5 ms·

Maxell MXCP-P100 – wireless cassette player

61 points by ChrisArchitect 8mo ago

kleiba 8mo ago
Hipsters, take note!
- JKCalhoun 8mo ago
  Puts down his MiniDisc player… "Take note of what?"
  - ubercore 8mo ago
    It's a shame MiniDisc wasn't more popular.
    - deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    - devilbunny 8mo ago
      Yeah, but there was no way it was ever going to be cheap the way tapes were. Even portable CD players never got to the point that you would let a child just do what they wanted with one.
      - kleiba 8mo ago
        Portable CD players were way more finicky than walkmans (walkmen?!), plus the form factor was just not ideal.
        devilbunny 8mo ago
        A problem that was mostly solved by 1995 or so as RAM got cheap enough for a decent buffer. Still not something you could go running with but they didn't skip in cars any more. A child could play with one. Not a toddler, but a responsible-ish 8-year-old.
  - kleiba 8mo ago
    Ha, funny! (<- writing that on my typewriter)
dough654 8mo ago
I would never buy this. But I love that it exists.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- amelius 8mo ago
  Yeah. Give me a prosumer-priced backup tape solution instead.
Lwrless 8mo ago
It seems this model does not have a recording feature. There's an alternative model from Aiwa with Bluetooth and cassette recording support, but I'm not sure if it's available globally, could not find much information about it online. https://www.syl-via.com/products/aiwa-t7-retro-bluetooth-cassette-player-80s-walkman-replica-cassette-recorder https://www.syl-via.com/products/aiwa-t7-retro-bluetooth-cas... It's surprising to see these kinds of retro cassette players still being updated in 2026.
- jrmg 8mo ago
  That looks huge!
  - theamk 8mo ago
    I suspect it's because the point of those things is to be a show-case, so large size is OK. If you want a small music player/recorder, there are many SD-card based models, and some of them are absolutely tiny, while providing much better sound quality.
  - layer8 8mo ago
    It’s a replica of a 1980s model.
jrmg 8mo ago
Amazon leads me to believe this may be a rebadged version of this no-brand-name player (with a translucent case for full late-90s throwback!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC5MD6WP/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC5MD6WP/
- bux93 8mo ago
  Apparently, all of the audio cassette players being produced now use the same mechanism (perhaps from multiple factories). Some upscale brands like Fiio use basically the same mechanism but use some more premium parts in places, swapping out plastic bits for metal ones. If you need low wow and flutter, it makes sense to seek out vintage players that were built like a tank. A great youtube channel on both modern cassette players and legacy audio formats is Techmoan. I never knew I was interested in this topic before watching those videos.
- kotaKat 8mo ago
  Here's the OEM: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wholesale-Portable-Stereo-Clear-Cassette-Tape_1601567627482.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wholesale-Portable-St... Buttons, controls, and overall design (basically) match. Aliexpress/Alibaba's visual search is a funny way to discover and find everyone's drop shippers these days...
  - Ekaros 8mo ago
    And as I really don't understand costs of doing business the margins amaze me... Well it is not so bad with these no true name like Amazon example. But with other brands it does really hit you just high the multiple can be.
- JKCalhoun 8mo ago
  Yeah, I'll wait for Tech Moan to review it on his YouTube channel. I believe he has said there is really only one cassette mechanism being used today—and it's shite.
  - kalleboo 8mo ago
littlecranky67 8mo ago
How to record the tapes, though? I wonder if there is a way to have 2x 60mins casettes (on each side) in modern age - a lot of electronic music sets/podcasts aim for the 60mins runtime. EDIT: Seems 120min tapes are available on amazon and walmart, but boy, they cost a premium.
- trq01758 8mo ago
  These likely would be destroyed by that cheap mechanism everyone uses these days.
  - the_other 8mo ago
    Yes, very likely. Even in the 90s 120min tapes were more fragile and much more likely to warp or get caught than the shorter lengths.
