4 ms·

I found it very difficult to buy a high quality portable tape player for less than $200 last year.

armitron 4y ago
Exactly, nobody is making new players with the quality of the old stalwarts (Sony, Aiwa, Sanyo), everything new on the market is Chinese garbage that's not fit to reproduce simple voice recordings, nevermind music. So one has to hunt down used equipment which comes with its own set of issues (besides exorbitant prices) as there is wear and tear to account for and components that need to be replaced.
- teddyh 4y ago
  > exhuberant You misspelled “exuberant”, but you probably meant to write “exorbitant”.
dbeley 4y ago
Yeah it mostly has to do with the fact all the historical tape player manufacturers are either closed or moved out to newer technology. I researched a similar device some time ago and I only found "We Are Rewind" selling a "modern" tape player but from what I understood the sound quality is not on-par with the best portable tape players from the 90's and such.
- cmdrriker 4y ago
  You're correct, just about all "new" cassette decks contain Tanashin-originated components. Even reputable brands like Panasonic (National), TEAC, Son, Aldi & AllyExpress all use the same crappy mech. Techmoan has been shown that nearly every "new" tape-playing device these days all contain the same lousy mech, some not even capable of stereo playback! VWestlife covered the "world's first Bluetooth capable portable cassette player" which is a few years old now but also uses a lousy mech (mono!). Cassette audio today seems to be more about the experience and social aspects of making, trading, and playing tapes ( Ala Guardians of the Galaxy style )rather than getting the best quality audio. https://youtu.be/nezGOVOpHtc https://youtu.be/nezGOVOpHtc https://youtu.be/WVylfRhIA7o https://youtu.be/WVylfRhIA7o
tgv 4y ago
I think it used to be impossible to buy a (new) high quality tape player for less than $500, let alone a portable one, while they were still being mass-produced.
- KerrAvon 4y ago
  Depends on your definition of “high quality” — every Walkman ever produced (and still in good working order) probably still sounds better than any newly manufactured deck you can buy in 2023.
hank808 4y ago
I've had good luck using ebay and importing to the US from the UK and EU. Search for the Aiwa brand as opposed to Sony, because they're slightly less collectible/expensive, but are every bit as high quality and sound great. YMMV. I've bought two over the last six months.
- xen2xen1 4y ago
  Hmm.. I have two tape decks in my house, maybe I need to check their worth.
pwenzel 4y ago
Even more so, 4-track cassette recorders exploded in price after Alessandro Cortini posted his Tascam process video a couple of years ago. The Portastudio I sold on a garage sale for $5 in 2010 goes for over $300 now!
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Ha ha, they were about $300 when new (or maybe closer to $400 as I recall).

Exactly, nobody is making new players with the quality of the old stalwarts (Sony, Aiwa, Sanyo), everything new on the market is Chinese garbage that's not fit to reproduce simple voice recordings, nevermind music. So one has to hunt down used equipment which comes with its own set of issues (besides exorbitant prices) as there is wear and tear to account for and components that need to be replaced.

teddyh 4y ago
> exhuberant You misspelled “exuberant”, but you probably meant to write “exorbitant”.

dbeley 4y ago

Yeah it mostly has to do with the fact all the historical tape player manufacturers are either closed or moved out to newer technology. I researched a similar device some time ago and I only found "We Are Rewind" selling a "modern" tape player but from what I understood the sound quality is not on-par with the best portable tape players from the 90's and such.

cmdrriker 4y ago
You're correct, just about all "new" cassette decks contain Tanashin-originated components. Even reputable brands like Panasonic (National), TEAC, Son, Aldi & AllyExpress all use the same crappy mech. Techmoan has been shown that nearly every "new" tape-playing device these days all contain the same lousy mech, some not even capable of stereo playback! VWestlife covered the "world's first Bluetooth capable portable cassette player" which is a few years old now but also uses a lousy mech (mono!). Cassette audio today seems to be more about the experience and social aspects of making, trading, and playing tapes ( Ala Guardians of the Galaxy style )rather than getting the best quality audio. https://youtu.be/nezGOVOpHtc https://youtu.be/nezGOVOpHtc https://youtu.be/WVylfRhIA7o https://youtu.be/WVylfRhIA7o

tgv 4y ago

I think it used to be impossible to buy a (new) high quality tape player for less than $500, let alone a portable one, while they were still being mass-produced.

KerrAvon 4y ago
Depends on your definition of “high quality” — every Walkman ever produced (and still in good working order) probably still sounds better than any newly manufactured deck you can buy in 2023.

hank808 4y ago

I've had good luck using ebay and importing to the US from the UK and EU. Search for the Aiwa brand as opposed to Sony, because they're slightly less collectible/expensive, but are every bit as high quality and sound great. YMMV. I've bought two over the last six months.

xen2xen1 4y ago
Hmm.. I have two tape decks in my house, maybe I need to check their worth.

pwenzel 4y ago

Even more so, 4-track cassette recorders exploded in price after Alessandro Cortini posted his Tascam process video a couple of years ago. The Portastudio I sold on a garage sale for $5 in 2010 goes for over $300 now!

JKCalhoun 4y ago
Ha ha, they were about $300 when new (or maybe closer to $400 as I recall).