Forum menu
"Walkman" for the 2...
 

"Walkman" for the 21st century

Posts: 1930
Free Member
Topic starter
 

FWIW it comes with a short pencil for the insert and tighten thing.

So typical of STW responses. Sea kayaking - ho ho ho.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 8:21 am
Posts: 13001
Free Member
 

Crap format.

Looking back maybe.

But it's a damn sight better that trying to listen to an LP on the bus!

And the tascam 4 and 8tracks (not to be confused with 8-track format) of yor were a massive deal. Literally being able to multitask at home rather than needing a studio or a seriously expensive reel to real multi track recorder.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 8:35 am
Posts: 5387
Free Member
 

100% purley a "style" fashion item....
Performance has been super seeded by, cd walkman, minidisc, MP3, phones etc.
Was great 40 years ago. Not now. It's a no from me.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 8:55 am
Posts: 28593
Free Member
 

'Developed by a French team'. Oh, the development hours that must have gone into giving us almost exactly what we were mass-producing in the 80s.

I can kinda see the point of the vinyl revival. Nice thing to own, decent sound quality etc. Cassettes have zero redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Here's a warning from history:


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 9:34 am
Posts: 13001
Free Member
 

Hang on. That's one of only two great Cliff songs.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 11:14 am
Posts: 11605
Free Member
 

But one of the good things about tapes and vinyl is the restriction even a cd or minidisk.

With you on that, quality>quantity.

Still have 2 minidisc player/recorders in the loft I think. They'll be on their way back soon!


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 11:24 am
Posts: 7462
Full Member
 

Love it when people completely uninterested and out of touch with new music and how [i]other people[/i] listen to music dismiss something out of hand. But hey, welcome me! to the internet.
but yeah, £140 is pretty crazy, I'll continue to play cassettes at home. I have no desire to play them on the move, but I'm sure a few do.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 11:24 am
Posts: 13282
Free Member
 

It's the new thing, just seen thisfrom Fiio

https://www.musicradar.com/news/fiio-cp13-walkman-style-personal-cassette-player


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 11:33 am
Posts: 4066
Full Member
 

Just use one of the iPod shuffles i have in my desk drawer...but my phone with BT earbuds is 1000% in everyway unless I was sat in a kayak or something.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 12:30 pm
Posts: 8416
Free Member
 

Absolute crap.

There are no decent tape mechanisms available anymore.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 12:51 pm
Posts: 12668
Free Member
 

Love it when people completely uninterested and out of touch with new music and how other people listen to music dismiss something out of hand

Just what I was thinking.  The kids are buying tapes because small bands are selling their music on tape as a way to actually make money from their music rather than $00000.1 on streaming services.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:11 pm
Posts: 23349
Full Member
 

Weirdly, I have a Sea Kayak and can't listen to any tunes on it.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:14 pm
supernova, funkmasterp, funkmasterp and 1 people reacted
Posts: 12668
Free Member
 

Weirdly, I have a Sea Kayak and can’t listen to any tunes on it.

Have you thought about getting a portable cassette player?


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:24 pm
Posts: 8416
Free Member
 

Love it when people completely uninterested and out of touch with new music and how other people listen to music dismiss something out of hand. But hey, welcome me! to the internet.

Quite the opposite, I think. Most of us grew up with tapes and are pretty expert in their use, having been there from when they first appeared through to the end. I know of no-one who mourned them when they disappeared.

The kids are buying tapes because small bands are selling their music on tape as a way to actually make money from their music rather than $00000.1 on streaming services.

I go to loads of 'small band' gigs and haven't yet seen anyone selling tapes, just CDs and vinyl. Are tapes that much cheaper to produce than a CD, or is there something about CDs that young people don't like?


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:29 pm
hightensionline, milan b., milan b. and 1 people reacted
Posts: 12668
Free Member
 

It is not about whether they are good or bad (they are bad), it is about who is listening to and who is selling tapes.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:32 pm
Posts: 7462
Full Member
 

I know of no-one who mourned them when they disappeared.

They didn't, that's the point.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:34 pm
Posts: 8416
Free Member
 

It is not about whether they are good or bad (they are bad), it is about who is listening to and who is selling tapes.

Sorry, I edited my post and got interrupted, so it wasn't a quick edit!

I go to loads of ‘small band’ gigs and haven’t yet seen anyone selling tapes, just CDs and vinyl. Are tapes that much cheaper to produce than a CD, or is there something about CDs that young people don’t like? Because I'm assuming that it's young people buying this horrible format? Or old people with a music centre still lurking monstrously in the lounge? 😀


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 1:38 pm
Posts: 66115
Full Member
 

squirrelking
Free Member

Still have 2 minidisc player/recorders in the loft I think. They’ll be on their way back soon!

I sold mine last year, for more than I paid for them new. And a couple of boxes of sealed discs I found likewise, I got about £3 a disc for em. Madness but I am happy to take part.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 7:05 pm
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

I know of no-one who mourned them when they disappeared.

I don't miss cassettes but I do miss my Nakamachi 582 a bit. That was a fabulous piece of kit and coupled with decent chrome or metal tape did a pretty good job recording records. Being 3 head it was possible to do immediate A/B tests switching between incoming and recorded signals. The difference was minimal. To achieve this it had a built in tone generator for optioning head azimuth and bias for different types of tape.

I do still have a Sony Walkman Professional in the dark recesses of a cupboard somewhere.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 8:57 pm
Posts: 39735
Free Member
 

The kids are buying tapes because small bands are selling their music on tape as a way to actually make money from their music

Which kids where.

