If you came of age in the 1980s, chances are pretty good that you loaded all of your favorite music onto an audio cassette to create the grand-daddy of modern playlists – a mixtape. Most music consumers today stream tunes over the internet, and the cassette has been all-but forgotten. Now you can break out your dusty tapes once more thanks to Hong Kong-based Nimm Lab, which has just injected a portable cassette player with Bluetooth.
Forty years ago this month, Sony changed the way we consumed music while out and about with the introduction of the Walkman portable cassette player. Since then, cassette's have fallen out of favor, portable players – including those from Sony – have gone digital, and many of us don't plug headphones in but go wireless instead.
But some music lovers have predicted that the audio cassette would soon be making a comeback, in much the same way as vinyl is currently enjoying a resurgence in sales. Indeed, late last year, Crosley Radio readied itself for the coming cassette revival with a couple of portable players.
Now Nimm Lab is joining in by Kickstarting the It's OK portable cassette player. And just like the ones of old, you can plug in headphones if you wish, but you can also pair your Bluetooth headphones, or even your wireless speaker, thanks to a cooked-in Bluetooth 5.0 transmitter.
Each unit comes with a 60 minute blank cassette, and features a built-in microphone for recording your thoughts while on the move. There are five large buttons jutting out of one side for playback/recording control and a clip on the back for hooking the thing on your belt or bag strap. And it runs on two AA-sized batteries.
The It's OK Bluetooth-packing cassette player went live on Kickstarter today, with pledges starting at HKD 498 (about US$63). If all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in December. The pitch video below has more.
Sources: Nimm Lab, Kickstarter