My daily driver cassette Walkman?

I had a gorgeous Walkman, bought about 1995/6. Can’t remember model number but it had a leather case and I think the play buttons were on the machine?

I've been enjoying my DD33 walkman for quite some time now. Can't imagine my life without it at this point. Its resilience to changes in speed, even those caused by physical shake of the device, is worth the asking price alone.

Anyone see this video from Sony talking about their new super high-end Walkman’s ? What a beautiful collection of older units in the background. https://youtu.be/18dTXthQh34

Whenever Sony walkmen are discussed I feel a bit quasy... I must have bought at least five of them over the years (Ebay), some quite expensive, but none of them would work properly, even after changing the belts. The one exception and my 'daily driver' is the Panasonic RQ-P266 which I found locally (new-old-stock) for a good price. Been using that for a few years now, sounds brilliant and has all the features I want and more (3 band equalizer and DBB which actually improve the sound!).

Brilliant start of the video - I laughed a lot

I guess one side needed to be plastic to allow for AM radio reception. A shame no Dolby noise reduction. My first walkman was an Aiwa as well, plastic but sounded good, it got stolen along with my bag so I lost it. I then got a lovely Aiwa HS-PC202 with metal shell and B & C Dolby Noise reduction. Against my better judgement I said yes to a friend asking to borrow it for their holiday, when I got it back it was covered in scratches and dents and I was mortified.

Just incase you are curious, the Security Protected stickers were they ones we used in Currys / PC World (Dixons too!) so I guess it most likely came from there.

I enjoyed this video a lot. It also brought back memories of my boxy portable cassette player... Because it was definitely not a Sony. I don't remember the brand though but I am quite certain that you didn't need an oscilloscope to gather its wow or flutter accuracy. I never loved cassettes and never bought them, but recorded them (which didn't help). Because my parents got a boom box in the early 90s with a cd player, I bought CDs and stole cassettes from them to make Mix tapes. I got my first own mini hi fi I belive 97 and shortly after a portable player with anti skip....

I've used vinegar to get rid of acid leaks like that. Not sure if it is a good or a bad way just that it cleans it off quickly.

I love the design story of the Walkman. Its evolution over two decades documents progress in manufacturing techniques and technologies, as well as the cumulative benefits of twenty years of experience in designing and building these things. Just something as simple as the location of that battery compartment inside the cassette compartment. Improvements in both battery chemistry and Walkman engineering meant that a Walkman could require infrequent replacement of a single AA, instead of chewing through a pair of them way more frequently. Which meant that they were free to put that one battery in other places, which meant that it could be moved inside, where the door to the compartment wasn't vulnerable to breakage and loss. Cool stuff.

Mat, I've been a Patreon supporter for several years. Above all I appreciate your dedication to quality. I don't have cable tv, or even Netflix, but chose instead to support a small handful of content producers like yourself. If new videos come out a bit slower, it's not a problem for me.

I used to listen to cassettes to go to sleep to (we're talking recently here!) on my Sony TCM-818. One snag was that it would always make me jump at the end of a side just as I was drifting off, as it has piano keys that click up. Maybe a personal stereo with soft touch keys is the answer?

More expensive than I expected. £59.99 in the 2002 Argos Additions catalogue. I have just added scans on the community page> p.s. Did anyone else notice that the two capstan pulleys are different sizes. The motor must run at different speeds depending on the direction. I suspect it is a stepper motor so that is easy to do using electronics.

Enjoyed the video brings me back to my childhood when my "walkman' went everyone with me. Ironically i sometimes buy tape audiobooks from charity shop and listen to them whilst walking. People do look at you when you change the tape not sure it they dont know what it is, or thinking hasnt he heard of audible

Lovely in depth look, really enjoyed that. It really should be possible to make a modern gumstick alternative with a 3D printed case, a small lithium cell and USB charging. I wonder if there would be a market for it. If they existed for let's say £10 each would you buy any?

You've prompted me to 'check in' on mine. Found a battery still in it ( and keeping the clock going ) and one in the minidisc too, caught them before they started leaking

You know, the more Walkman vids I watch the more I come to realize... I don't think I ever had a real Sony haha. I think I mostly grew up with Akai knockoffs. (They got the job done just fine, though... when your library consists mostly of copies of copies, it's not like you need the finest.)

i have been buying and restoring walkmans of all makes for years now. I personally find all of Sonys EX range to be a reasonable compromise of size, ease of repairand sound quality. sort of the Ford Focus of the Walkman spectrum. Also, at the end of the day it comes down to what you are prepared to pay and what degree of sound quality you can live with. Just a quick word about Deck Tech, i almost always use them for replacement belts and have been quite happy with them. Great video Matt and great to see you seem to be feeling and sounding better.

I despair that I have to wait for 3 hours to watch this, especially since it is about the WM-D6C? I've had on a saved eBay search for a long time and I'll be lucky to find a decent one (for parts, even) under $300.

Can we have a daily driver MD unit. My N510 is amazing, i dropped it on the floor in work, battery cover flew off and after recovering it and giving it a good smack … it works great 👀

I miss my old WMD 6C. I used to use it all the time in my first job, which was working for a company who provided premium rate phone lines. Used it to edit down all the various horoscope, fortune telling, and racing tips we used to get, before uploading them to the computers; It was also awesome for listening to music!

Terrific classic Techmoan stuff here Mat. The thing that struck me as you showed these late 90s/early 00s devices was how similar they are in appearance to many of those MD players from your videos showing you going through the huge shipments of them you’d gotten from the Japanese auction sites. These cassette players looked like nothing more than stretched versions of the MD players (and vice/versa) although I suppose this was a common Sony design [a]esthetic at the time.

In case no one has said so yet, the Walkman you couldn't get the cover off, I think you need to take off the plastic part of the battery door, then lever it open from the battery door end so as to clear the volume wheel and other plastic fittings on the volume wheel end. Like this from 2:23 on this video https://youtu.be/Sx6TOr_wSb4

Hi Mat, to take the back cover off your EX672 you might have to take the plastic battery door off as this is similar to many Minidisc units I’ve worked on. On those MD units you need to remove it to get the back off (MZ-E30 for example). There should be a small metal lever on the battery contact plate you can move to allow the plastic door to slide off the battery contact which will then allow the back of the unit to be removed.

Fascinating video, thanks! Is there anything you can use on the scuff marks, or are you looking at wet&dry sand and repaint (like that nice retro future chap in the Channel Islands)a?

I would like to know where you buy your belts from Mat ? I have a Walkman Pro and I have not used it in years. I know that the belt will have turned to Goo and will need replacing. When I get my old Electronics Engineer round he can replace it for me. I don't want to buy any old Rubbish belt from eBay if I can help it. Any help would be useful. Thanks Mat an interesting video. Jeremy Travis

You mention how you don't have a time machine so you can't just test the quality of a device at the time it came out... But I thought you *DID* have a time machine? 😉😉🤣🤣 Just kidding. I enjoyed the video.

Yep, would love to see a vlog (minimal or no editing) of the new storage. Patron only, to keep the riffraff thieves away. Phone footage would be adequate, I suggest.

Any video about cassettes is a treat when you're involved Mat!