Cassette adapter for 2020 Prius?

AFAIK, there was no cassette tape changer but I had a 6-CD changer in one of our minivans. Maximum of 6 CD continuously playing without any swapping. Still, for the continuous playing time, a 32GB thumb drive full of mp3 files wins.

 

You need a VHS player (not easy to find these days here) and the leads to connect to the PC. It's been a while since I did it but I used a program called HonestTech VHS to CD. I suspect as you're using a VHS-C tape, its a camcorder, so you probably just need the leads.

SWMBO's Gen 2 has a 6 CD player

 

I eventually added a 6CD changer to that car - but never did much touring in it after that.

Trouble with a thumb drive of MP3s is that I can't get them to play in order. I've got a ½ dozen smaller ones which I put

Thanks - I've got a VHS player (actually it's got a DVD in it too - just thinking aloud, I wonder if it would record VHS -> DVD?? - not mine, it came from Mum&Dad's & hasn't got a manual).

The VHS-C has got an adaptor which is VHS size - with a battery inside. I'll give that a go - but the laptop only has A/V input, not video. I'll check my old laptop - I know it's got more inputs.

All ideas, thanks!!!

 

Yeah, I have all of my mp3 files sorted by artist in separate folders, and not all of files have metadata tags. I can't remember how USB thumb drive player behaved in Gen3, but on PRIME, without tags I can't select artist, album, or genre. I can use folder selection, but that plays only one folder at a time. It will not play next folder continuously. Plus, the most annoying thing about PRIME's interface is that while the car is in motion, the browsing of the folder list is limited to only a few scrolls. If I started listening the "Aaron Carter" folder when I started driving my car, I could not get to the "ZAZ" folder unless I stop somewhere and park my car. I ended up using 4 port USB switch like shown in the photo to divide the MP3 folder contents in smaller batch rather than having every folders in a single thumb drive. With this system, I could have a thumb drive designated as "for-continuous-play" with a folder with up to 255 songs in it which is another limitation on PRIME head unit. I think there is a way to create play-list and use that to play any songs in the drive, but I have not explored that option yet. More recently, I have found using BlueTooth connection from my phone and Spotify account is the easiest way to play my favorite music. Only caveat is that I usually have my phone's cellular data connection disabled. For a long trip, I usually have to first download songs in order to listen to them off-line.

 

I've got one of them - PRIUS will only read 2 USBs. But that doesn't mean I can't put 4 in, each with a smaller number of PODCASTS/songs - and when one is finished, just pull it out and it will jump to another one. Still letting me switch to the 2nd one at will via the Hunk of glass they call and Entertainment Screen.

 

@Alan Clarke if you VHS/DVD machine can record to DVD, a standard DVD recorder/player uses MPEG-2 format, I'm pretty sure you can convert them to MP4 using a program called Videoconverter if you need to.

 

Cassette? What's a cassette?

 

Read all about it:

Cassette tape - Wikipedia

I well remember when they first came out. WOW - so convenient compared with tape. I can't imagine a Tape Recorder in a car - but doubtless some had them actually built in?? [images from GOOGLE]



They did have RECORD PLAYERS:

 

Any chance you could do a video on how to configure and use folders for mp3's in the Prius?

 

Did you search YouTube? I would not be surprised if there is a video on this subject. That being said, putting mp3 files into a folder is a trivial task. All you have to do is to make a folder and name it and copy any mp3 files you have up to the 255 files/folder. In my case, as I download a new song, I copy the file into the appropriate artist folder. I do this on my laptop and save the file into already existing folders in my thumbdrive that I use on PRIUS.

 

Does it show you the individual folders to choose from on the screen?

 

Yes. If you use the folder option for browsing on the HU, it will show every folders (that contains mp3 files) in the USB. However, you can scroll only limited numbers of folders in the list while driving. If you have sub-folders with mp3 files, they will be all flattened, so the tree structure of sub-folders are lost. That was my experience. However, the manual states that HU is supposed to be capable of displaying up to 8 levels deep of sub-folder structures. But I have never seen sub-folder tree structure on my HU. Another thing is that folder orders and file orders are usually in alphanumerical descending order, but this can get shuffled for unknown reason sometimes, as stated in the manual as "the order changes depending on the personal computer and MP3/WMA/AAC encoding software you use."


Caveat is that as I stated before, the max number of files in a folder is limited to 255, and total files in entire USB thumb-drive memory stick is limited to 9999 files.

 

Yep, sure does. Classical music is the absolute worst - I made a drive with only 2 levels of folders, with 8 folders with Symphonies by 8 composers - which, according to what I read on GOOGLE were named so that they would play in order. But to get a Beethoven 1st Movement Allegro followed by a Brahms slow movement was JUST WRONG. It shuffled them in some weird order. I kept a note of the order it played - then back to the Properties of each MP3 - but no idea. It was just plain random.