jwr 8mo ago
My brain (which still remembers cassette players from the 80s/90s) has trouble accepting this.
wewewedxfgdf 8mo ago
Don't they need to sell blank tapes too?
- trq01758 8mo ago
  They do: https://maxell-usa.com/product-category/cassette-tapes/ https://maxell-usa.com/product-category/cassette-tapes/ There are also others: https://www.thomannmusic.com/compact_cassettes.html https://www.thomannmusic.com/compact_cassettes.html https://revox.com/en/revox-news/now-available-revox-empty-cassettes https://revox.com/en/revox-news/now-available-revox-empty-ca...
  - wewewedxfgdf 8mo ago
    That's pretty cool I wonder if it's newly manufactured.
    - NoraCodes 8mo ago
      The Maxell Type 1 tapes are newly manufactured.
Theodores 8mo ago
What next, wax cylinder players with Bluetooth?
- squeedles 8mo ago
  Shut up and take my money!
angry_octet 8mo ago
This unfortunately misses the hidden benefit of cassette players -- sharing tapes with friends. Without the network effect it is just an elaborate way to listen to your own tapes, but with all the wow, flutter and hiss of analog tape. Music also used to be scarce. Tapes/CDs were expensive, recording off the radio requires time coordination and is incredibly linear. Assembling a mix tape involved hours of effort. Then the tape would wear out, or suffer from noise from generational copying. Music was finite. Now with a bit of coaxing an LLM will make you a mixtape from spotify or youtube. We have no scarcity, no attention, no room for individual taste.
voidUpdate 8mo ago
> "Wireless Freedom – Enjoy up to 11 hours Bluetooth? playtime for uninterrupted listening." Are they not sure if it does Bluetooth?
smcleod 8mo ago
Most of these modern devices share a common very low quality head setup, I can't speak this exact model but in most cases you're far better off buying an older Sony or Panasonic device.
- embedding-shape 8mo ago
  > you're far better off buying an older Sony or Panasonic device How many of those come with Bluetooth support though? Seems to be more or less the main idea behind this device.
  - stronglikedan 8mo ago
    All of them. Just with a $10 dongle that can be velcroed to it.
    - embedding-shape 8mo ago
      So none of them in reality. I guess they could be "Concert-grade vinyl players" too with the right accessories, but that's missing the point a bit, don't you think?
Aldipower 8mo ago
I recently produced a tape. 60 minutes of hand-made synth wave. 150 pieces made at a production site here in Germany. Only 20 left now! So, there a people who like this! Tape is not dead. And played back with a good tape deck, at least with my production, it has a very high sound quality. Much more organic and not that sterile then the Spotify version.
- sergiodelagarza 8mo ago
  Do you release your music exclusively on physical formats?
  - Aldipower 8mo ago
    Exclusively alongside digital formats. You can also get the FLACs on Bandcamp or listen to it on Spotify (but that is boring and doesn't sound organic).
smilbandit 8mo ago
was looking at this a few days ago. my son got into cassettes last summer. even bought a dual deck off facebook market place to record mix tapes, worked great tape to tape.
ChrisArchitect 8mo ago
All the audiophile nerds coming at Maxell's social accounts tend to harp about two things: that all these devices are made by the same company Tanashin in China, and that they often have a plastic 'flywheel'. Maxell shoots back that this one has a metal flywheel of brass. Is it overpriced at $80? Is it just a weird retro thing grasping for tactile sensation like vinyl and cds that only covers the consumption side of music? yes and yes.
EvanAnderson 8mo ago
Another device destined to be disposable e-waste because it has a non-replaceable battery. Why has the idea of interchangeable standard-sized batteries been completely lost?
thw_9a83c 8mo ago
The sad part of these cassette player remakes is that they don't have a Dolby NR (Noise Reducton) [1] system. I remember that without at least Dolby C-type NR, the sound from tape was really noisy. I wonder if the applicable patents have already expired. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system
fuzzythinker 8mo ago
The Available HERE button doesn't work for me.

kleiba 8mo ago

Hipsters, take note!

