AVB Cassette Adapter for iPod

If your car has a cassette player, we’ve long recommended using a cassette adapter over an FM transmitter for playing your iPod through your car’s stereo — you’ll get much better sound quality and a reliable connection without having to worry about finding an open frequency. Still, we don’t review many cassette adapters on Playlist because they’re all fairly similar: Most cost $10 to $20 and just work.

That being said, AVB’s Casette Adapter for iPod warrants an individual review, and earns our Playlist Pick designation, because of a simple “Why doesn’t everybody do that?” feature: Its cable automatically retracts into a small reel, much like the well-known Zip-Linq retractable computer cables. This means two things. First, the cable is only as long as it needs to be to get from your car stereo to your iPod; second, when you’re not using the adapter, instead of having stray cables all over your car, the cable retracts neatly into the reel. It’s a no-brainer feature that every cassette adapter should have.