Music Tech Cassette Music

[AshenMan]

I am getting into analog music recently. Anyone knows a good cassette player/recorder model that I should get?.

 

[Bibr]

>good cassette player/recorder
An old walkman. Don't get anything that's recent. Even stuff that claims to be a "cassette revival" is using the cheapest guts possible. It affects playback speed and smoothness


Get an old player that's in a good condition (visually), take it apart to replace belts, give pulleys a wipe down and you're good to go

Muh bluetooth
any generic 3.5mm jack bluetooth transceiver will do

 

[AshenMan]

>good cassette player/recorder
An old walkman. Don't get anything that's recent.

I know for a fact to not get anything recent, but there's different models like the TCM-47, F48, TCM400, TCS60, etc. etc.

Also no, fuck bluetooth. I :transhate: bluetooth

 

[Bibr]

I know for a fact to not get anything recent, but there's different models like the TCM-47, F48, TCM400, TCS60, etc. etc.

Also no, fuck bluetooth. I :transhate: bluetooth

I would say that as long as it's a legit brand from back in the day (sony, panasonic, sanyo, jvc etc.) you're good to go. If you insist on searching for a specific model you can make a list of ones that you like by looks and then check:
- availability of spare parts
- prices
- lookup old reviews that check how's the play mechanism constructed etc.

afaik you're not from USA, so be wary of shipping costs if you will buy on Ebay. I got there my discman for 27$ and ended up paying an extra 40$ for shipping and fees.... Buying locally would be perfect, but there might be a very small market with absurd prices or highly worn out units


whoops, i found something interesting https://walkman.land/# . Maybe it will help you with your search

 

[AshenMan]

I would say that as long as it's a legit brand from back in the day (sony, panasonic, sanyo, jvc etc.) you're good to go. If you insist on searching for a specific model you can make a list of ones that you like by looks and then check:
- availability of spare parts
- prices
- lookup old reviews that check how's the play mechanism constructed etc.

afaik you're not from USA, so be wary of shipping costs if you will buy on Ebay. I got there my discman for 27$ and ended up paying an extra 40$ for shipping and fees.... Buying locally would be perfect, but there might be a very small market with absurd prices or highly worn out units


whoops, i found something interesting https://walkman.land/# . Maybe it will help you with your search

I can get the ones in my country for 30 ish dollerinos since it's close to japan and wasnt a commie shithole so we listened to music and get to use them fancy walkman(s?). Only worrying thing is the spare part situation because idk how many spares are available in my region.

 

[Khastle]

>good cassette player/recorder
An old walkman. Don't get anything that's recent. Even stuff that claims to be a "cassette revival" is using the cheapest guts possible. It affects playback speed and smoothness


Get an old player that's in a good condition (visually), take it apart to replace belts, give pulleys a wipe down and you're good to go

Muh bluetooth
any generic 3.5mm jack bluetooth transceiver will do

Newer ones are only good when you want to transfer over old tapes to digital format which is what I did with some of my nan's tapes awhile back



Other than that do not touch them, I only did because those tapes were old, rotting away, and the glue was gonna peel off any day now (and one sadly did before I got to archive it and needs repair). Newer cassette players, as @Bibr has stated, are just not built like how they used to be. Get an old cassette player, preferably a good brand like a Walkman or Nakamichi , and make sure that shit is a refurb too as you don't want an old belt fucking your tapes too.

But yeah, do your own research most off. Brilliant and fun music format to get into and collect but requires extra caution and knowhow in the long term if you want your collection to thrive into the future. Also play your tapes, static electricity can unfortunately stick tape together in the long-term.

 

[AshenMan]

I ended up getting a Sony TCM-47. I got it for great price after applying discount coupons after discount coupons online (I got some empty tapes to make my own mix, spare parts, belts of all sizes, and the walkman itself all for 35$ shipping included) and It also comes with after sale customer support hotline (Got it from a store that sells old stuff online) It will be here in a couple of days. I got this model in particular cause there's recording function (there are other models, but the other ones' color are a bit poopoo >XP) I'll post pic of mine when it gets here and I'm done fixing it :)


(Sony TCM-47)

 

[AshenMan]

Good sound quality, took me half a day to find a tape to test it out (Had to drive around the city and asking stores if they have any cassette tapes, you could imagine the look that all of them gave me.)

Also I got a playing card made in USA from a 2nd hand store while on the quest to find a cassette tape :)

 

[Bibr]

You know that there are different types of tapes, right ?

 

[AshenMan]

You know that there are different types of tapes, right ?

I don't really care what type, I just want to make sure that my player is ok and can play tapes properly. And yes I am aware.

 

[Khastle]

Good sound quality, took me half a day to find a tape to test it out (Had to drive around the city and asking stores if they have any cassette tapes, you could imagine the look that all of them gave me.)

Also I got a playing card made in USA from a 2nd hand store while on the quest to find a cassette tape :)
View attachment 6214

Looks sick dude

 

[AshenMan]

I asked mom to give me her old tapes so I can tape over it, when they arrived I gave one of them a listen and I broke away the recording tabs after that.

 

[Khastle]

I asked mom to give me her old tapes so I can tape over it, when they arrived I gave one of them a listen and I broke away the recording tabs after that.
View attachment 6232
View attachment 6233

Worth checking them over to see if any are rare or lost media, as I stated above I found quite a few radio recordings from my grandmother's time that would've become lost media if I hadn't digitized them, might be even even more just need to check again when I'm back home.

 

[AshenMan]

Made my first mixtape ever in my chud life



(No, that's not my name. That's the name of the guy in my pfp.)

 

[AshenMan]

Another one for his sister

 

[AshenMan]

It's starting to grow on me...


(I got 2nd hand tapes and they have Thai>German class recorded on it, gonna record Highway Star over them)

 

[Khastle]

Glad you seem to be enjoying the cassette format, much more fun way to share and preserve music compared to hard drive or cloud storage. Electric tape is more rigid than people give it credit for too, many of my families old cassette tapes still work and some data centers even still use it for long-term storage, impractical for most in the modern age but still can find use here and there.

 

[AshenMan]

Glad you seem to be enjoying the cassette format, much more fun way to share and preserve music compared to hard drive or cloud storage. Electric tape is more rigid than people give it credit for too, many of my families old cassette tapes still work and some data centers even still use it for long-term storage, impractical for most in the modern age but still can find use here and there.