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I do like the look of this. It has BT connection and the AA battery compartment is no more with a lithium-ion battery charged via USB C. Gives 10 -12 hours play time.
Also has line-in so the mix tape is back!
Developed by a French team, some of whom worked for Thomson Electronics.
About £140.
As someone who grew up with cassette tapes (and 'vinyl'), it always bemuses me that some people choose to suffer such inferior audio quality, not to mention all the added hassle of having to transport the physical media, with things like this. I remember being overjoyed by the advent of MiniDisc, which was infinitely better than cassette tapes. I admire the spirit of trying to keep things alive, but some things just need to be allowed to die a quiet, dignified death.
I like the idea of it in principle, but why would anyone bother when a phone can do all of it. And better in every way tbh.
Because when you are doing a multi day paddle in a sea kayak you mighy want to save your phone for essential uses like emergency calls, weather etc. A small mp3 player will give hours of music and an FM radio on one charge.
Cassettes can get in the bin. It's a no from me
Walking around with a head full of music..... it'll never catch on.
It's kinda cool but £140 for a retro style tape player...really...sorry, it's a no from me!
As above, mobile phone is much better, or if sea kayaking or whatever a Sansa/Sandisk 'clip' would surely be a better solution? You can get waterproof ones, and ones that support FLAC/lossless etc. for a lot less dosh than that, so it's not such a burn if it gets trashed..
It's a fun sounding toy but I reckon after one or two uses it would sit on the shelf as another gadget that doesn't get used but you look at once a year and say 'i should really get that out more' but never do.
Solution looking for a problem
Samsung Galaxy S8 with a PAYG SIM, no apps just spotify with playlists & podcasts downloaded in airplane mode with battery saver on.
MP3 player with backup mobile. Job jobbed.
It’s a fun sounding toy but I reckon after one or two uses it would sit on the shelf as another gadget that doesn’t get used but you look at once a year and say ‘i should really get that out more’ but never do.
Yeah, something I'd buy if I had money to burn, but I don't have enough cassettes to justify getting one. (And most of the cassettes I do have are probably albums I could just stream off Spotify, anyway...)
Tapes were shit the last time round. Why would we want them back ?
Also the problem with tape cassettes, is not just the low fidelity, the tape degrades too, making it sound worse for reasons I can't be bothered to go into, and also the tape snapping.
Any one else remember surgically wrapping a bit of sellotape around a broken bit of tape to ressurect one? still works fine apart from the awefull noise it makes when the repaired section of tape passes over the heads? heheh!
It seems like a toy for ****ers tbf, at that price. I mean, I still have a box of tapes, I suppose a walkman-ish thing with bluetooth and modern battery life and such could be quite fun but it'd also have to be cheap, because the direct alternative is a cheap standalone mp3 player for about £25 that will do the job better.
I can (sort of) see the appeal of vinyl. But cassettes were a shit medium, their only advantage being portability, which has been usurped.
I'd be interested to see which tapedeck they've used. Having watched a number of Techmoan videos on YT there are few manufacturers left and most of them are pretty awful iirc.
And where do you buy the cassettes from? Do you need to download then record to black tapes? <br /><br />
life is far too short for that type of faff.
And where do you buy the cassettes from?
Quite a few bands have started releasing their albums on cassette
I don't get it at all. Vinyl through a decent system sounds amazing, better than MP3..... cassettes....just no!
Quite a few bands have started releasing their albums on cassette
Jezz.. I'd love to see the sales/cost figures on that, nevermind the terrible Eco credentials...
Vinyl, I can kinda understand but tape cassette? just WHY? it's shyte! that would be like coppying a 4k film to VHS!
Unless you're U2 streaming gets you pennies so the best revenue is from touring and selling merch. Tapes are retro cool and unlike Vinyl easier to transport on tour and take home afterwards.
Cassettes encourage piracy!!!!111 😉
@johnnystorm is right. There is nobody making a decent mechanism any more - hell, its hard enough to get a decent CD mechanism as there are only a few manufacturers left let alone tape! I don't think it can cope with metal tapes and has no dolby.
You can pick up the same thing in a plastic case on amazon for a quarter of the cost if you really want to but quite honestly, whilst I still buy CDs and Vinyl I think cassettes is a step too far. They just don't give you anything apart from hassle.
Funnily enough I've just bought a Chase Bliss Generation Loss Mkii guitar effecf pedal designed to mimic all the audio failings of audio and VHS tapes for a LoFi sound. Even mimics tape snagging and crinkling.
The only thing its missing is a BiC biro to rewind the tape back into the cassette.
I bought a Sony 'professional' Walkman in HK airport in 1992, good at the time but my £60 Sony mp3 players are so much better.
Big question is does it have Dobly? Because I listen to a lot of heavy metal.
Cassettes can get in the bushes all down the side of the A13. It’s a no from me
FIFY
I got rid of my cassette deck over twenty years ago, and not once have I missed having it.
