Yes, the most recent model is pure black plastic while the earlier had a faux chrome over the speaker. And the new model does not have that detailed instruction manual but a little four page flyer instead. I also bought one for $15 a month ago went back about two weeks later and the price had dropped to five bucks!! Bought a second one for backup. I don't think WM will be selling cassette players in the future, the cassette revival is really just a novelty bit of nostalgia probably spurned on by the comeback of vinyl.
Just buy a set of cassette tapes and a recorder on Amazon. Even your local Walmart might have some on sale quarantine or no quarantine . I got a recorder with extra tapes for just under 30$
For what it does I like it. And my wallet seems to appreciated. As of today (April 25). Walmart posted on their site that is out of stock. I hope they put it back in store soon.
Walmart has discontinued the Onn cassette recorder. If you want one, check Walmart online and see if any of your stores still have the clearance models in stock. The clearance price was shown as $15. Prices for the other cassette recorders using the same design (Jensen, GPX, Sylvania, Coby) seem to be going up, perhaps due to increased sales (this is a very tiny market with few competitors) and maybe to increased import tariffs on Chinese goods.
The model I reviewed has been discontinued, and you are correct that it is on clearance for $15, so this is an excellent opportunity for folks to get a great deal! www.walmart.com/ip/Onn-Cassette-Tape-Recorder-with-Built-In-Microphone/873878 Onn offers a newer, full-price model that seems to still be available from their website as well, although listed as limited stock. www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Cassette-Recorder/649832148
@@ThriftyAV I seen one in Hope, Arkansas today. It had its own section with blank cassette tapes and everything, the only difference is the color, onn changed their color to Orange. I actually bought some of the tapes to record for my Sony TCM 929 player.
Thank you for a nicely-prepared video review. The biggest advantage of this unit, which uses the ubiquitous Tanashin cassette mechanism, is that it is brand-new. Quality control is not a strength of units like this, but purchasing the higher-quality cassette recorders of the past may entail investing some time and funds into fixing problems like worn-out belts or a dead motor.
My channel tends to focus on used thrift items, but I could not resist purchasing this item new at Walmart. You are absolutely right about worn belts, and I have plenty of old cassette recorders with this issue. I plan to do a video about cassette deck belt repair pretty soon, as I have already purchased a variety pack of replacement belts. Thank you for watching!
@@ThriftyAV I really look forward to a video about simple cassette deck and recorder belt repairs. Like you, I've acquired a few used shoebox cassette recorders, cassette boomboxes and cassette walkmans as well as some stereo cassette decks.
@@peacearchwa5103 This is on my "to do" list, as I have a few cassette decks that need belt repair, and I ordered some replacement belts from China. I have a few vids already in the works, but I will push "belt repair" up the queue a bit.
I got one of these as a gift and after a couple days of constant use it broke and shredded right through the middle of one of my blank cassettes. Now not only do I have to get another cassette I have to get ANOTHER FREAKING RECORDER.
Thanks so much for doing this. I'm working on a project of making old-style video game music and wanted to record it to take recorder like we would have back in the day. For my use, this will be perfect. Thanks!
It will get the job done if you have an old TRS80 that you want to use cassettes with. In my experience, the mic jack was more reliable than the aux jack on a RadioShack tape recorder for recording the computer data anyway.
I figured that the Onn cassette machines had been discontinued, but since the cassette seems to be making a comeback, I'm hoping that Walmart will come out with a stereo version.
In the UK there's no Walmart but Walmart have a stake in ASDA, the UK supermarket. I have seen the ONN brand as you mention, on various products but unfortunately the blank tapes and tape recorders haven't made it to the stores. I pronounce it the way you do. There's a word 'On-brand' meaning - 'conforming to the image or identity that a particular company seeks to associate with its products or services:
Thank you for sharing the review I really like it and I am considering purchasing this item. I was hoping you would try out the AC adapter in this unboxing video. Can the AC adapter be used without batteries?
Yes it can. I bought one of these a week ago and will be doing this same style video shortly. The cheapness of this cassette player in 2021 is crazy but it does play and record.
I just want a shoebox I don't feel bad cutting up and putting a PWM speed control on the motor to make drone sounds I can record fast and play back slow. This should work just fine.
My first car has a cassette player so I wanted to make some tapes to listen to in the car but i don't have the money for a nice cassette deck so I'm looking at some cheap alternatives
I just bought one of these onn type cassette tape recorders. I can't get it to stop clicking loudly. It's so loud that the clicks transfer over into the recording. Any ideas?
