Honda Car Forum

Hi folks:

I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years and I
would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.In the
'04 Accord (all gas engine), there is a large space for storage right
under the radio. I am hoping that this same space might be available
on the '05 Hybrid Accord for installing a cassette player. But, I am
not sure whether to request that this be installed at the Honda
factory before shipping or to go to a car stereo dealer after delivery
to have this installed?

If it is possible for the Honda factory to install the cassette player
prior to delivery and I decide for some reason not to purchase the
Accord Hybrid after seeing it in person, I am concerned I will be
liable for the cassete player cost. However, bc I have never had a car
stereo dealer add a component like this, I am also concerned that the
car stereo dealer might not install the cassette player in a way that
integrates well into the rest of the car stereo system or that
comprimises the quality in some way.

Any recommendations on whether to request the Honda factory to install
the cassette player or whether to have a car stereo dealer do this?
Have people had any negative things happen by having a car stereo
dealer install a cassette player or am I needlessly worrying about
this?

thanks for any tips!
Craig

In article <fcd73cf5.0409101351.57cb310@posting.google.com> ,
csmith@cts.com (Craig) wrote:

> I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years and I
> would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.

No big deal.



> In the
> '04 Accord (all gas engine), there is a large space for storage right
> under the radio. I am hoping that this same space might be available
> on the '05 Hybrid Accord for installing a cassette player.

Yup.



> But, I am
> not sure whether to request that this be installed at the Honda
> factory before shipping or to go to a car stereo dealer after delivery
> to have this installed?

The factory doesn't do it. The dealer installs factory options. It's a
nice system.



I'm guessing you're new to Honda and their philosophies.

The factory does not take requests for add on accessories. If it were my
new car I wouldn't have a stereo shop anywhere near my new car. They will
cut and splice and probably cause electrical problems that warranty won't
cover. You may even jeopardize the warranty on the original sound system in
the car.
The dealer can install a Honda Accessory cassette player in the car that
will not only look good and appear original, but will be totaly compatible
with your vehicle.
Good luck, and enjoy your new car when you get it.
Howard
"Craig" <csmith@cts.com> wrote in message
news:fcd73cf5.0409101351.57cb310@posting.google.co m...
> Hi folks:
>
> I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
> Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years and I
> would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.In the
> '04 Accord (all gas engine), there is a large space for storage right
> under the radio. I am hoping that this same space might be available
> on the '05 Hybrid Accord for installing a cassette player. But, I am
> not sure whether to request that this be installed at the Honda
> factory before shipping or to go to a car stereo dealer after delivery
> to have this installed?
>
> If it is possible for the Honda factory to install the cassette player
> prior to delivery and I decide for some reason not to purchase the
> Accord Hybrid after seeing it in person, I am concerned I will be
> liable for the cassete player cost. However, bc I have never had a car
> stereo dealer add a component like this, I am also concerned that the
> car stereo dealer might not install the cassette player in a way that
> integrates well into the rest of the car stereo system or that
> comprimises the quality in some way.
>
> Any recommendations on whether to request the Honda factory to install
> the cassette player or whether to have a car stereo dealer do this?
> Have people had any negative things happen by having a car stereo
> dealer install a cassette player or am I needlessly worrying about
> this?
>
> thanks for any tips!
> Craig

Craig wrote:
| I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
| Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years
| and I would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.

I don't know anything about the Accord Hybrid. However, here's an alternate
suggestion - did you ever think about converting your tapes to CDs (regular
or mp3s)? This would help you make the jump to modern technology, and once
your tapes are digitized, they are "safe" from rotting/degrading, as analog
tapes happen to do after a while.

Dear Howard:

This sounds like very good advice. I appreciate hearing this....
thanks very much!
Craig


"Howard" <Howardh@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<Zus0d.124456$_h.95827@bignews3.bellsouth.net >...
> The factory does not take requests for add on accessories. If it were my
> new car I wouldn't have a stereo shop anywhere near my new car. They will
> cut and splice and probably cause electrical problems that warranty won't
> cover. You may even jeopardize the warranty on the original sound system in
> the car.
> The dealer can install a Honda Accessory cassette player in the car that
> will not only look good and appear original, but will be totaly compatible
> with your vehicle.
> Good luck, and enjoy your new car when you get it.
> Howard
> "Craig" <csmith@cts.com> wrote in message
> news:fcd73cf5.0409101351.57cb310@posting.google.co m...
> > Hi folks:
> >
> > I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
> > Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years and I
> > would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.In the
> > '04 Accord (all gas engine), there is a large space for storage right
> > under the radio. I am hoping that this same space might be available
> > on the '05 Hybrid Accord for installing a cassette player. But, I am
> > not sure whether to request that this be installed at the Honda
> > factory before shipping or to go to a car stereo dealer after delivery
> > to have this installed?
> >
> > If it is possible for the Honda factory to install the cassette player
> > prior to delivery and I decide for some reason not to purchase the
> > Accord Hybrid after seeing it in person, I am concerned I will be
> > liable for the cassete player cost. However, bc I have never had a car
> > stereo dealer add a component like this, I am also concerned that the
> > car stereo dealer might not install the cassette player in a way that
> > integrates well into the rest of the car stereo system or that
> > comprimises the quality in some way.
> >
> > Any recommendations on whether to request the Honda factory to install
> > the cassette player or whether to have a car stereo dealer do this?
> > Have people had any negative things happen by having a car stereo
> > dealer install a cassette player or am I needlessly worrying about
> > this?
> >
> > thanks for any tips!
> > Craig

HI:

This is a creative solution-- but unfortunately I have so many
cassettes it wouldn't be practical to try to convert all of them....

but thanks anyway!
Craig


"tomb" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<2qfg87Fulo39U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> Craig wrote:
> | I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
> | Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years
> | and I would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.
>
> I don't know anything about the Accord Hybrid. However, here's an alternate
> suggestion - did you ever think about converting your tapes to CDs (regular
> or mp3s)? This would help you make the jump to modern technology, and once
> your tapes are digitized, they are "safe" from rotting/degrading, as analog
> tapes happen to do after a while.

