MP3 Cassette - Mixxed Feelings
Added 2025-01-28 16:32:33 +0000 UTCRemember being a child and thinking that a flying car would be cool. Sharing that thought with an adult immediately brought it crashing down to earth.
What about the pilots licence? Flying a plane isn’t something anyone can do. Who’s doing all the extra air traffic control? You wouldn’t be allowed to land a flying car on a residential street or in a city centre, so you’d still need a normal car to drive to where you landed your flying car. What about insurance? ... and so on.
Yes, some simple ideas just don’t stand up to any scrutiny.
Here’s my video about an MP3 Cassette adaptor.
Oh and a quick update on the results of the test and survey regarding the Patreon Video Player. No, I don't plan on using it again. The next time a Patreon survey asks me why I choose to embed YouTube rather than use their player - I can give them more feedback than I was able to before, so thanks for the responses.
Take care.
Comments
They were one of the included tracks.
Techmoan
2025-02-07 20:35:29 +0000 UTCI love seeing you use Prizm to test the playback! Those ladies are awesome. Really catchy and dancey synthwave with top notch vocals.
Landon Pool
2025-02-07 19:05:03 +0000 UTCI had a Hitachi boom box very similar to the one shown. It brings back memories because it was a high school graduation present in 1981. My dad had good taste.
Mark Grigoleit
2025-02-03 14:12:01 +0000 UTCIf it doesn't bother you, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'd love to have it as a ringtone
Brexitonia
2025-02-03 03:04:47 +0000 UTCI considered that too, but then it would take away from the whole aesthetic.
Chris Horry
2025-02-02 15:29:36 +0000 UTCAdd a remote control or phone app and this is so much more appealing. I wonder if there would be some way to add a dynamo mechanism so the battery can charge whilst playing, but perhaps there's not enough room for all that additional stuff.
Chris Horry
2025-02-02 15:28:24 +0000 UTCLast night, I had a dream about having one of these things. Only in my dream the adapter didn't play MP3s, it played cassette tapes. Whoa!
Art Nitzschke
2025-02-01 18:37:22 +0000 UTCRight - the one that includes 'slowly.'
Grace Robbins
2025-01-31 20:39:12 +0000 UTCTo add to my home automation when we turn off the bedroom lights at night
Asaf Sagi
2025-01-31 20:32:00 +0000 UTCI only got to watch this now I like the video very much. With my limited knowledge it's a pity you can't control the sd card screen with some sort of app on your Phone.
MJFJ
2025-01-31 20:31:18 +0000 UTCWe need the uncut version of it!
VWestlife
2025-01-31 20:09:37 +0000 UTCNiche market i would assume, interesting content though and enjoyed immensely.
allister mckillop
2025-01-31 14:35:57 +0000 UTCMy sense of nostalgia is powerful enough that I went and bought a boombox that stuck out in my childhood memory (the General Electric 3-5280B), but not nearly powerful enough to compel me to actually listen to cassettes (apart from a few mixtapes I made, just to prove to myself that I Still Got It). You’re 100% on point with the modern purpose of a simple Bluetooth cassette adapter. I get to enjoy my old boombox for all the right reasons (I enjoy it and it looks way cooler on a table than a Bluetooth speaker) without having to pretend that I totally don’t mind having to keep track of physical media quite honestly and having to get up and hold down a button every time I want to skip past a song actually demonstrates the superiority of the compact cassette format over digital shut up (Someday I might do a full restomod…fill the battery bay with a Lithium pack and wire in a Bluetooth module. But that’s an itch that tends to come and go.)
Andy Ihnatko
2025-01-30 23:08:17 +0000 UTCThe music is just from the YouTube audio library - with silliness over the top, it’s only fifteen - twenty seconds long, if you do want it, I’ll add it to my todo list for the next Patreon update.
Techmoan
2025-01-30 18:34:14 +0000 UTCRing tone? 👍🏻
Grace Robbins
2025-01-30 17:45:21 +0000 UTCCould you release an MP3 of that song you use when you remove the protective plastic?
Brexitonia
2025-01-30 14:28:22 +0000 UTCAnd some of the law abiding are trying to adjust their heating using a buried menu on a touchscreen.