If you just bought it, then you should be able to return it or exchange it at Walmart. The transport is normally a bit noisy, but it is more of a whirring motor noise, not a clicking noise. If your unit is clicking, something is wrong with it.
I appreciate the response, in your video I was able to notice that I hadn't pulled my microphone from the box 😆 the microphone takes the clicking away from the audio on the cassette. So the problem is still there but it has been neutralized. I appreciate the video!
If anybody can help me that would be appreciated, when I was younger, I used to go to Walmart and I used to buy these cassette recorder‘s. They came with a microphone with a stick. On the bottom of the microphone, it was like velvet. The recorder itself was plastic, small and flat, took four AA batteries. On the left there was the power plug, a 3.5m microphone plug a smaller 2.5 headphone jack and then the standard 3.5 inch headphone jack and then the volume wheel and then on the top below the cassette deck were the buttons.
I bought a brand new one. It came in an an hour ago. The internal mic doesn't work. The playback volume is weak at full blast. And, the external mic works sometimes but not all. It's going back. Worst thing I've ever purchased!
Yes you can. All you have to do is get an aux cord plug it up to your phone or any device with a headphone jack, and plug it in the microphone plugin. And it should work.
It's a TS mini jack (mono), and the microphone that comes with it has a TS plug. I've tried plugging two microphones into the jack using an L/R to TRS stereo adapter and only the left microphone was recorded. As far as output, when you plug a 3.5 TRS to RCA adapter into the line out, it only outputs through the left channel. The head on this unit is mono, so regardless, it will combine and stereo left and right channels at the playback head, so all you will get is mono, regardless.
@@ThriftyAV that's a bit of a let down. I need a stereo cassette recorder. my project requires audio stored on 1 channel and audible data stored on the other
@@rock-afire-fan The lowest cost new deck with stereo capability is the Pyle Dual deck at about $75, but it appears to only have line inputs, so you have to pre-amp a microphone. I find used cassette decks pretty regularly at thrift stores for anywhere from $5 to $15, but getting one that works is hit or miss, with the most common problem being belt issues.
They were a dead format, as far as civilians were concerned. Techmoan explains that one of the reasons cassettes survived to the 2020s (in America, at least) was because cassettes were the only allowed physical music format in correctional facilities.
I saw that one! The Techmoan vid with the clear plastic prison cassette players!... But that's just one of the reasons. The cassette format has been around since 1963, and although it started as a humble dictation device, it offered reliability, compactness, and convenience compared to other tape formats. Over time improvements included stereo recording, better tape formulations, dual-capstan transports, 3-head designs, and improved noise reduction circuitry. Dolby 'S', introduced in 1989, offered 24dB of high frequency noise reduction. A Type II cassette recorded on a 3-head deck with proper bias adjustment and Dolby C or Dolby S noise reduction offered a true hifi experience!... Not that most recorders had these options. From the mid 1980s until the early 1990s, cassettes were the most popular format for pre-recorded music. Mind you, they were Type I, mass duplicated tapes, but the fact they were were the top music format for awhile is pretty impressive considering the cassette's humble beginnings. With the development of CD-R and other digital recording options in the 1990s, it was clear that cassettes would decline, but with such huge market saturation during the heyday, the disappearance would not happen overnight. And now the nostalgia factor has kicked in, so the one factory in China that still makes cassette transports is very much in business. I recently digitized some recordings my sister made in the 1990s of relatives who are no longer with us. Many folks have such recordings, so it's good that we can still play them back.
Man, I bought one of these and was pretty excited to record, but the first time I turned it on it started making a really loud humming/screeching sound out of the speaker. :(
@@ThriftyAV i'll definitely do that if I can remember on my next "Quarantine Grocery Run", that being said, I'm gonna try it with batteries instead of ac adapter and see if that makes a difference.
I would definitely say that is a returned item Walmart has a tendency of taking return items whether if they're broken or not and putting them back on the shelf I don't know why the hell they do that but they do. I would say it's a pretty nice review but couldn't watch all the way through your video just has too much background noise. and then you're playing that cheesy supermarket elevator music in the background or at least that was supermarket music back in my childhood days now these days you walk into Walmart and they're jamming playing popular hits Walmart radio.
you can use the line output on the tape recorder and plug into the line input that you find on most PCs. The fidelity will be inferior to recording on the PC directly.
