Astro Hacker News - Maxell MXCP-P100 – wireless cassette player

angry_octet |next [-]

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.

Lwrless |next |previous [-]

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-cas...

It's surprising to see these kinds of retro cassette players still being updated in 2026.

jrmg |root |parent [-]

That looks huge!

theamk |root |parent |next [-]

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 |root |parent |previous [-]

It’s a replica of a 1980s model.

smcleod |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

> 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 |root |parent [-]

All of them. Just with a $10 dongle that can be velcroed to it.

embedding-shape |root |parent [-]

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 |next |previous [-]

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.

thw_9a83c |next |previous [-]

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

jrmg |next |previous [-]

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/

bux93 |root |parent |next [-]

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 |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Here's the OEM: 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 |root |parent [-]

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 |root |parent |previous [-]

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.

srott |root |parent [-]

Not even worth reviewing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RTPcjRbIec

littlecranky67 |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

These likely would be destroyed by that cheap mechanism everyone uses these days.

the_other |root |parent [-]

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.

dough654 |next |previous [-]

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

amelius |root |parent |next [-]

Yeah. Give me a prosumer-priced backup tape solution instead.

|root |parent |previous [-]

voidUpdate |next |previous [-]

> "Wireless Freedom – Enjoy up to 11 hours Bluetooth? playtime for uninterrupted listening."

Are they not sure if it does Bluetooth?

smilbandit |next |previous [-]

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.

jwr |next |previous [-]

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

EvanAnderson |next |previous [-]

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?

wewewedxfgdf |next |previous [-]

Don't they need to sell blank tapes too?

trq01758 |root |parent [-]

They do: https://maxell-usa.com/product-category/cassette-tapes/

There are also others:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/compact_cassettes.html

https://revox.com/en/revox-news/now-available-revox-empty-ca...

wewewedxfgdf |root |parent [-]

That's pretty cool I wonder if it's newly manufactured.

NoraCodes |root |parent [-]

The Maxell Type 1 tapes are newly manufactured.

Theodores |next |previous [-]

What next, wax cylinder players with Bluetooth?

squeedles |root |parent [-]

Shut up and take my money!

ChrisArchitect |next |previous [-]

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.

kleiba |previous [-]

Hipsters, take note!

JKCalhoun |root |parent [-]

Puts down his MiniDisc player… "Take note of what?"

kleiba |root |parent |next [-]

Ha, funny! (<- writing that on my typewriter)

ubercore |root |parent |previous [-]

It's a shame MiniDisc wasn't more popular.

devilbunny |root |parent |next [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

Portable CD players were way more finicky than walkmans (walkmen?!), plus the form factor was just not ideal.