My component cassette deck, which I believe I bought in 1994, experienced a slow death the last few years. First it played tapes a little slow, then much slower, then not at all. My grandson gave me two boom boxes that had been sitting in his garage. The first I tried played one tape, then gave up. The other did not play at all.. I rarely listen to cassettes but I have a few with material not available elsewhere in my collection, so I decided to blow $35 on a new cassette player. When it arrived, I plugged it in and inserted a tape. It was very difficult to get it in and I had to basically force it. When I attempted to close the access door, it would not close. I cussed a little and thought I would have to return the unit, but examined it more closely, and realized the cassettes needed to go in with the open tape access area up – in other words, upside down. I played one tape successfully, but when I tried another and pressed the PLAY button it would not stay down. I had read a number of reviews of players and this was a problem another buyer had reported (I don’t know what brand he had). In addition to going into the slot with the open section down, every cassette player I have ever owned or used played the tape from left to right. However, the tape must not only be upside down, it must be backwards, so that it plays from right to left. So – One star off for stupid design. What about quality? I did not expect much for $35, so I was not really disappointed to experience transistor radio quality sound. Still, you can’t have full stars for a low-quality audio device, so another star gone. I’ve played a dozen or more tapes, and the player seems to work OK. I keep the volume low to avoid the distortion that is “normal” with low audio quality. I have not tested the unit with batteries, but will soon. The manual (what there is of it) lists the battery type as "UM-2.” Amazon’s page seems to indicate that it uses standard C cell batteries. This is very confusing. I think I have to buy 4 C Cells; if they don't work, I am out the cost with nothing else to use them in. Research indicates that UM-2 is the Japanese designation for C Cells. Amazon should use clear English on their U.S. web and the seller should do the same in the manual. If you keep your expectations low and can adapt to a design that is different from 99% of the cassette players ever made, this is a reasonable value for the price.
