on july 1st, 1979, sony changed the way we listened to music with the WALKMAN®. the series of portable media players began with a cassette player envisioned by SONY’s cofounder masaru ibuka, who thought the existing portable player was cumbersome and expensive. first came the cassette player, then the CD player, then it shifted to the minidisc and finally onto the MP3 plays. evolution was fast and concise, to the point where we just stream tunes over the internet. but that doesn’t mean that old ways of listening to music have been forgotten — take for instance vinyl LPs, or the cassette which seems to be doing a comeback with we are rewind.
images courtesy of we are rewind
created by french entrepreneur romain boudruche, we are rewind is the cassette player reinvented. ‘the idea came to us after a year of riding a wave of 80s nostalgia, first started by the movie «gardians of the galaxy», and even the show «stranger things» and so we decided to re-make cassette tape players,’ comments the company. ‘we looked around us to find someone to join us on this adventure. and we found a french company right outside of paris specialized in making high-quality audio materials.’
the we are rewind cassette player features a design that is classic yet contemporary, resulting in timeless aesthetics. ‘clean, crips and classy — the kind of design object that we’d love to show off on the mantelpiece,’ reads the website. the body is made in aluminum, giving it a cool touch sensation and impeccable finishes. on the functionality side, the designers got rid of the disposable batteries and instead placed a rechargeable lithium battery which is more practical and cost effective. they also integrated bluetooth capability on top of the 3.5 jack connector and added a recording function to be able to create your own mixtapes, just like you used to do.
project info:
name: we are rewind
type: cassette player
kickstarter campaign: here
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Hope these go well for sure. Please make this a direct drive player with out belts like the best Sony DD players. Needs to have a square window as the circle is not right. We want to see the cassette as people like to see the cassette as much of it as possible. Do this device right and you will be a success. If you make it look cheap it will look like a toy. Sony’s best walkmans looked great. It has to sound great and record great. Goal price should be no higher than 179.00
A very welcome device but AFAIK with a Tanashin tape transport. Might be a good idea to use something more exquisite and not so mundane.