For high fidelity portable recording in the real world, I use a Tascam DR-40. And even a cell phone has better frequency response, S/N ratio, and other specs than a portable cassette recorder. But for anyone who grew up with this technology, there is a nostalgic factor that supersedes the limited technical specs!
Cassette tapes aren't dead, they're just not as commonly used anymore.
With both recorders and media still available, you are correct, King Super Saiyan!
that is... not true
I want to buy a cassette recorder sOon as this quarantine stops I've been so inloved with cassette tape recorders, walkman and stereos!
Me too. I want a cassette recorder so bad because they really fasinate me.
They have a slightly different model at Wal-Mart however the one I bought was on closeout for 15 bucks.
My mom just brought one home to me today and it's so fun
Yes, the most recent model is pure black plastic while the earlier had a faux chrome over the speaker. And the new model does not have that detailed instruction manual but a little four page flyer instead. I also bought one for $15 a month ago went back about two weeks later and the price had dropped to five bucks!! Bought a second one for backup. I don't think WM will be selling cassette players in the future, the cassette revival is really just a novelty bit of nostalgia probably spurned on by the comeback of vinyl.
Just buy a set of cassette tapes and a recorder on Amazon. Even your local Walmart might have some on sale quarantine or no quarantine . I got a recorder with extra tapes for just under 30$
For what it does I like it. And my wallet seems to appreciated. As of today (April 25). Walmart posted on their site that is out of stock. I hope they put it back in store soon.
I saw another one on my most recent trip to WM, so if it isn't available online, check your local stores.
Walmart has discontinued the Onn cassette recorder. If you want one, check Walmart online and see if any of your stores still have the clearance models in stock. The clearance price was shown as $15. Prices for the other cassette recorders using the same design (Jensen, GPX, Sylvania, Coby) seem to be going up, perhaps due to increased sales (this is a very tiny market with few competitors) and maybe to increased import tariffs on Chinese goods.
The model I reviewed has been discontinued, and you are correct that it is on clearance for $15, so this is an excellent opportunity for folks to get a great deal!
www.walmart.com/ip/Onn-Cassette-Tape-Recorder-with-Built-In-Microphone/873878
Onn offers a newer, full-price model that seems to still be available from their website as well, although listed as limited stock.
www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Cassette-Recorder/649832148
@@ThriftyAV I seen one in Hope, Arkansas today. It had its own section with blank cassette tapes and everything, the only difference is the color, onn changed their color to Orange. I actually bought some of the tapes to record for my Sony TCM 929 player.
@@justinturley7071 just saw that today
As of 11/10/2021 Walmart has them back - now in an orange box.
Every Walmart I called in my city were out of stock and online didnt help either. Thanks for letting me know that
Thank you for a nicely-prepared video review. The biggest advantage of this unit, which uses the ubiquitous Tanashin cassette mechanism, is that it is brand-new. Quality control is not a strength of units like this, but purchasing the higher-quality cassette recorders of the past may entail investing some time and funds into fixing problems like worn-out belts or a dead motor.
My channel tends to focus on used thrift items, but I could not resist purchasing this item new at Walmart. You are absolutely right about worn belts, and I have plenty of old cassette recorders with this issue. I plan to do a video about cassette deck belt repair pretty soon, as I have already purchased a variety pack of replacement belts. Thank you for watching!
@@ThriftyAV I really look forward to a video about simple cassette deck and recorder belt repairs. Like you, I've acquired a few used shoebox cassette recorders, cassette boomboxes and cassette walkmans as well as some stereo cassette decks.
@@peacearchwa5103 This is on my "to do" list, as I have a few cassette decks that need belt repair, and I ordered some replacement belts from China. I have a few vids already in the works, but I will push "belt repair" up the queue a bit.
I got one of these as a gift and after a couple days of constant use it broke and shredded right through the middle of one of my blank cassettes. Now not only do I have to get another cassette I have to get ANOTHER FREAKING RECORDER.
Thanks so much for doing this. I'm working on a project of making old-style video game music and wanted to record it to take recorder like we would have back in the day. For my use, this will be perfect. Thanks!
This is the greatest thing I have ever 👀 seen!!!
It will get the job done if you have an old TRS80 that you want to use cassettes with. In my experience, the mic jack was more reliable than the aux jack on a RadioShack tape recorder for recording the computer data anyway.
