When Sony unveiled the 40th anniversary Walkman, we thought it was kind of lame. It did not actually pay homage to the device that started it all. Meanwhile, a startup did what Sony did not do. It is still not a cassette tape-playing Walkman, but it at least it is an actual cassette tape.
A cassette, what? Yes. THE cassette tape, albeit a modernized one. Meet the Mixxtape from Mixxim. Mixxtape (not a typo, btw) is a digital music player, AKA MP3 player, that plays MP3s, FLAC, iTunes and other hi-fi audio files.
However, it is NOT merely a MP3 player with a nostalgic aesthetic; it actually plays in a tape deck. Like, for real. Like a MP3 player proper, it gets onboard storage which, in this case, it has 8 GB worth of digital space, plus support for memory cards up to 256 GB if you ever needed more storage.
At a glance, Mixxtape does indeed look like a regular cassette. However, if you observe it closely, it actually has an OLED display with touch navigation to boot. There is a 3.5 mm headphone jack so you can dust off your good’ol skinny on-ear headphone and use it to enjoy the tunes.
If you prefer to use modern wireless headphones or wireless speakers, the built-in Bluetooth connectivity will have you covered.
Finally, it has a 300 mAh rechargeable battery good for up to 5 hours of playback.
There’s a catch here though. While it does slot into a cassette tape deck, it will only “plays as a cassette” in tape decks that do not have tape movement sensors. I guess, the internals does not roll like the nostalgic tech, so put away your pencil.
If you down, you can pick up the Mixxim Mixxtape Cassette Tape MP3 Player on Mixxim website for $100 a pop.
Images: Mixxim.