JKCalhoun 8mo ago
Puts down his MiniDisc player… "Take note of what?"
- ubercore 8mo ago
  It's a shame MiniDisc wasn't more popular.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - devilbunny 8mo ago
    Yeah, but there was no way it was ever going to be cheap the way tapes were. Even portable CD players never got to the point that you would let a child just do what they wanted with one.
    - kleiba 8mo ago
      Portable CD players were way more finicky than walkmans (walkmen?!), plus the form factor was just not ideal.
      - devilbunny 8mo ago
        A problem that was mostly solved by 1995 or so as RAM got cheap enough for a decent buffer. Still not something you could go running with but they didn't skip in cars any more. A child could play with one. Not a toddler, but a responsible-ish 8-year-old.
- kleiba 8mo ago
  Ha, funny! (<- writing that on my typewriter)

dough654 8mo ago

I would never buy this. But I love that it exists.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
amelius 8mo ago
Yeah. Give me a prosumer-priced backup tape solution instead.

Lwrless 8mo ago

It seems this model does not have a recording feature. There's an alternative model from Aiwa with Bluetooth and cassette recording support, but I'm not sure if it's available globally, could not find much information about it online. https://www.syl-via.com/products/aiwa-t7-retro-bluetooth-cassette-player-80s-walkman-replica-cassette-recorder https://www.syl-via.com/products/aiwa-t7-retro-bluetooth-cas... It's surprising to see these kinds of retro cassette players still being updated in 2026.

jrmg 8mo ago
That looks huge!
- theamk 8mo ago
  I suspect it's because the point of those things is to be a show-case, so large size is OK. If you want a small music player/recorder, there are many SD-card based models, and some of them are absolutely tiny, while providing much better sound quality.
- layer8 8mo ago
  It’s a replica of a 1980s model.

jrmg 8mo ago

Amazon leads me to believe this may be a rebadged version of this no-brand-name player (with a translucent case for full late-90s throwback!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC5MD6WP/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC5MD6WP/

bux93 8mo ago
Apparently, all of the audio cassette players being produced now use the same mechanism (perhaps from multiple factories). Some upscale brands like Fiio use basically the same mechanism but use some more premium parts in places, swapping out plastic bits for metal ones. If you need low wow and flutter, it makes sense to seek out vintage players that were built like a tank. A great youtube channel on both modern cassette players and legacy audio formats is Techmoan. I never knew I was interested in this topic before watching those videos.
kotaKat 8mo ago
Here's the OEM: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wholesale-Portable-Stereo-Clear-Cassette-Tape_1601567627482.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wholesale-Portable-St... Buttons, controls, and overall design (basically) match. Aliexpress/Alibaba's visual search is a funny way to discover and find everyone's drop shippers these days...
- Ekaros 8mo ago
  And as I really don't understand costs of doing business the margins amaze me... Well it is not so bad with these no true name like Amazon example. But with other brands it does really hit you just high the multiple can be.
JKCalhoun 8mo ago
Yeah, I'll wait for Tech Moan to review it on his YouTube channel. I believe he has said there is really only one cassette mechanism being used today—and it's shite.
- kalleboo 8mo ago

littlecranky67 8mo ago

How to record the tapes, though? I wonder if there is a way to have 2x 60mins casettes (on each side) in modern age - a lot of electronic music sets/podcasts aim for the 60mins runtime. EDIT: Seems 120min tapes are available on amazon and walmart, but boy, they cost a premium.

trq01758 8mo ago
These likely would be destroyed by that cheap mechanism everyone uses these days.
- the_other 8mo ago
  Yes, very likely. Even in the 90s 120min tapes were more fragile and much more likely to warp or get caught than the shorter lengths.

jwr 8mo ago

My brain (which still remembers cassette players from the 80s/90s) has trouble accepting this.