I was never a dobly
I saw an eBay shop selling new metal TDK C90s for about £350 each the other day
Yeah this looks ridiculous, though having said that the Audio Technica Sound Burger portable record player was reissued not long ago and sold out in a blink
it doesn't even have a 'mega bass boost' button on it.
pfft.
You'd be better off just getting something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225954080256?hash=item349be9a600:g:Ua0AAOSwPcNlny7k
It even has a built in belt clip 😀
Because when you are doing a multi day paddle in a sea kayak you mighy want to save your phone for essential uses like emergency calls, weather etc. A small mp3 player will give hours of music and an FM radio on one charge.
you did look at the picture in the OP? It’s about as practical to take on a multi day seakayak trip as a bean to cup coffee machine!
if I needed music on a seakayak trip (I’ve never felt the urge - listening to nature is better) then a battery pack to keep phone topped up would probably be better - as then it’s charged for all uses!
I still have PTSD from repairing twin deck boom boxes in the little TV and video repair shop I used to work in.
It was a bloody miracle if you got them working 100% after the first reassembly. The only thing I hated more was camcorder repairs.
I like cassettes, it's my childhood.
At £150.00 though, I think they've got the decimal point in the wrong place. You can get a real one off eBay for twenty quid and rubber bands aren't expensive.
Pffft, casettes. I remember trying to keep the last remaining seismic acquisition system that still had to record to tape running for a couple of years. We would have half a dozen 3590 drives in bits in the lab continuously being fixed for every trip and you couldn't rewind them with a pencil 😭
All the cool kids want the new Sound Burger portable Bluetooth record player by Audio Technica
I am not saying that I am going run out an buy one. And I do love Spotify.
But one of the good things about tapes and vinyl is the restriction even a cd or minidisk.
Like it's nice to commit to 15songs or whatever, whether that be an album or a mixtape. Nowadays I spend more time skipping than listening.
A well crafted mix tape is chef's kiss and nothing now comes close to recreating that experience
I love the concept of all the music at your fingertips. I am aware of the issues of Spotify.
The French team wouldn't be connected to BIC would it? The BIC pen was perfect for winding chewed up tape back in. I've still got a generic Walkman in perfect working order but I doubt many of the tapes still play. Crap format.
The Bluetooth thing doesn't make sense. If you get one of these, you want people to see how cool and retrohip you are, so need to have the old school wired headphones to advertise the fact.
FWIW it comes with a short pencil for the insert and tighten thing.
So typical of STW responses. Sea kayaking - ho ho ho.
Crap format.
Looking back maybe.
But it's a damn sight better that trying to listen to an LP on the bus!
And the tascam 4 and 8tracks (not to be confused with 8-track format) of yor were a massive deal. Literally being able to multitask at home rather than needing a studio or a seriously expensive reel to real multi track recorder.
100% purley a "style" fashion item....
Performance has been super seeded by, cd walkman, minidisc, MP3, phones etc.
Was great 40 years ago. Not now. It's a no from me.
'Developed by a French team'. Oh, the development hours that must have gone into giving us almost exactly what we were mass-producing in the 80s.
I can kinda see the point of the vinyl revival. Nice thing to own, decent sound quality etc. Cassettes have zero redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Here's a warning from history:
Hang on. That's one of only two great Cliff songs.
But one of the good things about tapes and vinyl is the restriction even a cd or minidisk.
With you on that, quality>quantity.
Still have 2 minidisc player/recorders in the loft I think. They'll be on their way back soon!
Love it when people completely uninterested and out of touch with new music and how [i]other people[/i] listen to music dismiss something out of hand. But hey, welcome me! to the internet.
but yeah, £140 is pretty crazy, I'll continue to play cassettes at home. I have no desire to play them on the move, but I'm sure a few do.
It's the new thing, just seen thisfrom Fiio
https://www.musicradar.com/news/fiio-cp13-walkman-style-personal-cassette-player
Just use one of the iPod shuffles i have in my desk drawer...but my phone with BT earbuds is 1000% in everyway unless I was sat in a kayak or something.
Absolute crap.
There are no decent tape mechanisms available anymore.
Love it when people completely uninterested and out of touch with new music and how other people listen to music dismiss something out of hand
Just what I was thinking. The kids are buying tapes because small bands are selling their music on tape as a way to actually make money from their music rather than $00000.1 on streaming services.
Weirdly, I have a Sea Kayak and can't listen to any tunes on it.
Weirdly, I have a Sea Kayak and can’t listen to any tunes on it.
Have you thought about getting a portable cassette player?
Love it when people completely uninterested and out of touch with new music and how other people listen to music dismiss something out of hand. But hey, welcome me! to the internet.
Quite the opposite, I think. Most of us grew up with tapes and are pretty expert in their use, having been there from when they first appeared through to the end. I know of no-one who mourned them when they disappeared.