Duncan
2025-01-29 22:25:24 +0000 UTCQuite likely.
Techmoan
2025-01-29 21:26:59 +0000 UTCI suspect you’re right.
Techmoan
2025-01-29 21:26:46 +0000 UTCProbably, I haven’t tried.
Techmoan
2025-01-29 21:26:12 +0000 UTCOn the Hitachi machine, could you take the front of the door off and operate it?
Neil Tonks
2025-01-29 20:56:44 +0000 UTCWell, my Nakamichi 482 cassette deck from 1978 does allow the cover on the door to be removed, had mechanical buttons and does auto stop at end of tape. It should work. Whether it makes sense to.....
Bas van Schooten
2025-01-29 20:32:10 +0000 UTCI do like the idea of it.. it also looks quite nice. And for me it's not a problem being up side down as I can read just as well like that. But you were very effective in debunking this device 😂 I didn't know there was such a thing as a Bluetooth cassette adapter. And yeah, it's probably smarter. Still, I also still have a nice Hitachi boombox from the early 80s with belts that need replacing. But that was quite complicated, so I left it as it was. This does bring that back to life. And I live that. It's just esthetically pleasing to look at too. Then again, that device with it's display IS quite interesting to look at... Hmm...
Bas van Schooten
2025-01-29 20:28:52 +0000 UTCI clearly heard "four track", but then I speak British English, maybe an American English speaker would hear it as "full track"?
Jonas Otter
2025-01-29 18:59:12 +0000 UTCWell-conceived, well-executed, and well-informed conclusion as always. Take care. 🤍
Grace Robbins
2025-01-29 18:33:02 +0000 UTCThe reason the first MP3 cassette of similar design had the gears making the feed spool also turn is because some tape decks have sensors on the spools to detect if they stop, i.e. end of tape or end of rewind/fast forward. In my Technics cassette deck this one with only the one spool turning would mean it would play for a couple of seconds then stop because the logic thinks there is a problem or its reached the end of playback. Of course not an issue with the knock -off Tansashin tape decks.
Leigh
2025-01-29 18:32:29 +0000 UTCTrue. From novel product to e-waste in the blink of an eye.
Steven harris
2025-01-29 18:28:29 +0000 UTCThe problem it was designed to resolve was having something unique to extract money out of people for the novality factor :-)
Leigh
2025-01-29 18:25:56 +0000 UTCHi VWestlife, could well be something like that, a perfect storm for us flicker sensitive souls :-) . Just made the connection with your name/icon and another YouTube channel I watch, keep up the good work.
Leigh
2025-01-29 18:24:44 +0000 UTCNot all cassette mechanisms implement winding in the same way, i.e. very simple walkman-type mechanisms have a single speed-ratio for playback and fast forward. Also the idle speed for the take-up reel vastly varies between different mechanisms, especially when you have a separate reel motor (or even 2!) the idle speed can be almost as fast as fast forward winding!
MrHammond
2025-01-29 18:17:36 +0000 UTCJust wondering, what happens when you press record on the cassette deck, since it doesn't appear to have the notch to block you from doing so? A whole lot of nothing, I'd guess.
VWestlife
2025-01-29 18:15:42 +0000 UTCIt could be a clash between the 30 or 60 fps frame rate of the camera, and the fluorescent (or LED?) lighting in the storage facility operating on 50 Hz AC mains power, causing a subtle flicker. You used to see it a whole lot worse in Mat's old videos testing dashcams and mini video cameras.
VWestlife
2025-01-29 18:14:54 +0000 UTCThe Digisette Duo did that back in 2001. Pressing rewind or fast-foward skipped tracks.
VWestlife
2025-01-29 18:12:14 +0000 UTCThose are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), or just vinyl for short... yes, the same vinyl that records are made of... and 1970s car seat upholstery.
VWestlife
2025-01-29 18:11:04 +0000 UTCAh, whoops, you're right. I mixed up the terminology there. Yeah, it's just rebuilding the file listing, not touching/defragmenting the actual data.
