The M-1000 is a voice recorder on steroids, the best micro portable from Sony is the M-50 player. It has a freq. response up to 12kHz, which is not bad for a tiny Walkman from around 1984. Most full size units went up only to 15kHz.
Some stuff found on the internet, this guys Facebook Page is kind of interesting. https://www.facebook.com/Dutch-Retro-Audio-Music-Club-175333699179296/
Ok, I got really lucky and found this one, a Magnavox D8011/17 Microcassette Boombox, I've never seen or heard about one discussed before. This is a very handsome little boomer with a lot of knobs, dials and pushbuttons to push it beyond entry-level, it actually has some decent heft to it. Made in Japan it has pig-nose screws holding the cassette door on, LED indicators for FM/Stereo/Tuning and three bands, AM/FM and Short Wave! This also has normal/Metal tape capability with recording. In the size catagory, it's small, not the smallest, there's a few close but the AIWA HS-J110 is my smallest with two speakers but it uses a full size cassette. If you have any information on this awesome unit please post!
Part of the 1982 Grundig Audio Catalog, here's the page with their two microcassette players, the Grundig MRR 100 Stereo Microcassette Recorder and the MRR 10 Mono Recorder. These are super nice looking units, the catalog photos don't do them any justice, I wonder how popular they were.
I found this little blurb in HiFi Stereo Review, it looks like Panasonic and Jensen had an car stereo with microcassette ready for production in 1982.
HiFi Stereo Review 1984 Japan CES "the microcassette format for high-fidelity audio has died a sudden death" Found on www.worldradiohistory.com
I'm just posting these in case there's interest, I bought the Sony M101B, made in Japan cheap years ago just because the build quality is incredible on it and it's very nice looking and it's microcassette format, I think the other two are minicassette with rim drive. The Sony was heavily marketed to students while the other two were aimed at businessmen. The Dictaphone Model 130, made in Japan, is a very nice unit in a beautiful brown color anadized on the metal skin. There's plastic on the sides and all of the buttons have very tight, solid movement but there is at least one button on three sides including a CUE botton that I'm not sure what it does. The battery door is very nice, it has a sliding catch and both plastic with a metal skin for durability. I think a lot of these units were rented to businesses, along with pagers and maybe multi-line phone service, at least that's what I remember. The Unisonic C199, made in Japan, is much bigger and not as nice, maybe an earlier model than the other two it just doesn't have any coolness to it compared to the other units available back then. The construction reminds me of the cheap transistor radios made in the 70's and it only includes a PLAY/Rewind button and one speed. If anybody really loves the Dictaphone or Unisonic, PM me.
Olympus developed the microcassette and they also had some really interesting models, the PearlcorderSD pictured below is no exception. If you look in the Walkman Archaeology Thread you'll see several Olympus Patents for cassette players with add-on modules. The earliest is the Zuiko, hopefully an owner will post one on here, the next was the "D-System" and finally the Pearlcorder XL. The "D-System" seems to be the one with the most modules, something like 12 of them. James Bond was hot and everytime a movie came out the first questions were about the "gadgets." The future promised little TVs, mobile phones, and tiny tape players, this was one gadget any budding business executive could actually use and look cool. The first photo is the SD with a remote adapter module and FM Tuner. The middle dial on the remote module is to attach it to the bottom of the SD. This is pretty big in this configuration, around 9" long. The next configuration is the SD with a boom mic, this really stretches out and includes a wind screen. the mic itself is also very nice looking with all metal construction. The next configuration is with an AM radio (no antenna), an earphone and a phone recorder. The jacks are really small on these, I'm not sure if they're only Olympus or just an old format. For the youngsters, the phone recorder had a suction end that you put on a phone headset. The electronics were able to tape a phone call, which was illegal back then. Sometimes it was fun to record your friends or the radio station when you called in for a song request. These are the nicer attachments, there's also a module for voice activation.
I have several microboomboxes also, must make an update some day, but the foam pouch from my M1PD is getting sticky
I just found this press release from 1983 showing they had over 70 prerecorded microcassette titles in 1983. I think the format was about done with at this time, too little too late....
From Modern Recording Magazine 1982, check out the price of a metal microcassette $4.50 was big money in 1982.
For the tape nerds, some information about the new microcassette formulations from Studio Sound Magazine 1979
One of the biggest fizzles, I think it had to do with costs and the fact you had to buy the whole microsystem. This was priced at a premium when most manufacturers were hurting badly with sales and we also got flooded with the cheap all-in-ones that took over the market.
The worse thing is the tapes are non-existant! Walkgirl those things are worth a fortune now, take some photos and post if you have time. Do you still have all of your players? You were one of the first posters of these units, nobody knew they existed before.