They were using CDrs for that 20 years ago.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 9:08 pm
Posts: 13554
Free Member
 

As per other posts, cassettes are shite. If we’re going to resurrect a physical format then it should be mini-disc. It was great and extremely tough


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 9:23 pm
Posts: 6581
Free Member
 

It doesn't matter if they're shit. They've been resurrected and people have been buying them for the last few years. The little record shop near to where I used to work was selling a fair few and now list them on their website.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 9:27 pm
Posts: 13554
Free Member
 

Yep, plenty of idiots out there. It’s a format with no redeeming qualities. What’s next, VHS?


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 9:59 pm
Posts: 39735
Free Member
 

It'll be non electric bikes for cycling next.

You heard it hear first.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 10:00 pm
milan b., funkmasterp, simondbarnes and 3 people reacted
Posts: 14114
Full Member
 

The only good uses for cassettes were for taping top 40 songs off the radio and so you could listen to music in the car.

...and of course copying Spectrum and C64 games.


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 10:19 pm
milan b., funkmasterp, milan b. and 1 people reacted
Posts: 11650
Full Member
 

I do still have a Sony Walkman Professional in the dark recesses of a cupboard somewhere.

Be careful if you ever decide to dig it out and give it a try using modern powerful alkaline batteries as the voltage will fry it, only use enloop rechargeable, as I found out with my unit which renders it unrepairable as parts are no longer available, and if powering with an aftermarket power supply make sure it’s negative polarity. 


 
Posted : 15/01/2024 10:49 pm
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

Ah I do have an aftermarket PSU and yes I was aware of the polarity. I wasn't aware of the battery issue. Ta.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 1:13 am
Posts: 13001
Free Member
 

As per other posts, cassettes are shite. If we’re going to resurrect a physical format then it should be mini-disc. It was great and extremely tough

The players were fragile pieces of garbage though.

All mine wore out really quickly.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 7:05 am
Posts: 5387
Free Member
 

It is not about whether they are good or bad (they are bad), it is about who is listening to and who is selling tapes.

I highly doubt that cassettes are being sold for profit reasons - better of with a qr code with a direct link to paying for a download.

It's far more likely they are being seen as edgy, nonconformist, fashion items, much like the player itself.

The things that we know are crap from our youth have now just become 'retro'.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 7:47 am
Posts: 12668
Free Member
 

God knows, just what I have read from a couple of sources. Buying a physical tape is more of a momento from the gig than taking home a QR code, the bands can presumably produce tapes more easily than CDs or Vinyl and therefore make some money from them so everybody's happy - apart from some old gits on an MTB forum who don't feel the format is optimum


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 8:24 am
Posts: 1930
Free Member
Topic starter
 

It's a real honour to be amongst a panel of multi-disciplined, non-prejudiced and open-minded experts. Bravo!

As the OP, I've weighed up the balance of feeling from the comments and here are the results:

An finally, my sincere apologies for my oversight regarding the device's profound unsuitability for providing music to sea kayak to.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 8:32 am
Posts: 5387
Free Member
 

Buying a physical tape is more of a momento

A novelty item then.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 8:37 am
Posts: 13001
Free Member
 

I highly doubt that cassettes are being sold for profit reasons – better of with a qr code with a direct link to paying for a download.

Ofcourse they are. See also t-shirts and posters. A tangible thing.

Christ some of you lot are boring miserable sods. Who give a shit? Buy it don't buy it it's hardly the worst thing someone could buy.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 9:12 am
Posts: 8416
Free Member
 

the bands can presumably produce tapes more easily than CDs or Vinyl and therefore make some money from them so everybody’s happy – apart from some old gits on an MTB forum who don’t feel the format is optimum

I had a quick chat with a colleague this morning who is

a) young

b) in a band

c) plays gigs

d) has just signed a recording contract

Yes, his band sells stuff at gigs. No, they don't sell tapes because

a) they cost the same as CDs to produce

b) only dicks buy them. (I've paraphrased here!)

From the horse's mouth.... 😀


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 12:40 pm
Posts: 23349
Full Member
 

Maybe people buy cassettes because they want to.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 2:21 pm
mc86 and mc86 reacted
Posts: 12376
Full Member
 

I like cassettes, it’s my childhood.

https://twitter.com/3YearLetterman/status/1744764979864064485


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 2:37 pm
Posts: 78497
Full Member
 

Hang on. That’s one of only two great Cliff songs.

Go on, I'll bite. Carrie?


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 2:43 pm
Posts: 8416
Free Member
 

Maybe people buy cassettes because they want to.

I occasionally buy (and eat) Brains faggots because I want to. I don't try and persuade people that it's better than steak! 😀


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 2:48 pm
funkmasterp, dyna-ti, funkmasterp and 1 people reacted
 lamp
Posts: 604
Free Member
 

Does it come with it's own pencil?!?


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 3:05 pm
Posts: 13001
Free Member
 

Go on, I’ll bite. Carrie?

Devil woman is a great song.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 3:10 pm
milan b. and milan b. reacted
Posts: 1569
Full Member
 

We Don't Talk Anymore?


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 4:19 pm
Posts: 41395
Free Member
 

No way was he sitting on a clean lavvie when he wrote that.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 6:11 pm
Posts: 13291
Free Member
 

Cassettes can get in the bushes all down the side of the A13. It’s a no from me

FIFY

Ah... Memories.

Cruising along towards Basildon and then all the shimmering cassette tape.

Not all good memories, mind.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 6:29 pm
Posts: 13291
Free Member
 

Sansa/Sandisk ‘clip’

Had one of these years ago around 2009. Used it extensively whilst guiding and checking the Tansalp routes sans guests. One SD card for the climbs, another for the downs. Two batteries lasted a week.

Great little things.


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 6:47 pm
Posts: 11650
Full Member
 

Hitting eject as soon as you hear the warbling and dragging another buggered cassette from the player


 
Posted : 16/01/2024 6:48 pm
Page 2 / 3