The kids are buying tapes because small bands are selling their music on tape as a way to actually make money from their music rather than $00000.1 on streaming services.
I go to loads of 'small band' gigs and haven't yet seen anyone selling tapes, just CDs and vinyl. Are tapes that much cheaper to produce than a CD, or is there something about CDs that young people don't like?
It is not about whether they are good or bad (they are bad), it is about who is listening to and who is selling tapes.
I know of no-one who mourned them when they disappeared.
They didn't, that's the point.
It is not about whether they are good or bad (they are bad), it is about who is listening to and who is selling tapes.
Sorry, I edited my post and got interrupted, so it wasn't a quick edit!
I go to loads of ‘small band’ gigs and haven’t yet seen anyone selling tapes, just CDs and vinyl. Are tapes that much cheaper to produce than a CD, or is there something about CDs that young people don’t like? Because I'm assuming that it's young people buying this horrible format? Or old people with a music centre still lurking monstrously in the lounge? 😀
squirrelking
Free MemberStill have 2 minidisc player/recorders in the loft I think. They’ll be on their way back soon!
I sold mine last year, for more than I paid for them new. And a couple of boxes of sealed discs I found likewise, I got about £3 a disc for em. Madness but I am happy to take part.
I know of no-one who mourned them when they disappeared.
I don't miss cassettes but I do miss my Nakamachi 582 a bit. That was a fabulous piece of kit and coupled with decent chrome or metal tape did a pretty good job recording records. Being 3 head it was possible to do immediate A/B tests switching between incoming and recorded signals. The difference was minimal. To achieve this it had a built in tone generator for optioning head azimuth and bias for different types of tape.
I do still have a Sony Walkman Professional in the dark recesses of a cupboard somewhere.
The kids are buying tapes because small bands are selling their music on tape as a way to actually make money from their music
Which kids where.
They were using CDrs for that 20 years ago.
As per other posts, cassettes are shite. If we’re going to resurrect a physical format then it should be mini-disc. It was great and extremely tough
It doesn't matter if they're shit. They've been resurrected and people have been buying them for the last few years. The little record shop near to where I used to work was selling a fair few and now list them on their website.
Yep, plenty of idiots out there. It’s a format with no redeeming qualities. What’s next, VHS?
It'll be non electric bikes for cycling next.
You heard it hear first.
The only good uses for cassettes were for taping top 40 songs off the radio and so you could listen to music in the car.
...and of course copying Spectrum and C64 games.
I do still have a Sony Walkman Professional in the dark recesses of a cupboard somewhere.
Be careful if you ever decide to dig it out and give it a try using modern powerful alkaline batteries as the voltage will fry it, only use enloop rechargeable, as I found out with my unit which renders it unrepairable as parts are no longer available, and if powering with an aftermarket power supply make sure it’s negative polarity.
Ah I do have an aftermarket PSU and yes I was aware of the polarity. I wasn't aware of the battery issue. Ta.
As per other posts, cassettes are shite. If we’re going to resurrect a physical format then it should be mini-disc. It was great and extremely tough
The players were fragile pieces of garbage though.
All mine wore out really quickly.
It is not about whether they are good or bad (they are bad), it is about who is listening to and who is selling tapes.
I highly doubt that cassettes are being sold for profit reasons - better of with a qr code with a direct link to paying for a download.
It's far more likely they are being seen as edgy, nonconformist, fashion items, much like the player itself.
The things that we know are crap from our youth have now just become 'retro'.
God knows, just what I have read from a couple of sources. Buying a physical tape is more of a momento from the gig than taking home a QR code, the bands can presumably produce tapes more easily than CDs or Vinyl and therefore make some money from them so everybody's happy - apart from some old gits on an MTB forum who don't feel the format is optimum
It's a real honour to be amongst a panel of multi-disciplined, non-prejudiced and open-minded experts. Bravo!
As the OP, I've weighed up the balance of feeling from the comments and here are the results:
An finally, my sincere apologies for my oversight regarding the device's profound unsuitability for providing music to sea kayak to.
Buying a physical tape is more of a momento
A novelty item then.
I highly doubt that cassettes are being sold for profit reasons – better of with a qr code with a direct link to paying for a download.
Ofcourse they are. See also t-shirts and posters. A tangible thing.
Christ some of you lot are boring miserable sods. Who give a shit? Buy it don't buy it it's hardly the worst thing someone could buy.
the bands can presumably produce tapes more easily than CDs or Vinyl and therefore make some money from them so everybody’s happy – apart from some old gits on an MTB forum who don’t feel the format is optimum
I had a quick chat with a colleague this morning who is
a) young
b) in a band
c) plays gigs
d) has just signed a recording contract
Yes, his band sells stuff at gigs. No, they don't sell tapes because
a) they cost the same as CDs to produce
b) only dicks buy them. (I've paraphrased here!)
From the horse's mouth.... 😀