Fact is that magnetic tapes have a far longer life expectancy than do CDs..

JT




Craig wrote:
>
> HI:
>
> This is a creative solution-- but unfortunately I have so many
> cassettes it wouldn't be practical to try to convert all of them....
>
> but thanks anyway!
> Craig
>
> "tomb" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<2qfg87Fulo39U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> > Craig wrote:
> > | I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
> > | Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years
> > | and I would like to have a cassette player installed in my new car.
> >
> > I don't know anything about the Accord Hybrid. However, here's an alternate
> > suggestion - did you ever think about converting your tapes to CDs (regular
> > or mp3s)? This would help you make the jump to modern technology, and once
> > your tapes are digitized, they are "safe" from rotting/degrading, as analog
> > tapes happen to do after a while.

-

Grumpy au Contraire wrote:
| Fact is that magnetic tapes have a far longer life expectancy than
| do CDs..

Oh yes? I have had several tapes go bad on me, no CD so far (unless I
scratched it).

Besides, once the content is in digital form, it can be preserved, backed
up, duplicated etc without any loss of quality, which is certainly not the
case with tapes!

|
| JT
|
|
|
|
| Craig wrote:
||
|| HI:
||
|| This is a creative solution-- but unfortunately I have so many
|| cassettes it wouldn't be practical to try to convert all of them....
||
|| but thanks anyway!
|| Craig
||
|| "tomb" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
|| news:<2qfg87Fulo39U1@uni-berlin.de>...
||| Craig wrote:
|||| I am considering placing a refundable deposit for the new Accord
|||| Hybrid. I have many, many cassettes I've accumulated over years
|||| and I would like to have a cassette player installed in my new
|||| car.
|||
||| I don't know anything about the Accord Hybrid. However, here's an
||| alternate suggestion - did you ever think about converting your
||| tapes to CDs (regular or mp3s)? This would help you make the jump
||| to modern technology, and once your tapes are digitized, they are
||| "safe" from rotting/degrading, as analog tapes happen to do after
||| a while.

tomb wrote:
>
> Grumpy au Contraire wrote:
> | Fact is that magnetic tapes have a far longer life expectancy than
> | do CDs..
>
> Oh yes? I have had several tapes go bad on me, no CD so far (unless I
> scratched it).
>
> Besides, once the content is in digital form, it can be preserved, backed
> up, duplicated etc without any loss of quality, which is certainly not the
> case with tapes!
>
>


1. Properly stored tapes have an indefinite lifetime.

2. Tapes are analog thus much more information is stored.

3. CD's are plastic and have a fixed lifespan of less than twenty years.

Big thing here is "If" they are duplicated...


--
JT

Just tooling through cyberspace in my ancient G4

Grumpy au Contraire wrote:

>
> tomb wrote:
>
>>Grumpy au Contraire wrote:
>>| Fact is that magnetic tapes have a far longer life expectancy than
>>| do CDs..
>>
>>Oh yes? I have had several tapes go bad on me, no CD so far (unless I
>>scratched it).
>>
>>Besides, once the content is in digital form, it can be preserved, backed
>>up, duplicated etc without any loss of quality, which is certainly not the
>>case with tapes!
>>
>
> 1. Properly stored tapes have an indefinite lifetime.
>
> 2. Tapes are analog thus much more information is stored.
>
> 3. CD's are plastic and have a fixed lifespan of less than twenty years.
>
> Big thing here is "If" they are duplicated...
>

I have a few music CD-Rs that are almost 10 years old, still perfectly
readable in any CD reader (car/deck/CDROM), with no signs of aging. But
I have also had some CD-Rs that peeled off after just two years. It
really matters how well they are stored and how often they are used. So
number 1. from your post applies to CDs/CD-Rs just as much as it does
to tapes. Number 2. does not make much sense, because even the best
metallic tapes had far worse fidelity than CDs. If you had talked about
vinyls, then yes, there is more information there than on CDs, but not
on tapes (unless you count hiss as valuable information).

If they are used, tapes degrade even faster than CD-Rs because they
develop that anoying hiss and they generaly lose sound quality. Once
they do, they are pretty much garbage, and need to be re-recorded, just
like CD-Rs. And this is the real drawback to tapes, re-recording them.

I have a few thousand albums in mp3 format, but only about 300 album
CD-Rs for my car (I don't carry all at once though). If they should ALL
fail, it would take about 5mins/CD to reburn (about 25h). Soon I won't
even need to do that, because I am planning on buying a car mp3 deck.
That will mean I can carry all the music I'll realisticaly listen to on
about 30 MP3 CD-Rs.

If i were to re-record 300 albums on tape, it would take at least
150-200 hours. Factor in the cost of a CD-R vs. a tape, and CD-Rs are by
far more economical. A CD-R costs about 20-40c, while a tape is at least
twice that if you can still find them, since they aren't manufactured
anymore.

You may disagree, but tapes should just go the way of the dinosaurs.

Cosmin