Zoroark
2025-01-29 16:31:29 +0000 UTCExactly that. The worst is when YouTuber's think 24fps magically makes their content cinematic. This also has an extra judder on computer screens because 24fps doesn't fit into 60fps. What they don't realise is that films look cinematic not because it is 24fps, but because they are shot to work within the constraints of slow frame rates of 24fps (180 degree shutter, narrow depth of field, careful pans etc), which they don't apply to their own footage. Ironically, in cinemas 24fps isn't shown as straight 24fps, they fudge it by showing each frame twice with a black frame in-between, which tricks our persistence of vision into seeing something more like 48fps, but on YouTube its raw 24fps on computer screens. Within minutes it makes me feel ill and sick. If someone goes to the trouble of video in 4K, then 60fps should be the frame rate used, halving the temporal resolution by using 30fps makes no sense, as the higher detail makes the lower frame rate even more noticeable.
Leigh
2025-01-29 11:13:02 +0000 UTCI have exactly the same problem with everything under 60fps. Its more like still pictures shuffeling in a fast pace on screen. Thank god for motion interpolation on modern TVs.
Jesper Johag
2025-01-29 10:31:42 +0000 UTCThe increased strain and wear on the belt in the cassette deck would negate any benefit to the battery life of the adapter.
Matt Whitlock
2025-01-29 06:19:29 +0000 UTCTechnically, fatsort would be sorting the entries in the directory and probably would not be touching the file allocation table at all since it wouldn't be moving any actual file data around.
Matt Whitlock
2025-01-29 06:17:26 +0000 UTCOr the players to which they *did* have access were all built using the garbage mechanism that doesn't implement any of the nicer features like auto-stop, auto-reverse that the good players of old had. Some zoomer probably didn't see any technical reason to link the two reels together mechanically.
Matt Whitlock
2025-01-29 06:14:21 +0000 UTCI cracked up at “closed casket for tape.” 😂
Matt Whitlock
2025-01-29 06:10:38 +0000 UTCYou can remove the front of some higher end cassette mechanisms for cleaning. Would that allow you to access the touch screen?
Ben Manthey
2025-01-29 00:42:50 +0000 UTCThis just smacks of a device designed by someone born this century, without access to any players to test it on.
Brad Jones
2025-01-29 00:32:58 +0000 UTCAs someone who endured the whole of Allo Allo last year, that's practically EVERY episode. 😀
Brad Jones
2025-01-29 00:28:56 +0000 UTCIt feels like they've spent all their effort on making the device look pretty, yet the end result is about useful as a chocolate teapot. I'd rather have a half-decent DAP and one of those Bluetooth cassette adapters than this thing. Would be cheaper too.
OzRetrocomp
2025-01-28 23:58:10 +0000 UTCIt’s one of those things where you think about solving one issue, like moving all buttons to the front panel…and then you realise that this still wouldn’t make it a viable device. It’d be like inflating a flat tyre on a car with no engine.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 22:33:53 +0000 UTCThank you for uploading it to YouTube!
Rowan Kerseboom
2025-01-28 22:26:59 +0000 UTCThey are marketed under many names but "Freestanding Plastic Utility Shelving Units" is probably the most generic marketing term the US.
Callan Christensen
2025-01-28 22:25:31 +0000 UTCSuch a strange device with a strange UI. Why put some controls at the exact same place as the write protect tab? I wonder if it would be possible to have a remote with a screen on it, and you would choose the songs from this external screen... oh wait... another idea... you could also make phone calls with this remote... Last thing, I also had the pleasure to listen from my old boombox's tape head, using a car stereo adaptor (the wired one). Actually the Aux input brings the same result.
CheeseParis
2025-01-28 22:13:26 +0000 UTCThanks, I was about to ask if that ever existed
CheeseParis
2025-01-28 22:06:54 +0000 UTCI said four track, I hope it didn’t come across as ‘full’ due to my pronunciation. It’ll be the blocked nose causing issues again. I’ll have to check the auto-subs to make sure they don’t get it wrong.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 21:47:14 +0000 UTCNice idea, disappointing result. Many flaws and missed opportunities as you in the video and others in the comments pointed out. You said it has a full track head? Does that mean it plays in mono? The Bluetooth cassette you show at the end is probably stereo...