I learned basic on a TRS-80 color, and recorded those programs on cassette!
Sounded pretty good with the 58 and even the mic that came with it wasnt too bad.
Amazing video, keep doing things like this!
I figured that the Onn cassette machines had been discontinued, but since the cassette seems to be making a comeback, I'm hoping that Walmart will come out with a stereo version.
I just got the Onn Cassette Recorder for $5! Just had to get for the price alone! (6/12/20)
Awesome find!
Loroline I just bought one it was on clearance and I bought a few taps for mine I hope I like it
Once these are sold out (and they probably are already) I'm sure they're gone for good - at least at WM.
My birthday!! 😂 I just got the last one on clearance at Walmart for $15
Mine won’t close when I put it in 😢
Lmao my dumb ass didn’t put it in right 😂 🤦🏽♂️ glad I rewatched it I would’ve broke it!
I have a couple of questions for you,
1- Does your tape recorder still works till today?
2- Can the tapes be played on a Walkman?
Yes, it works. Yes, it can be played on a Walkman, but it will be mono, not stereo.
@@ThriftyAV thanks for your reply, really appreciate it
I love tape recorder and deck.😂🎼
Mine is a 2011 MCR-976 just like it, a $3 thrift store purchase.
In the UK there's no Walmart but Walmart have a stake in ASDA, the UK supermarket. I have seen the ONN brand as you mention, on various products but unfortunately the blank tapes and tape recorders haven't made it to the stores. I pronounce it the way you do. There's a word 'On-brand' meaning - 'conforming to the image or identity that a particular company seeks to associate with its products or services:
Thank you for sharing the review I really like it and I am considering purchasing this item. I was hoping you would try out the AC adapter in this unboxing video. Can the AC adapter be used without batteries?
Yes it can. I bought one of these a week ago and will be doing this same style video shortly. The cheapness of this cassette player in 2021 is crazy but it does play and record.
Fun fact: the british police still uses cassettes
I just want a shoebox I don't feel bad cutting up and putting a PWM speed control on the motor to make drone sounds I can record fast and play back slow. This should work just fine.
Am I the only one who wants one because of bendy and the ink machine
My first car has a cassette player so I wanted to make some tapes to listen to in the car but i don't have the money for a nice cassette deck so I'm looking at some cheap alternatives
I bought one in saturday prety good
I just bought one of these onn type cassette tape recorders.
I can't get it to stop clicking loudly.
It's so loud that the clicks transfer over into the recording.
Any ideas?
If you just bought it, then you should be able to return it or exchange it at Walmart. The transport is normally a bit noisy, but it is more of a whirring motor noise, not a clicking noise. If your unit is clicking, something is wrong with it.
I appreciate the response, in your video I was able to notice that I hadn't pulled my microphone from the box 😆 the microphone takes the clicking away from the audio on the cassette. So the problem is still there but it has been neutralized. I appreciate the video!
Got one of these for $14 in 2023
I want one!
If anybody can help me that would be appreciated, when I was younger, I used to go to Walmart and I used to buy these cassette recorder‘s. They came with a microphone with a stick. On the bottom of the microphone, it was like velvet. The recorder itself was plastic, small and flat, took four AA batteries. On the left there was the power plug, a 3.5m microphone plug a smaller 2.5 headphone jack and then the standard 3.5 inch headphone jack and then the volume wheel and then on the top below the cassette deck were the buttons.
could i plug headphones into this and then listen to it portably?
From what I found on other videos, it has a headphone jack and an aux jack. So yes I think so
7:47
What Telephone do you have that can record audio ??
At the time I recorded this video, I was using the HTC One A9.
@@ThriftyAV ok nevermind, you did not get it.
You said you were recording with your "Telephone"
I bought a brand new one. It came in an an hour ago. The internal mic doesn't work. The playback volume is weak at full blast. And, the external mic works sometimes but not all. It's going back. Worst thing I've ever purchased!
Only thing that throws me off with this one is over the size I have a RCA Cassette Recorder I got in 2014 and its way smaller then this one is.
can you record something from your phone into a Cassette with this unit?
Yes you can. All you have to do is get an aux cord plug it up to your phone or any device with a headphone jack, and plug it in the microphone plugin. And it should work.
I've came here from Saw franchise
question. Is the microphone input a mono jack or a stereo jack? if I used a 3.5 to rca connector can I access both left and right tracks?
