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.
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.
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.
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.
Exclusively alongside digital formats. You can also get the FLACs on Bandcamp or listen to it on Spotify (but that is boring and doesn't sound organic).
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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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.
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.
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.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC5MD6WP/
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.
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...
EDIT: Seems 120min tapes are available on amazon and walmart, but boy, they cost a premium.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system
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.
> "Wireless Freedom – Enjoy up to 11 hours Bluetooth? playtime for uninterrupted listening."
Are they not sure if it does Bluetooth?
There are also others:
https://www.thomannmusic.com/compact_cassettes.html
https://revox.com/en/revox-news/now-available-revox-empty-ca...