Robert
2025-01-28 21:14:21 +0000 UTCI fully subscribe to the idea that Compact Cassette adapters are hugely superior to their 8-track, reel-to-reel and phonograph cousins. Also their availability compared to the cousins not is to be underestimated.
Vincenzo Zocca
2025-01-28 20:55:30 +0000 UTCGreat show, Mat - thanks.
Andrew Torrance
2025-01-28 20:46:51 +0000 UTCInteresting device, shame they got so much wrong.
Gideon Jones-Davies
2025-01-28 20:31:56 +0000 UTCthe design of this device is frustrating, with a better OS alot of the problems you have it could be fixed with software. It already has bluetooth so this device could likely have the feature set of that dedicated bluetooth receiver
I have nothing BUT contempt for this court
2025-01-28 20:13:09 +0000 UTCIt looks an interesting device ti l you delve deep inside and realise it's not as usufull it first looks it wouldn't work in my cassette walkman and my Sony cassette deck auto stop would trigger too and the fact therse no tlre mite or app control seems to make it more awkward to use in my opinion
Ellis Garbutt
2025-01-28 19:49:02 +0000 UTCHumans can barely trusted to drive in 2 dimensions (I know, as I work by a main road and as recently as 5 days ago saw a car flip when it hit a bus) so I have no confidence in them with 3D. Sit on a bus stop on a straight main road and watch the drivers. You'll be surprised how many are looking at their phones on their laps or on the dash.
Matthew Lawrenson
2025-01-28 19:14:18 +0000 UTCThe idea for such a thing dates all the way back to the Digisette Duo, released in 2001, a $249 MP3 player with a whopping 32 MB of memory, which could be used either on its own or in a cassette player. It could skip tracks by pressing the deck's rewind or fast-forward buttons, as it sensed the faster motion of the reels (at least in theory; in actual practice it often didn't).
VWestlife
2025-01-28 18:53:31 +0000 UTCThanks, me too :-) it just feels like there should be something more specific. They're so useful.
JohnR
2025-01-28 18:46:48 +0000 UTCIn the past whenever I’ve needed more…I just search for ‘plastic shelving’ which probably isn’t the answer you wanted.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 18:35:44 +0000 UTCSounds like a super power - perhaps you can also stop time, or something.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 18:32:22 +0000 UTCWhat problem was this designed to solve that hasn't been solved before. The other solutions available are better in every way. They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. I think as others have said they should have gone all out and made it so the drive of the tape player charged the battery. Downside would of course be draining the AA batteries if in a portable player...
Steven harris
2025-01-28 18:29:06 +0000 UTCWhat an odd product, it feels like someone made a cute little MP3 player that looked like a cassette and thought "oh! I can make it really work as a cassette" and ended up with something that's worse than either option.
Scott Seligman
2025-01-28 18:27:03 +0000 UTCQuick question for folks ...the shelves visible at the start made of black plastic. What do people call these? I always think of them as "drainpipe shelves" but that's a daft name, anyone have anything better?
JohnR
2025-01-28 18:18:46 +0000 UTCThe flying car analogy is brilliant! I had conversations like that with my parents.😀
Mark Persad
2025-01-28 18:12:43 +0000 UTCThis is peak TechMoan material. Brightened my day
JohnR
2025-01-28 18:09:56 +0000 UTCThe reason the files are showing in the wrong order within an album is because this device lacks any sorting capability and is instead showing them in the order they're stored on the actual filesystem, which is usually the order they were written to it. This is fairly common on low-powered devices without much RAM. It's possible to fix this with a utility like fatsort, which can rebuild the FAT with the files sorted in the correct order.
Zoroark
2025-01-28 17:58:26 +0000 UTCSuch a device would be nice if it would behave like a cassette in a cassette player: start playing when the capstan/pinchroller is running, fast forward and rewind when only the spools are turning. Might take some more effort to engineer and produce, but should be possible! And a nice feature would be if the spinning wheels would also charge the battery, but I have no idea if the force from a normal cassette deck would be enough to even let the battery last just a little bit longer...
