The Bandai Micro-cartridge

I don't suppose it's possible to get the ruler out and measure the dimensions of the Bandai micro cartridge? I've tried searching and I can't find them anywhere. I suspect there may be a few people in the public comments section who are just as curious as I am.

Mat, I'm thinking Sony NTC-90 tapes are almost, if not slightly smaller, in size to these carts.

While I've always hated continuous loop cartridges due to their self-destructive nature (particularly the 8-track) as I like more permanence in my music, your video was top shelf and top notch as always. Be well, my friend.

I had one of these as a kid parents got it for me from a rewards catalog except mine played regular cassette tapes, and had a manual on off/ volume dial. Had it up to a a few years ago and might still actually have it here somewhere.

Neat little device, and some clever engineering even if it is flawed. Nowadays, it'll be a tiny circuit board with a blob which is also impressive, but somehow far less interesting at the same time. I know it's about outside the scope of your channel, but ever considered covering Microdrives? They also use a tiny endless loop cartridge complete with some pretty annoying design flaws.

Endless tape carts have the problem of literally winding themselves tighter and tighter as they play, eventually binding up. It's jus that 8 Track carts are much longer and so, they it takes longer for that to happen. Plus the slippery backing, of course.

Wonderful! When I was 10 or 11 a 'toy' like this would have ticked a lot of boxes for me; moving parts, opening flaps, flashing coloured light AND it played songs. What's not to like?! Mat, I am slightly confused (my normal state these days!) but why could we hear the music playing backwards when you put the cassette in the wrong side up. Normally if there's music on Side A, you don't hear anything when playing a blank Side B - so I assume that they recorded the sound signal across the whole width of the tape. Wouldn't they have needed non-standard recording heads to do that? Or am I completely misunderstanding (very likely)? Have a good vacation!

Are you bringing a Walkman or any other unusual tech with you on the trip? Relying on just your phone for photos and video?

There's something a little sad about a product that was "sorta" made with attention to detail. The spinning turntable and the lights are genuinely charming. But it's almost like that "A-Team" development crew were shooed away and replaced by disaffected teens from the electronics club.

Such a fine line between tatty and crap. Or perhaps it's a distinction separated by an ocean. So, my mom adored crap like this and had both the Elvis doll and the jukebox. She ordered hers out of some catalog and for some reason I recall the jukebox being a steal at $15. But I'm sure she would have paid more. She got herself an Elvis "Ken" doll which was $30 in early 90's money.

Can't recall if you always put "Patreon Edition" in the title before it goes live, but that's good, as someone posted the Kenny Everett carts one on a forum I'm on before it went live. I let admin know, and it got taken down for a few days. I wonder if an early version of Mr Dengon or whatever it was called, would use a similar idea? Or was that tape anyway? I'll have to rewatch.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was the Bandai Micro-Cartridge's size compared to the ZX Microdrive's carts. But I guess you don't have a spare ZX Spectrum and/or ZX Microdrive lying around.

Love the video. I'm wondering if playing up the toy angle would help with views. Low hanging fruit for the pocket rockers type viewers. I don't have the analytics obviously, but was just thinking that...

To add insult to injury for those who bought the "Wurlitzer jukebox", that's a re-recording of Lloyd Price's "Personality". The late '80s were a minefield of inferior re-recordings of '50s and '60s music, if you've seen my video about it. "Tequila" did seem to be the original recording, though, from the brief clip you played.

You insidious man. 40 years after the 80s is 20 years from now! Please

That’s a fantastic bit of miniaturisation…

Cute

Interestingly, the tape is recorded with a single track occupying the entire surface of the tape, mono full track. I wonder if the head in the player is mono full track. That would be really strange. Ok I saw the video better, the head in the player is mono 2 track as in all mono cassette recorders. However, it is still curious that they used a full track machine to record these tapes. A machine with which they usually make sample tapes to calibrate recorders.

Like you, I am still curious what else might have used a cart this small for a non-novelty reason. Or maybe there was a Japanese novelty.

I'm well look forward to watching this video later hope your travel goes well

• Nice thumbnail! Love the background color. • Aww, tiny tapes - I just love miniatures. • I have The Platters Greatest Hits record, so 'Only You' and 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' are two of my particular favorites. • Haha, a tiny Jukebox! 😉 Takes up very little space, much less than a real one. • Looks like that window needs some Brasso, but probably not worth messing with. • Your appear & disappear edits are great. • Back in the day, I used to splice cassette tape with Scotch tape. It worked fine - I had a ratty low-range 'boombox' which wouldn't have had high fidelity sound anyway. • I thoroughly enjoyed this tiny video - it had all the elements - fiddling with the internals and taking apart a tape. • Starring TC-D5M in a guest role! EDIT: wow, this product placement has, years later, gained fruitfulness - https://ibb.co/0MzCD0K I'm glad you're safe and sound - take it easy and take care. 🤍

Thanks always makes my day when a new video appears

Very nicely done!

Rarely, I don't want to buy one. Have a good trip!