In adaptive output feedback control based on almost strictly positive real conditions, a technical difficulty arises when the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system under consideration is non-square, and in particular, has less inputs than outputs. To overcome this, we propose the idea of multirate sampled-data control-by carefully choosing faster input sampling rates, we obtain a lifted discrete-time system, which has the same number of inputs and outputs and does not give rise to the causality constraint. The adaptive control strategy is then applied to the lifted system, resulting in a multirate adaptive output feedback controller which is implementable digitally and provides closed-loop stability under certain conditions. The results reported here are validated on an experimental cart-crane system. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.