3 ms·

Cheap walkmen are available readily, most of which can record off 3.5mm. Better experience would come with a used full-size deck off eBay to make the recordings

Cheap walkmen are available readily, most of which can record off 3.5mm. Better experience would come with a used full-size deck off eBay to make the recordings themselves, then you play back on the walkman. I'm in the same boat. I'd ruled out cassette as unavailable and cumbersome, but my 10 year old took to it instantly when her friend bought her a Jensen walkman. I wrote another comment above on that.

isoprophlex 4y ago
Have you actually seen a cheap knockoff Walkman that records off 3.5mm?! I must have searched all the wrong places, endless scrolling of amazon, aliexpress etc and all i saw was things with a microphone for voice, no 3.5mm -- like your kid does in the other comment Guess I'll do some more searching tonight!
- scrumper 4y ago
  Her is a Jensen CR-100, it has a 3.5mm "mic" input so I guess it's expecting a low-level mono signal. Probably not what you want but for kids' ears it's likely ok. It was for sure cheap. We've only used the built-in mic which is, of course, horrible, but nonetheless exciting for her to hear her voice and music played back. But I think the easiest way to go is cheap walkman for playback, used full-size deck for proper stereo recording off line-level inputs. Edit: I said "most of which" didn't I. Oops. I'm sure there's some cognitive bias at work there; what I meant was, the single one I have seen does, but only for certain values of 'does'. Sorry!
  - isoprophlex 4y ago
    Whoooo yes this is exactly what I was looking for! Crap ass mono in is no problem at all, they think those post cards that play a 5 second tune when you open them are top premium audiophile stuff. A full size deck is a better solution quality wise but I'm adamant at not having a lot of physical stuff around, and it makes it more difficult for the kids than running a 3.5 mm lead from the ipad to this Jensen thing. Thanks again!!
    - scrumper 4y ago
      Fantastic! Glad I could help, hope the kids enjoy!

isoprophlex 4y ago

Have you actually seen a cheap knockoff Walkman that records off 3.5mm?! I must have searched all the wrong places, endless scrolling of amazon, aliexpress etc and all i saw was things with a microphone for voice, no 3.5mm -- like your kid does in the other comment Guess I'll do some more searching tonight!

scrumper 4y ago
Her is a Jensen CR-100, it has a 3.5mm "mic" input so I guess it's expecting a low-level mono signal. Probably not what you want but for kids' ears it's likely ok. It was for sure cheap. We've only used the built-in mic which is, of course, horrible, but nonetheless exciting for her to hear her voice and music played back. But I think the easiest way to go is cheap walkman for playback, used full-size deck for proper stereo recording off line-level inputs. Edit: I said "most of which" didn't I. Oops. I'm sure there's some cognitive bias at work there; what I meant was, the single one I have seen does, but only for certain values of 'does'. Sorry!
- isoprophlex 4y ago
  Whoooo yes this is exactly what I was looking for! Crap ass mono in is no problem at all, they think those post cards that play a 5 second tune when you open them are top premium audiophile stuff. A full size deck is a better solution quality wise but I'm adamant at not having a lot of physical stuff around, and it makes it more difficult for the kids than running a 3.5 mm lead from the ipad to this Jensen thing. Thanks again!!
  - scrumper 4y ago
    Fantastic! Glad I could help, hope the kids enjoy!