It's a TS mini jack (mono), and the microphone that comes with it has a TS plug. I've tried plugging two microphones into the jack using an L/R to TRS stereo adapter and only the left microphone was recorded.
As far as output, when you plug a 3.5 TRS to RCA adapter into the line out, it only outputs through the left channel. The head on this unit is mono, so regardless, it will combine and stereo left and right channels at the playback head, so all you will get is mono, regardless.
@@ThriftyAV that's a bit of a let down. I need a stereo cassette recorder. my project requires audio stored on 1 channel and audible data stored on the other
@@rock-afire-fan The lowest cost new deck with stereo capability is the Pyle Dual deck at about $75, but it appears to only have line inputs, so you have to pre-amp a microphone. I find used cassette decks pretty regularly at thrift stores for anywhere from $5 to $15, but getting one that works is hit or miss, with the most common problem being belt issues.
They were a dead format, as far as civilians were concerned.
Techmoan explains that one of the reasons cassettes survived to the 2020s (in America, at least) was because cassettes were the only allowed physical music format in correctional facilities.
I saw that one! The Techmoan vid with the clear plastic prison cassette players!... But that's just one of the reasons.
The cassette format has been around since 1963, and although it started as a humble dictation device, it offered reliability, compactness, and convenience compared to other tape formats. Over time improvements included stereo recording, better tape formulations, dual-capstan transports, 3-head designs, and improved noise reduction circuitry. Dolby 'S', introduced in 1989, offered 24dB of high frequency noise reduction. A Type II cassette recorded on a 3-head deck with proper bias adjustment and Dolby C or Dolby S noise reduction offered a true hifi experience!... Not that most recorders had these options.
From the mid 1980s until the early 1990s, cassettes were the most popular format for pre-recorded music. Mind you, they were Type I, mass duplicated tapes, but the fact they were were the top music format for awhile is pretty impressive considering the cassette's humble beginnings.
With the development of CD-R and other digital recording options in the 1990s, it was clear that cassettes would decline, but with such huge market saturation during the heyday, the disappearance would not happen overnight. And now the nostalgia factor has kicked in, so the one factory in China that still makes cassette transports is very much in business.
I recently digitized some recordings my sister made in the 1990s of relatives who are no longer with us. Many folks have such recordings, so it's good that we can still play them back.
Man, I bought one of these and was pretty excited to record, but the first time I turned it on it started making a really loud humming/screeching sound out of the speaker. :(
If you bought it new from Walmart (like I did), I would take it back for a refund/exchange.
@@ThriftyAV i'll definitely do that if I can remember on my next "Quarantine Grocery Run", that being said, I'm gonna try it with batteries instead of ac adapter and see if that makes a difference.
@@Aaron-mj9ie Did it make it sound any better?
@@DisgustedArchive Oddly enough, it did. And the Power light on top actually stays on constantly instead of flickering.
I found that very odd too, the flickering rather than staying on.
What song is that he plays
I saw them dollar tree batterys
you know it!
I would definitely say that is a returned item Walmart has a tendency of taking return items whether if they're broken or not and putting them back on the shelf I don't know why the hell they do that but they do. I would say it's a pretty nice review but couldn't watch all the way through your video just has too much background noise. and then you're playing that cheesy supermarket elevator music in the background or at least that was supermarket music back in my childhood days now these days you walk into Walmart and they're jamming playing popular hits Walmart radio.
Does Walmart still sell cassettes and VHS?
cassettes yes, vhs no.
My local WM no longer carries blank cassettes , perhaps even before this model was discontinued, however check out charity shops you can
Can u transfer cassette to the computer
you can use the line output on the tape recorder and plug into the line input that you find on most PCs. The fidelity will be inferior to recording on the PC directly.
Nothing better for dictation than a cassette recorder.
I have one and it sounds terrible imo and it's mono but it works
For high fidelity portable recording in the real world, I use a Tascam DR-40. And even a cell phone has better frequency response, S/N ratio, and other specs than a portable cassette recorder. But for anyone who grew up with this technology, there is a nostalgic factor that supersedes the limited technical specs!
this was in the mid 2000s
How much does it cost
Here is the current price on the Walmart website.
www.walmart.com/ip/Onn-Portable-Cassette-Recorder-Showbox-Black/873878
Well...thats a not very inspiring voice?😏