A member here (walkgirl) had a Toshiba KT-AS10 unit which is a far more capable unit with recording player than the ones shown in this thread. I would like to give the Toshiba a try, if I can find one. Found this vid of one on YouTube. http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/my-first-toshiba-kt-as10.1944/
nah, Walkgirl has a Hitachi CP-88R in mint condition, that‘s even smaller: https://www.larkclub.com/gallery/2014/12845/
The Clony looks to be a render. The headphone cable (jack?) is going into the position where you would put the head in a real player. The little Bandai is neat. However I suspect that they took the mechanism from one of those £9.99 players (which never have rewind) and designed the smallest possible case around it. Full marks for ingenuity though.
I have a KT-AS 10 in my collection, though tbh, I haven't really tried to use it yet, but it is absolutely tiny! I think I have the radio module as well
Those little Bandai ones were around in the 90's. I ordered one from the Innovations catalog. Its was called "The bean" - worlds smallest cassette player.
The article is from 85 so it's more likely an actual model "that doesn't work." Good eye on the headphone jack, the designers must not have had much tech experience. I think all of the Toshiba's had a radio cartridge, maybe it kept the player from being broken.
Reminds me of the walkman Sony concept by some German (if I recall correctly) designer from the 80's/90's. I tried looking for pics but couldn't get the right keywords. It was blue, I think, and it has the same general shape of the Cloney, but more refined. When there's no cassette, the open section was replaced with and an orange module with dots on the side, which maybe is a radio tuner pack.
Here's some comparison of the these small units with those common rewind-less cheap walkmans. Not only did they shrink the case, they also used smaller components and moved things closer together while keeping the basic layout of the mechanism the same. Some more details:
I've been fortunate to find the Hitachi CP-88R several years ago. Indeed, it's a novelty and a great collection piece.
Somewhere around my new bedroom, I have a Toshiba that employs the same radio-tuner adapter method. I just can't recall where, at the moment... but I can tell you this: It's tuner is better than the one in my $23.00 CD-player/radio, and my S2 auto-reverse cassette/radio Sony.
