i have been waiting forever for the College to throw out the following two items, and have finally acquired them for a few dollars each:
a marantz CP430 and a sony TCM-5000EV portable stereo cassette recorders. these are pro machines that were worth a lot of money in their day. they were used by radio journalists and other field recorders and have great specs. both seem to be working fine. the marantz is a better machine, with dolby and dbx and stero mic inputs, and the sony has variable speed control!
i've just done some internet searches and the sony comes up with a David Attenborough-type list of field recordings of weird and wonderful native species from around the world.
I'm VERY excited. one will be used to play the occasional cassette on the stereo in the front lounge, and the other will be used on field trips to undiscovered highlands... or perhaps some analogue recording of my band...
fuzz would be so proud. he probably still has the old ones from downunder...
off to the shed to dig up my old cassettes!
how cool is this? is it for real?
