Customer Reviews
Works great for me 
2007-04-24
I'm glad I bought this before reading the other reviews because it works great for me in my 2000 Lexus RX300. Our 1999 Ford Escort will spit it out a few times when it is first inserted, but it eventually stays in. The cassette forward and reverse buttons work as advertised. The sound quality is very good. For me this was a much better solution than an FM transmitter.
Completely Depends on you Cassette Player 
2007-03-14
I drive a '97 Ford Taurus and this device works great in my cassette player. It was a plug and play kind of deal, very easy to use. The sound quality is decent. There is a light lo fi mist sound in between tracks. Overall, it's a treat for me to listen to my I-pod in my old hoopty. It may not work for your ride though.
CAUTION: Before you purchase call Griffin at (615) 399-7000 to check compatibility. It didn't work in my wife's 2002 Toyota Corolla.
lousy item, lousy seller 
2007-01-08
wasn't clearly advertised as not appropirate for nano, not even worth the postage to return
Avoid it...unuseable. 2006-12-05
As noted this thing makes a tremendous amount of mechanical noise. At first I thought maybe my car had a defective tape deck (I'd never used it before buying this, as I usually listen to XM or CD's). So I tried a regular tape: no problem, it was virtually noiseless. I'm disappointed because I normally associate Griffin with higher quality iPod accessories. No more. I'd also note that this is probably the most expensive of the simple cassette adapters on the market. What a ripoff.
Cheaply made 
2006-12-01
Despite my almost fanatical attention to pulling on the plug and not the wire over the six months I've owned this thing, the sheathing on the wire came loose anyway and exposed the wires inside. Also, what may be related is that SmartDeck seems to have lost its mind: it now seems to send the iPod all kinds of strange signals; songs skip and repeat at random.
Worst...Adapter...Ever 2006-11-24
SmartDeck is more than just a cassette adapter for iPod. It uses patent-pendingsensing technology to determine which commands the cassette player sends to the iPod to achieve truly seamless integration between iPod and cassette deck. Use the cassette deck's forward and rewind buttons to advance to the next or prior songs in the iPod playlist. Pause and stop buttons do what pause and stop buttons are expected to do. Hit the cassette deck's Eject button or switch from Cassette to Radio, and Griffin's SmartPlay technology automatically pauses the iPod. Seamless integration between iPod and car stereo Compatibility - Made for iPod mini, iPod Photo, 4th Generation iPod with Click Wheel&3rd Generation iPod with touch wheel and buttons
Does not work as advertised. 2006-10-06
I bought this ages ago and it has finally stopped working completely. It's okay; I got about nine months of use out of it.
The use, however, was disappointing. It doesn't do the fast forward/skipping business AT ALL. Okay, about one in ten times, which is enough to dissuade me from even bothering.
The ONLY useful thing about this adapter is the automagic pause feature. If I turned off the stereo in my car, it would pause the iPod. Which is useful if you want to just put it on hold and stick in your bag.
If you're willing to pay for that feature, then do it. But if you think you're getting something that will skip tracks, think again.
Closed Tape Decks 2006-08-24
My Mercedes has a tape deck that requires the door to be shut to function. I was worried when ordering this product that I wouldn't be able to shut the tape deck door, but got it anyway since it was the best solution at the time, allowing me to use my car's steering wheel controls to seek through songs. Although the wire from the cassette to the iPod was too thick to shut, I was able to strip the wire coating way down (and eventualloy all the way off) and shut the tape deck. It still works to this date. Although I would NOT recommend doing this to yours, as it might impair the functionability of the SmartDeck, it did work for me.
Not sure if this'll help anyone, but I was looking for some info like this when buying mine.
-Sam
Works fine for me, but it's noisy 2006-08-02
This is a fairly ingenious device, with a pretend cassette that acts as an interface to get your iPod's music to your car stereo's speakers. There is an umbilical off the cassette that connects to the iPod. The adapter also allows your rewind and fast-forward buttons to move you forward or back a track. When you eject the cassette, it automatically pauses the iPod.
Unlike several of the reviewers, I've had no trouble getting this adapter to work. (For those who think it's car-specific, I have a Honda.) My one issue with the adapter is that I find it to be pretty noisy. My experience has been that when the outside temperature gets above 65 F or so, there is a LOT of mechanical noise coming from the tape deck as the pretend cassette wheels in the adapter move. If you listen to music that has quiet passages, it will be pretty annoying. The metal parts of the cassette get very hot, and this may be triggering the noise.
The SmartDeck is a lot cheaper than the FM adapters I've seen for the iPod, and if you're on a long trip you don't have to keep changing frequencies to avoid local radio stations. But it's no quieter than FM adapters. And unlike some FM adapters, you can't plug the SmartDeck into your cigarette lighter to save the iPod battery.
(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)
Doesn't work with a Camry??! 2006-06-26
I would think "doesn't work with all tape decks" means that some very old vehicles don't have newer technology that enables the SmartDeck to function. Clearly I was mistaken. I tried the SmartDeck in two Toyota Camrys. No luck. Maybe I just have a disfunctional one...
