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Looking for simple Cassette player....

2K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  metropole 
#1 ·
Hi,

I am looking for a cassette player for my old tapes, just in case. It is more a memory lane idea than serious music listening. It don't really want to get a large tape deck. Hoping to find something I can put into a drawer.
After doing some research I found a couple of "walkman" style players with MP3 output. Are those any good? Digital out is not a must have for me
 
#8 ·
In my opinion tapes should be digitized and stored on one's (backed up) hard drive where they they can live on forever. Regarding belt vs. hard drive, I wouldn't worry too much about it since the deck just has to get you through the (months?) long conversion process.
Even if you find a deck with a 50 year warranty it doesn't matter if your tape collection fails which is expected. Tapes don't last forever.
 
#9 ·
Awww man!!!! You kicked me right in the tapeheads. :D
 
#12 ·
#15 ·
At my work decades ago we once set up a telephone "hold music system" which was merely an Aiwa auto-reverse cassette "walkman" powered by a wall wart, endlessly playing our building's hold music 24/7/365.

The quality of the sound wasn't important since it was just hold music. Seemed to work fine for many months (maybe even a year?) but at one point some caller pointed out to us there was no music during hold so we investigated what was up. We opened the cassette player and out fell several tablespoons of brown dust, tape oxide, which had flaked off the now clear mylar tape due to friction. It was a funny site.
 
#16 ·
Interesting that the discussion branched out to how long tapes last. I assume these same issues occur for RtR tapes. I have some 7-1/2 ips prerecorded tapes (7" reels) from way back - before stereo records existed, I assume about 1958 or 9. I wonder if they're any good now? I don't have a tape deck but dream of getting one to play those tapes on. Some (but not all) have been re-released on vinyl or even CD.
 
#17 ·
Even just a visual examination, maybe aided by a magnifying lens, will tell you largely what you need to know.

If the tapes seem dried out, flaky, stiff/crinkly instead of flexible, curled, no longer uniform in surface appearance, etc. there will be considerable loss if you deem them even playable at all. This first thing to go are the high frequencies.

The storage conditions matter but even in the best case scenarios archivists agree that digitization ASAP is the way to go.
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-unwinding-mystery-degraded-reel-to-reel-tapes.html
 
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#19 ·
#20 ·
#21 · (Edited)
The Panasonic is a long time veteran mostly used for voice recording. Versions of it have existed since the 60/70's. It is mono, not stereo. The other one I assume is stereo.

The Panasonic is what effectively replaced the small reel to reel decks of the day such as the Craig 212, used in Mission Impossible:


Everyone marveled at how the machines would "self destruct" but in most episodes it was nothing more than a prop guy blowing smoke into a rubber tube fed into the machine through a hole drilled in the back.
 
#22 ·
Aren't all modern cassette decks using literally the same exact mechanisms and transports and such made by one Chinese company, just shoved into whoever is selling said unit? Also, notice that Dolby is no longer on anything modern.

With that said, I don't think it really matters what you get if you are buying new.
 
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