Cassette players are making a comeback

By mbrooks on July 8, 2019

File – In this photo illustration, a cassette tape which could once be purchased at RadioShack is shown on February 8, 2015 in Westport, Connecticut. (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) (Photo Illustration by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

By Matthew Brooks

Vinyl records are back again. The portable cassette player is making a comeback, too.

In 2018, both vinyl and cassette sales saw an increase in sales over the previous year.

Vinyls represented 13% of all physical format music sales in 2018, for a total of 10 million vinyl sales.

Cassette sales were 118,000 in the US in 2018.

On the heels of the 40th anniversary of the Walkman, a Kickstarter is bringing the pencil-fixed player into the 21st century.

The Bluetooth-enabled player also supports the standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

The device, called IT’S OKAY, also features classic cassette features like a microphone and monoaural sound.

It runs on 2 AA batteries. This means refueling is made possible through RadioShack, or just about any other store.

If a Kickstarter, with the necessary wait until a proposal becomes reality, there are plenty of alternative Bluet0oth-less players.

There are enough options out there to mean there better and worse models.

The Bluetooth player will drop to supporters in December 2019.