MrHammond
2025-01-28 17:56:53 +0000 UTCA nice idea but poorly executed. It's like they didn't do much field testing. 1 cog, recessed buttons, a power LED and a remote control would have made it useable. I feel it's something that would have done well maybe 3 decades ago.
evilution
2025-01-28 17:54:42 +0000 UTCInteresting, if not-very-useful device. I wonder if that spinning hub could be turned into a low output generator to charge the internal battery. Just to add to the novelty value.
CBits Tech
2025-01-28 17:52:59 +0000 UTCI was hoping they'd done something clever with all those smarts inside-- use a sensor to detect whether the reels were moving or not to start/stop the playback, and the speed at which they were moving to do track/forward and backwards. That would make the product much more compelling.
Jason Katterhenry
2025-01-28 17:37:08 +0000 UTCAs long as I could get clearance to land on the roof of the parking garage at work, that would be good enough for me. It’s almost always empty. :)
Brad Hood
2025-01-28 17:29:32 +0000 UTCYes and that would likely work about as dependably as the full self driving car, that’s always coming…any minute now. I’m sure they still wouldn’t want you landing anywhere useful though.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 17:15:42 +0000 UTCVery apt analogy. You made it clear how the pros/cons of this thing are comparable to the pros/cons of flying cars.👍 Oh and it sure seems useless, but that black one might be okay.
Mark Hesse
2025-01-28 17:15:00 +0000 UTC"Flying a plane isn’t something anyone can do. Who’s doing all the extra air traffic control?" These days, it would be AI, obviously. ;-)
David Boddie
2025-01-28 17:09:40 +0000 UTCThe buttons being on the front would make sense. Someone got this part right on the cheapo original version.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 17:02:07 +0000 UTCIt seems to be the opening in the storage locker video that set my nerves off :-) As you are moving about, I don't see smooth motion, its very staccato. I'm particularly sensitive to slow frame rates like 30fps, I'm sure most people don't notice, but on a my large 4K computer monitor sat a few feet in front of it, its very noticeable to me. I've skipped in a bit and its more normal.
Leigh
2025-01-28 17:01:13 +0000 UTCIf I’m one thing it’s not-fashionable.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 16:59:53 +0000 UTCThere look to be a few design flaws, tbh :D
Longplay Games
2025-01-28 16:55:18 +0000 UTCToo bad. The track listing being random with no external controls would make this annoying to me. That and it potentially not working in a car would irritate me. Now I'm no longer in a situation where I NEED an adapter - haven't been in many years. But it would be disappointing to me even circa 2012 when I would have found an MP3 cassette useful. Since they bothered to put buttons on it at all, they really could use the MP3 CD button functions. Folder up/folder down, next, play, and previous. And just run this thing like an MP3 CD. Folder 1 Rumours, Folder 2 Fly Like an Eagle, Folder 3 Wings over America, etc. Then it's a million tapes in one. Want to change tapes, eject it, hit folder up, new tape.
Funkmon
2025-01-28 16:53:03 +0000 UTCHmm. Design flaw could be that both spindles need to move on some players. There needs to be a belt or something inside the cassette to make both spindles move!
Tore Børseth Bjørnsen
2025-01-28 16:49:03 +0000 UTCI’m confused…it looks normal to me.
Techmoan
2025-01-28 16:48:35 +0000 UTCOr maybe Allo Allo style? “You may be wondering what I am doing in my own cellar attempting to insert the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies into a hollow knockwurst..”
Mike Knell
2025-01-28 16:46:50 +0000 UTCYou missed an opportunity for a proper cold open there - storage locker scene, let’s go back to the beginning, then opening titles. Very fashionable right now, I’m told. :)
Mike Knell
2025-01-28 16:45:12 +0000 UTCHate the 30fps Mat on this video, sorry but it makes me feel sick watching it on the computer monitor. I'm sensitive to flicker and for me the illusion of motion is lost at the start of this particular video and I just see a lot of static images flicking in front of my eyes and its horrible, gave me an immediate headache. It would help if it was filmed with a slower shutter speed to add some motion blur like most of your other videos. I will watch later on the TV as that adds interpolation and its more like 60fps. I never understand why people shoot 4K at yesterdays frame rates.
Leigh
2025-01-28 16:39:47 +0000 UTCLoved this video! This was a perfect example of what I am here for :)
Longplay Games
2025-01-28 16:37:14 +0000 UTC
