iPod Tape Deck

[johnjohn320]

Hey guys,

Recently bought the SmartDeck thing, basically the iPod tape deck adapter for my car (a 95 Pontiac Grand Prix). It works fine, except there's quite a bit of distortion in the sound, even at a lower volume. For some reason, turning the volume down on the Ipod itself does absolutely nothing, the sound remains the same volume (you control it with your car radio's volume). I thought if I just turned down the volume on the iPod, it would lower the output and help with the distortion, but yeah, can't do it I guess.

Any other thoughts on how to lower the output of the iPod in to the tape deck?

edit-looking at their website, i guess it's supposed to "change ipod's output automatically to avoid distortion." It would appear, however, based on my experience, that it does a pretty ****** job of this.

 

[ultimatebob]

Wow, that's strange. I have a really basic tape deck adapter for my iPod, and I can control the output volume from the iPod itself without any trouble. I found that it sounds best at 60% iPod volume, actually.

It seems that the Griffin Smartdeck has some spiffy extra features that my adapter doesn't have, though. One of those is an automatic iPod output control, so it looks like adjusting it manually from the iPod itself isn't going to work. Hopefully the manual has something about adjusting this, or you might be out of luck. They mentioned on their web site that some automotive tape decks are incompatible with this thing, but hopefully yours isn't one of them.

 

[johnjohn320]

bump

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: VPTRose1289
"all i have to say is ipods are a waste of money", quoted from my main man j-stew.... there to fragile and there just like an mp3 player which u can get half the price and it does the same thing and im outie like my belly button

He asked for help, take your anti-iPod flamebait elsewhere jackass.

Sounds to me like you have the dock connector version of the SmartDeck and not the headphone jack/remote port one. The dock connector only provides line-level audio, so changing the audio on the iPod won't do.
Sorry 🙁

 

[IanthePez]

If you connect the tape deck through the bottom connecter, you can't adjust the volume on the ipod, if you have one that uses the headphone jack, then you can.

 

[johnjohn320]

So basically, i'm screwed?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
So basically, i'm screwed?

Sounds like it. Maybe you could try returning it for one that uses a headphone jack instead.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
So basically, i'm screwed?

Sounds like it. Maybe you could try returning it for one that uses a headphone jack instead.

Yeah, but I bought it at school, and now I'm on spring break over 6 hours away. 🙁 haha oh well.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
So basically, i'm screwed?

Sounds like it. Maybe you could try returning it for one that uses a headphone jack instead.

Yeah, but I bought it at school, and now I'm on spring break over 6 hours away. 🙁 haha oh well.

That's a good excuse though for not turning it back in sooner. Just say something like, I didn't realize it wasn't working until I got home and finally put it in my car.....

 

[johnjohn320]

I guess that's what I'll have to do then. Sigh...I've had no luck with iPod-in-the-car stuff. 🙁