Riptunes Portable Cassette Recorder Player, Tape to USB Audio Music Digital Converter, Retro Shoebox Tape Recorder with USB Player, Cassette-MP3 Converter w/Built-in Microphone -Grey

This cassette player recorder gives excellent reproduction of music tapes from the 70s & 80s.MP3s play without problems. You can't beat it for the price.

I bought this for the digitization feature, which works as advertised -- but with a few caveats. As others have pointed out, you need to press play on the cassette player before triggering the record function (by pressing and holding the play button on the USB portion of the controls).The tape player only supports USB drives of up to 32GB, and modern USB drives tend to be much bigger, so keep that in mind; I expect that's why some users have trouble getting the feature to work.Most importantly to me, the digital output is 128kbps MP3, with no way to adjust the quality. That's adequate for basic listening, but it's a lossy format. While cassette audio quality is lower than, say, a CD, 128kbps isn't quite adequate for a *perfect* reproduction.But overall, this is great for $40.

I would not recommend this to anyone. I purchased this to help speed up the process of converting 400+ cassettes to digital. It was caught in a high-speed mode when I placed the first cassette in to play. That did end quickly, however. It then proceeded to 'eat' the very first cassette. The Record to USB button does not work unless pressed numerous times. Sometimes when I press Play, it will immediately stop, and it will do this numerous times until it finally decides to go.The biggest issue is trying to get a USB flash drive to actually work in it. I first tried a 64GB NTFS and it would not work. I then tried a 8GB exFAT and it would not work. I finally resorted to using (seriously) a 512MB FAT flash drive and it actually worked. At approximately 45MB per 45-minute tape side, I may be able to get 5 90-minute tapes onto that drive.The NAXA to the right side of the Riptunes in the photo looks quite a bit like the Riptunes player (I am guessing same manufacturer and different branding since the NAXA was purchased in 2020). However, the NAXA has gone through over 100 cassettes without much issue. The NAXA is twice the price and worth every cent (in my opinion). If you do purchase one of these Riptunes, I would suggest demagnetizing it, and cleaning the heads, capstan, and pinch roller before you even use it. Make sure to rewind the cassette a few times to tighten it up before use.

i have many audio books on cassette. As my car cassette player gave out, I wanted something to convert the books to digital, so I would not lose the books. I have been pleased with this device. I was impressed with the sound quality. One must first push play on the tape, then push the USB record button. It will not engage until the 'clear' part of the tape passes through. It is a continuous record, no chapter breaks. If I want chapter breaks, I have to do that with a computer. Nice thing though, once something is digital, it can be easily saved and modified.

I bought 2 of these with the intention of converting a few hundred cassette recordings to MP3. The product works as described, but when I went to cut the audio, I noticed an odd issue. Many of the recordings seem to overlay the last 1/4 of the recording with a previously recorded audio. This happens on both of these units. I thought at first that the originals might have been messed up, but the original cassette recordings are fine. My best guess is that old audio in a cache memory is somehow dumped into the .mp3 during the record process. Be aware and check every recording for errors.

When I received this the first time, I was ready to throw in the towel. It didn't work. I was pissed. I'd had high hopes and now, like always, they'd been crushed. I was just going to ask for my money back and leave it at that. But something inside me decided to ask for a replacement instead of a refund and I'm glad I did. The replacement worked like a charm. This is so much better than other such devices where you have you sync it with a program or where the sound quality is so bad that you can barely hear anything. This device does a decent job. I've already salvage most of my audiobooks on cassette that I was sure would be relegated to the dust bin. Easy to use and good quality. I'm glad I gave this a second chance!

The machine would not run when plugged in. With C-batteries it would run, but as soon as I plugged in the AC outlet jack it stopped running. I used a volt meter on the jack and found it had a live 6-volt current, but it didn't work when I plugged it into the machine.

Product works as advertised, except that the User's Guide instructions on page 8 for Recording from Tape to USB are wrong - Step 3 should come before Step 2. In other words, you should press the Play button first, then press the Record button (next to the USB port) second. It seems to work only when the tape "leader" has passed the play head, so press the Record button several times after pressing the Play button until the Record button light comes on (flashing red).UPDATE: After using the product for a couple of days, I am quite satisfied. Converting tape cassettes is routine once you get the button sequence right. MP3 files are saved at 128 kbps, using approximately 1 MB of storage per minute. The sound quality is acceptable, especially considering that my cassette tapes were produced from a variety of sources, including other cassette tapes. Thumbs up!