I can't remember if I posted this but here's another cool article on Stereo Microcassette. https://books.google.com/books?id=n...iAhVEba0KHQwiDpUQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
High Fidelity has some tidbits on microcassette back in 82. Check out the whole issue, it has a ton of cassette articles. https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-High-Fidelity/80s/High-Fidelity-1982-09.pdf https://www.americanradiohistory.com
Oh yea, a review of the Sanyo RD-XM1 in Electronics Today Australia, I've added to the collection, I need to post a few more photos after this. I've noticed over at Tapeheads, the microcassette thread gets a lot of looks like this one, what a fun format, it's too bad it never really took off, there seems to be a lot of interest in it. https://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics-Today/Australia/80s/ETI 1982-03 March.pdf https://americanradiohistory.com/
Great photos! Have never seen a Micro Walkman in the wild, I only ever had or saw micro cassette-corders and I've had one in storage for a long time that I'm planning on fixing soon (oxidised play/record button). I really do like this format, limited but then again the limited aspect is what gives it its charm. It's really quite something seeing a shrunken down cassette tape mechanism in one of these little gadgets, may try to find one of these players soon. I have a few micro tapes with music on that haven't been played on the best of hardware...
Good luck finding one in the wild, I'm not sure if it's been done, Indiana Jones will find the grail before I ever see one. The choke point with these players is the metal cassettes needed for the best sound reproduction, they are even rarer than the players. Now were seeing a four pack of used metal tapes going for more than the rarer players. Over here the Sony M-1000 seems to be the most seen unit and they pop up for sale on a regular basis. Changing the belt is extremely simple and it seems to share parts with the even more common M-7 mono unit. Is your player stereo?
Nope it's not stereo, so I'd really like to find a stereo player at some point. I'll just have to keep scouring eBay until I see one for a reasonable price... Mind you I'm still looking for a Solar Walkman at a 'reasonable' price too
Hi, I recommend scouring through local auction sites and local eBay sites (if you're in Europe). I find that as long you're in the EU (or were..), nobody will be hesitant to send the thing abroad. You have eBay Kleinanzeigen, you can find a lot of stereo microcassette stuff there, because as far as stereo microcassette goes, it was quite popular in Germany. I got my almost mint SR11 there, and recently a new in box Philips D8000, for merely $60. Willhaben.at is a decent source too, I found my Aiwa CS-M1 there for $30. If you're in love with these things, like I am, you could check out auctions.yahoo.co.jp, there are two services that act as a middleman between the seller and you - Aleado and Buyee. Sometimes the things listed there are incredible. I grabbed a Japan only National RN-GZ7 micro stereo there, a clone of the legendary Sony M-50 Micro Walkman, and along with it one of the 6 (I think) pre-recorded microcassettes ever made. It's the National one, "The best 4", a disco compilation. Interestingly enough, there's a ton of Sony M-80s and M-1PDs on Yahoo, but they always fetch prices close to 200 or upwards of 200 dollars... Peculiar. I myself have an M-1PD, but I wouldn't recommend it. It cuts off high frequencies quite noticeably. It looks very cool, though. It just makes me think of 1980's j-pop and Japan whenever I look at it, probably because of the glittery plastic and rounded edges. Distinctively Japanese. Edit: Also, look for both "microcassette" and "micro cassette". Searching for the 1st term will not bring up the auctions with 2nd, and vice versa.
We will never see innovation & electronics built to the standard of the early 80's ever again!! What a time to have been alive & an audio mad teenager seeing all this stuff appear! I went to many a trade/promo show in 1982 to 1984 & had forgotten how exciting it was to be able to get my hands on & play with these tiny marvels! I also liked the mini radio cassette machines, some of the mono's are still beautiful to me & I have more than a few to get finished soon!! Micro cassettes are rare now as stated earlier in this thread - I bet there are some gems still out there both decks & tapes! I would love one of those Sanyo stereo micro cassette decks! There were a few on eBay a few years ago, the seller had some N.O.S. ones brand new but I dithered too long & missed out It's quite extraordinary that the magical golden age when most if not all of these gems were made still holds such an interest from those of us that lived it & younger generations! It's like life in a way - We had no idea how good we had it from 1980 onwards & I so wish I could go back to that time..................
You speak of innovation... and yet throughout history, every time it seems we've "peaked" technologically and can't do better, we do. I say this while typing on a touchscreen pocket supercomputer terminal, wondering what will supplant it.
I think this photo shows where all the progress has been in the last couple of decades The JVC SD card came with a camcorder that also used a complex helical scan mechanism to store 18GByte of data onto a tape about the same size as a Microcassette. I have just had to buy a third one as the two I have have both developed tape transport problems over the past few years and I want to get the video off the tapes. Funny thought. If cassettes had developed in the same way you would now be able to buy a C3000000, capable of recording over 5 years of audio !
So I was doing a little internet research (imagine that..), I've been scratching my head over the Toshiba Microcassette Player I posted earlier, one that I've never found any mention of or catalog pages for. I finally did the smart thing and tried the number on the demo cassette the player has and came back with a hit, it's small but I think I found my answer. The player has an edge connector on the back making me think it was part of a boombox, it looks like it is sort-of.... It's just a photo with no information but I think that's the player, just like the GE Roadshow, Toshiba must have had a similar unit, now the search is on!
'Tis the novelty of it! Quite common whenever a contemporary standard is somehow improved upon, or one proves the impossible "possible". Had the performance been better, along the support by recording companies, it most certainly would've supplanted Phillips Compact Cassette. But then, as I think about it, PCM recordings on 8mm video would likely supplanted it as well... if the standard tape could offer a much-greater running time, along with the hardware being more affordable and reliable when built in such a compact form for the masses.
I checked another one off my list, the Pearlcorder SR501, this was definately the executive model, with a kickstand and AM/FM radio this is a beefy player and very heavy. The antenna is my favorite kind, it retracts into the body when not being used but stretches out pretty far when needed, it's on the left, kind of hard to see but it's pointed at the camera. My model is pretty clean but the photo brings out a lot of dirt, and it came with some recorded music! Somebody loved this one, I'm happy to take care of it for a few more years.
I posted this in another thread but some visitors might not see it, I found the full Toshiba TV/Microcassette Player, what a neat little boombox! The Toshiba CE035 is pretty small and really nicely built portable. Kids would have been in awe if you owned this model, they rarely show up for sale, every few years, but highly recommended. This is in my TV on the radio thread, I've set up a broadcasting unit to watch my old CRTs.
I also posted this in another thread with more information; this is the most popular stereo microcassette player over here, the Sony M-1000, I was lucky to find the Sony M-1000B "Birding Live" Model a few years ago, it's on the left, has a brown tint and a B after the model number. These were pretty cool, set up with a mixer, mic and all kinds of accessories for recording wildlife, a popular pastime in the 70's when all of this was so new.
Hi, I am an absolute fan of microcassettes - here's the newest addition to my collection: The one and only Sony M-50 Micro Walkman! Works very well with a new belt, but it has a very small flywheel - wow and flutter isn't so good..
Very nice! Do you have any Sony M-1000's to compare it to? They look fairly similar but the M-1000 has built in mics and the M-50 has geared reels?
Hi, I don't have any M1000s, to be completely honest I don't like how that model looks, so I haven't got a chance to look into one of them yet, but I think the M-50 is different than anything else. It has a very peculiar construction, where the mechanism is actually the entire inner frame of the player. I am genuinely perplexed as to where does this thing have the main PCB because there doesn't seem to be any space for it. But as far as the tape transport goes, it's a run of the mill kinda thing. Identical to an even more illusive National RN-GZ7 I have.