wewewedxfgdf 8mo ago

Don't they need to sell blank tapes too?

trq01758 8mo ago
They do: https://maxell-usa.com/product-category/cassette-tapes/ https://maxell-usa.com/product-category/cassette-tapes/ There are also others: https://www.thomannmusic.com/compact_cassettes.html https://www.thomannmusic.com/compact_cassettes.html https://revox.com/en/revox-news/now-available-revox-empty-cassettes https://revox.com/en/revox-news/now-available-revox-empty-ca...
- wewewedxfgdf 8mo ago
  That's pretty cool I wonder if it's newly manufactured.
  - NoraCodes 8mo ago
    The Maxell Type 1 tapes are newly manufactured.

Theodores 8mo ago

What next, wax cylinder players with Bluetooth?

squeedles 8mo ago
Shut up and take my money!

angry_octet 8mo ago

This unfortunately misses the hidden benefit of cassette players -- sharing tapes with friends. Without the network effect it is just an elaborate way to listen to your own tapes, but with all the wow, flutter and hiss of analog tape. Music also used to be scarce. Tapes/CDs were expensive, recording off the radio requires time coordination and is incredibly linear. Assembling a mix tape involved hours of effort. Then the tape would wear out, or suffer from noise from generational copying. Music was finite. Now with a bit of coaxing an LLM will make you a mixtape from spotify or youtube. We have no scarcity, no attention, no room for individual taste.

voidUpdate 8mo ago

> "Wireless Freedom – Enjoy up to 11 hours Bluetooth? playtime for uninterrupted listening." Are they not sure if it does Bluetooth?

smcleod 8mo ago

Most of these modern devices share a common very low quality head setup, I can't speak this exact model but in most cases you're far better off buying an older Sony or Panasonic device.

embedding-shape 8mo ago
> you're far better off buying an older Sony or Panasonic device How many of those come with Bluetooth support though? Seems to be more or less the main idea behind this device.
- stronglikedan 8mo ago
  All of them. Just with a $10 dongle that can be velcroed to it.
  - embedding-shape 8mo ago
    So none of them in reality. I guess they could be "Concert-grade vinyl players" too with the right accessories, but that's missing the point a bit, don't you think?

Aldipower 8mo ago

I recently produced a tape. 60 minutes of hand-made synth wave. 150 pieces made at a production site here in Germany. Only 20 left now! So, there a people who like this! Tape is not dead. And played back with a good tape deck, at least with my production, it has a very high sound quality. Much more organic and not that sterile then the Spotify version.

sergiodelagarza 8mo ago
Do you release your music exclusively on physical formats?
- Aldipower 8mo ago
  Exclusively alongside digital formats. You can also get the FLACs on Bandcamp or listen to it on Spotify (but that is boring and doesn't sound organic).

smilbandit 8mo ago

was looking at this a few days ago. my son got into cassettes last summer. even bought a dual deck off facebook market place to record mix tapes, worked great tape to tape.

ChrisArchitect 8mo ago

All the audiophile nerds coming at Maxell's social accounts tend to harp about two things: that all these devices are made by the same company Tanashin in China, and that they often have a plastic 'flywheel'. Maxell shoots back that this one has a metal flywheel of brass. Is it overpriced at $80? Is it just a weird retro thing grasping for tactile sensation like vinyl and cds that only covers the consumption side of music? yes and yes.

EvanAnderson 8mo ago

Another device destined to be disposable e-waste because it has a non-replaceable battery. Why has the idea of interchangeable standard-sized batteries been completely lost?

thw_9a83c 8mo ago

The sad part of these cassette player remakes is that they don't have a Dolby NR (Noise Reducton) [1] system. I remember that without at least Dolby C-type NR, the sound from tape was really noisy. I wonder if the applicable patents have already expired. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system

fuzzythinker 8mo ago

The Available HERE button doesn't work for me.