I’ve recently discovered the joys of Spotify. I would like to listen to Spotify in my car; in the Mrs’s car we’ve fitted a modern stereo, with line in and Blueteeth, so that’s no problem. My car has the original stereo, with a cassette player and a CD player.

Are the Bluetooth cassette adapters any cop? I used to have a cabled one and the quality was awful; is the modern equivalent any better?

Or should I just spend a bit more and whack a new stereo in (DAB would be nice too, to be fair).

FM transmitter? No idea what the quality is like tho?

What about downloading your playlists to your device then rigging up a headphone jack to your aux input if you have one?

I tried a Belkin TuneCast transmitter and it was woeful. There was loads of interference and it needed frequent re-tuning when local radio stations were using the band that it was.

Tried it on a trip to the Lake District from South Wales. I gave up by the time we got to the Midlands and listened to the radio instead.

If you’re lucky enough to have a cassette deck then the old style cassette with 3.5mm jack will be better and more reliable than the more modern fm transmitter type. You should be able to get one in maplin, failing that eBay is the answer

Having said all that I’ve just bought a dab/fm transmitter thing off Amazon which also has an input for an mp3 player. Only had it 24hrs but performance so far has been pretty good, it was £50ish

I tried an FM transmitter and it was rubbish, as stated by jam1e. I ended up with a CD emulator cable adaptor thing which has been very good, but your stereo would need to have a plug on the back for CD changer input(it uses this and pretends to be CD source). As above aux input is ideal if you have it.
Edit not plug on the back,socket on the back

I went from a works van with Aux in to one without, I begrudgingly bought a Sony cassette adaptor from ebay and I was stunned at how good it was. Perhaps the cheapies give them a bad name. The only downside was the cassette itself squeaked so between songs/end of an album etc you could hear it but sure I could have sorted it out.

Sometimes you can retrofit the manufacturers Aux in kit or even one that works via a CD changer socket to the existing radio, a bit of Googling on the radio model will give you the answer.

P.S Never had much luck with FM Transmitters, too much competition from other stations.

I have a cheap A2DP adaptor which advertises as a Bluetooth connection to my line in. The quality is OK, but I never remember to charge it .. could be solved with cig > mini usb power but it all seems to defeat the object of a clean hassle free connection. One day I might get around to building it into the dash fascia.

I’d stick with a cassette adaptor to headphone jack, or replace the stereo. Beware cheap EBay stereos, I picked up an A2DP one for £30 brand new, but it never remembered pairing or settings – it may have been the adaptor loom not powering it properly though perhaps.

I have a Belkin Tunecast dialled to 87.6, and it’s excellent.

Not all cassette adapters are created equally.

I had an utter bobbins one (pound shop) which sounded terrible. My Maplin one was considerably better.

Might be worth mentioning that Aux sockets can be squirreled away in random places. I’ve seen them in the centre console, in the glovebox, under the armrest cover, behind the armrest. There might be something behind the head unit that you could connect to, alternatively.

It was a while ago but I used to use one of those cassette adapter things with an mp3 player and don’t remember any particular problems with quality beyond what I’d expect from a tape deck. IIRC mine was a Sony branded one too, maybe the cheapie ones are particularly inferior?

Cheers all, I may just give a cabled cassette adapter a crack – pretty sure the one I used to have was a cheapy so that might’ve been the issue.

The Bluetooth cassettes appeal ‘cos my car has very little by the way of cubby holes (it’s an MX-5) so there’s not really anywhere to put a phone that’s cabled in…

Pretty sure there’s no aux anywhere; might be worth having a look at the back though, see if there’s anything for a changer.

I’ve used an fm transmitter and the important bit is to place it near to the antenna and not the radio itself. In my car this was on the roof at the back so putting it on the back shelf worked a treat.

On a 5 just replace the stereo – easy DIY job, £80 ish on a new head .. had a minidisc player fitted to mine some time ago for £120 all in, as they only charged me a tenner (as I was getting a cat1 alarm fitted). Keep it neat.

Agreed – not all cassette adapters are equal – I had a few, some were great, some were terrible, and wasn’t a case of the more you spend the better either.

Yeah I might just man up and replace it… Not sure on how long I’m gonna keep the car is the issue there, but I suppose I can always take it out again!

I got a Sony cassette adapter off ebay, seems fine.

Just get the DAB slapped in… Job done

Just get a Pioneer/Sony/JVC/Kenwood single-DIN DAB head unit and replace the existing unit, and keep the basic original for re-fitting later.
Or just sell it with the car and buy a new one for any replacement car, the quality will have improved and price dropped in the meantime.
They’ll all have a front USB port, so any mobile can be easily connected to use as satnav, streaming audio or MP3 player.