work or the sound was not great, this one made me happy because it works exactly like I thought it should. Pretty quiet, and works with my nano ipod, and cassette player in a 2001 honda accord. At first, I couldn't get it work, but then I auto reversed so that the arrow points up. After that, it fell into place. Set my nano volume at about 60-75% and started receiving clear, amazing results.
  
  
• It lasted a week, then it died
  By A3Q5FER7CJOZV on 2006-02-11
  I have gone through three Belkin cassette adapters that have failed so I closely read reviews before purchasing my next adapter. This unit had many good reviews so I tried it. It worked well for a week then, just went dead. Rapping in on a table caused it to start working for a couple hours, then it died again.
  
  
• Great product! For two days!
  By A14RTDL5HMQQ8E on 2006-10-27
  When this adapter first arrived, I thought it was great. The sound quality was excellent, and free of all the distortion and interference I get from using an FM transmitter-style adapter (there are few open frequencies in the SF Bay Area). The first day, I used it for about 20 minutes total (didn't have far to drive), and it worked great. The second day I had a bit farther to drive. After about 30 minutes, it quit. Hasn't worked again since.
  
  I didn't expect it to last forever, but less than an hour?
  
  Yes, it has a 1 year warranty: just send the unit back with a money order ($6) to cover the return postage. Of course, then you're spending more in postage than you originally spent for the unit...
  
  
• Amazing quality.
  By A2HQHVG4GSH4NY on 2006-11-05
  Before I had this, I had a generic cassette adapter. The sound was horrible and it made a terrible, tinny echo. I bought it for my Ford Taurus which costs $800 to add a CD changer to. My wireless FM adapter sounded better than my generic cassette adapter, and it was static city since the antenna is on the opposite side of the car (station wagon).
  
  I was pleasantly surprised when I got this adapter to replace my old one. The sound quality is better than the strongest FM station here, and the coiled cord really reduces the mess in my car. I only had one problem with this, and I think that is because of my car stereo, but I will note it anyway.
  
  After 10 minutes of playing, my car stereo would switch to side 2, then side 1, and display TDE1 and eject the tape. After getting very angry, I found a solution. Simply take the adapter apart, spray WD40 on all the gears, and remove the small gear assembly that prevents the rape from being rewound (was this even necessary? there is no physical tape so it doesn't matter if someone tries to rewind it). Problem solved!
  
  I would definitely get this over any other adapter.
  
  
• Finally, a cassette adapter that works!
  By A6U9C6HGI4XKA on 2006-02-01
  After trying 5 other brands, this is the only casette adapter that has lasted. No more "spitting" out the tape from the player. It's reliable and actually less expensive than the other brands!
  
  
• Doesn't Work With Every Vehicle
  By A3F0ESIF6YWCKB on 2006-08-03
  This adapter would not work AT ALL in my 1996 Ford Ranger. The vehicle's cassette player kept ejecting it. However, it DID work in a co-worker's 1993 Ford Ranger. It also would not work in a 1993 Monte Carlo...same problem.
  
  
• Worked great for a couple of days....
  By A3U4DK07B1YSAQ on 2006-10-04
  I was so excited about how great this product worked when I got it. I had purchased the FM transmitter for my wife and they do not work so great so I thought since my car had a tape deck I would give this a try. I was excited that I had all my ipod music with me, BUT after less than a week it the sound started going down hill to a point where I couldn't listen anymore with it. It is now in a landfill somewhere. My guess is I will need a radio in the car that is ipod compatiable cable. For now just have the radio and CDs I burn.
  
  
• excellent prodct!!!
  By A1BD4AEN06FFMJ on 2007-04-04
  I don't want to spend my time on writing those reviews. But, this one is so good that I am compelled to write one. I've used other brands like sony, maxell, etc. They suck. Especially, the maxell one, I used for three days, for totaly of appx 2hrs. It almost riped my car speakers. This COBY one, the spring cord is very very convenient and looks good (I thought of those big spring wire, but actually it's very narrow wired cord that looks neat. It also generates good quality sound. It's going to worth your money.
  
  
• Reliable, a bit noisy when hot
  By A25CD3NNU10FXA on 2007-04-24
  I've been using one of these for over a year, mostly for listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Sound quality for those is excellent. The only negative I've found is that when the unit is hot its reels tend to click a bit noisily. Since I don't see this mentioned as a significant problem in other reviews it may be an issue with my unit. Keeping the adapter in a cool spot in the car or bringing it indoors are the workarounds.
  
  
• Great sound quality, if yuo can get over the problems
  By A2KCX1C4R9JL6I on 2007-09-20
  It's a tape adapter with a removable plug which is a nice touch, the only problem is that it suffers the same problems all other tape adapters do, mainly, that in automatically rewinding tape decks, under the right conditions(I've noticed this most in very cold weather), the cassette deck in the car will play no audio, rewind, and then spit it back out. It takes a few minutes of reinserting and playing with it until it finally works some days.
  
  When it does work, it works finely and sound quality far surpasses FM transmitter quality, though its not quite CD quality as expected.
  
  
• Inexpensive but not cheap!
  By A3NR67HA27ALT0 on 2008-05-14
  We have an older car with a tape deck. We also have an i-Pod. We own and have used the FM transmitter type adapter for the i-Pod, but the sound quality is not better than your average FM station. We've tried other tape adapters for the i-Pod (Sony, Phillips, Monster Cable), but these were not satisfactory in the end (the Sony kept flipping tape sides, the Phillips did a bit less so, and the Monster had a muddy sound). We just bought the Coby, and the sound and operation thus far excel well beyond all the other brands we've tried. The sound is great and the price cannot be beat.
  
  
• Better than expected!
  By A17JZS90OTISXL on 2005-12-19
  Just got my BMW 330 convertible and had been despiring of ever using my iPod in it. I had listened to friends' Griffin iTrip and other such FM transmitters and I had always been underwhelmed about the quality of sound. Seemed like it was better to listen to the AM stations instead ... Anyway, I'd read about the Coby cassette adapter online and so stumbled onto it at an electronics shop (Harvey Norman). Seemed pretty cheap at S$16.00 (approx. US$10) and when I plugged it into my car, I was blown away by the ease of use and quality of sound. Have had it for less than a week but nevertheless, great stuff!
  
  
• Not bad at all...
  By AJBG7IA75U2OY on 2005-12-21
  This is pretty self explanatory. This cassette adapter works great, I don't have any complaints. It is cheap and effective. As another review mentioned before, I first inserted the cassette adapter and the sound was horrible. But then I flipped it over and it worked perfectly. So don't let that repel you from buying this particular cassette adapter. The only small gripe I have with it is that it should have come with a case or protector of some sort.
  
  
• Great product...excellent way to listen to your MP3 in your car
  By A2TZ07E8PMJ0RF on 2006-03-15
  The sound is pretty close to CD quality when you use your MP3 player. Great alternative to the FM signal adapter. You don't have to worry about static or other noises except your music.
  
  
• YYYAYYY!
  By AKY48JVNPLTUQ on 2006-08-11
  It's very convenient and simple to use - gets job done & makes the car ride so much smoother. Maybe it seemed a little quiet, but that depends on the volume adjustings... I might buy another for the other car. And, its value definitely exceeds the price that I paid. :)
  
  
• Well designed product.
  By A18XKT6P111U2Y on 2006-09-12
  Somebody was thinking when they designed this adapter. The plug that works for either style cassete player, the one where the small end of the cassete goes in first, or the one where the wide side goes in first. Plus the curly cord that doesn't get in the way. The big bonus is the price, it's half the cost of the Monster adapter, and it works great. The reviews of the Monster adapter are very poor. I first bought a DLO Transpod 2 FM Transmitter, big mistake. The sound was about 80% static as there wasn't any line of sight between the Transpod and the car antenna. If you have a car where the antenna is molded into the rear window, it probably would work better. Anyway this adapter and my iPod sound great over my car stereo. There are a few car cassette players that won't work with a adapter, if one adapter doesn't work, none will.
  
  
• Works great, but NOT IF YOU HAVE AUTO REVERSE!!!
  By AUG0C084W05KI on 2007-02-17
  Yeah, I know, they warned me; but I thought I was smarter than the average bear- not so.
  
  If you have auto reverse on your tape player and you cannot shut the feature off, this will not work. It may work for a few minutes at a time, but will always end up frustrating you by switching every few minutes.
  
  If you can turn off the auto reverse (or don't have it), it's a very solid product that sounded great.
  
  For those like me who need a FM transmitter instead of the tape version, I'd suggest the Soundkase FM Transmitter for iPod & MP3s. We've been using it for a week or 2 with good results (and from my research, probably the best results you can get if you can't use a tape connection).
  
  
• Excellent Product
  By A1OG2U295A0SNL on 2007-05-10
  I'm very satisfied with the purchase of this product! Now, with a very little investment, I'm able to enjoy my ipod while in my vehicle. I would recommend this product without any reservation.
  
  

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