Filthy used cassette deck is not the prize of the neighborhood
356405
Unit was full of dust & hair, and the display was very dim barely readable in room light. One would think if you were refurbishing used units they would take the time to clean them, and demagnetize the heads. This unit was not any of these, the saving caveat was I bought the unit for spare parts for another deck I already own. Deck A sounds very muddy, but deck B sounded ok, will keep the unit for spare parts but will not buy from again because of the poor condition. One would think that the dim display would also be noted in the description,  plus their inability to properly prepare the unit for sale. In comparision, it would be like buying a used car full of dirt, uneaten food, and looking like a band of hillbillies just parked it by my house. No thanks.... :(
2666430
I bought this item so I could listen to my iPod in the car.  It is "ok" for what it is.  But, the sound quality is not that great.  I live in a small town and just about every station has something on it - very few empty stations so it was very hard to find one that the iPod would play over.  I didn't realize that you could just get a cassette player adapter to achieve the same (actually better) results.  I found one of those at Walmart for $10 and the sound quality is MUCH better on it than trying to run it through an FM station.  SO, if you have a cassette player in your car, that is definitely the better route.  If not, then your only choice would be to go the FM transmitter route.  Maybe you'll have better success finding an empty station than I did.
3767715
I purchased the tape deck with the intention of converting audio tapes to digital media.  The first deck I received had a problem wherein it would create electronic noise starting at random points on the tape and then continuing for the remainder.  This made the unit unacceptable.  I contacted the manufacturer and they stated I should return the deck for warranty replacement/repair.  I made the return through Amazon, who did a wonderful job at replacing the deck in a day or so.

The second deck works fine.  I had problems using it on a older Core-Duo Mac and then looked up the specs for Audacity on the open-source website.  It turns out the software requires a fairly heavy-duty processor with lots of memory.  So I moved the software to a more substantial PC that was capable of meeting those requirements.

By the way, Audacity is Open Source software that is free.  You may want to review the requirements to see that you have sufficient computing power to run the software at [...]  When you click on the download link you get a list of operating systems and recommended RAM and processor speeds.

What you are purchasing is a tape deck that feeds the audio stream to the Audacity software via a USB cable.  But the USB output on the Grace tape deck is convenient and you don't need any real technical expertise to hook-up the hardware.  The tape deck is not up to the quality standards of tape decks that were made when tape was king but it does the job.  I noticed a minor bit of warble in one transfer but it didn't last long and wasn't terribly bad.  The unit seems bigger than it needs to be but I'm not carrying it around so that really doesn't matter to me.

If you happen to have a good tape deck and your computer has a sound card, you don't really need to purchase this tape deck.  As I said earlier Audacity is free and you can hook-up your tape deck to the audio inputs on your sound card.  It's nicely organized for the casual user.
25912
The album is great, but the B side of my purchased cassette is damaged, and the sound is completely inaudible
2119553
After I ordered the product it initially stated a delivery time frame of 2 weeks but to my surprise I received it within 4-5 days. This was the only good thing about the purchase. The cassette player makes lot of noise as if its being dragged and compelled to play. The output quality is not good but ok as per the cost of the product. I just used it for a day and have been lying in my car. I have switched over to the CD player.
I would not recommend anyone to purchase this product.
3795865
I purchased this deck to convert all of my old quality cassette tapes to MP3 audio files. If its going to be done, it has to be done with nothing short of best audio play. I was looking for the following... 1) Good quality brand name; TEAC is a leader in the audio tape industry. 2) Needs the ability to adjust for tape recording speed. Not all tape decks are perfect at recording at 1 7/8" per second. That goes for the old tape desks used in making the original records. There is an adjustment called "Pitch Control" found on the front of the unit to make this refinement. 3) Tape head Alignment; again not all machines are aligned exactly the same. This deck doesn't make it known, but it too can be adjusted. Just open the cassette bay door, side it upward, and it comes off. I leave it off. When you play a tape, use a small philips screw driver, and you can fine tune the audio highs to crystal clarity... or at least to the best you can ever get. Excellent machine. It will do me well.
1573949
DO NOT BUY IF YOU WANT YOUR CASSETTES TO LAST.  THIS MACHINE WILL CHEW THEM UP!!!!!
1402549
I collect old audio gear.  I always like to use a little extra length in case I need or want to move things.  . . .I keep a spool around to avoid getting ripped off at Rat Shack.
552099
I'm giving this two stars mainly for false advertising. It claims to convert cassettes to MP3 format but fails to mention that you have to install iTunes if you actually want MP3s on Windows machines (it only outputs in WAV format)

As for the device itself, it is basically a cheap walkman with a USB connection. The software is crude, but serviceable. If your cassette has any songs that don't have an absolutely clear space between them, then you have to manually stop the recorder and tell it that the track has finished.
343408
To flesh out the comment I made on someone else's review: I bought a used copy at a flea market last year.  I don't know if it's as bad as some other collections, but there is a lot of trash on here whose only purpose is filling out four CDs. In fact, Disks 1 - 3 are listenable, as long as you aren't looking for great anthems -- but it's good enough for listening to in the car.  Disk 4 might be useful for skeet practice.  My suggestion is to find the tracks you want on other collections. I'm glad I didn't pay the full Amazon price.

Nothing to warrant giving the collection a rating anything higher than a solid 2** rating.
4785259
I don't really have a use for mine. Nobody cares about what I'm doing in life. I'm just not worth the effort for someone to pick through my trash. This magic device sure does make me feel better about my life though.
4029029
it worked just like i was back in the 1970's...even then when a cassette player was state of the art the cassette cleaning tapes were only adequate...i was very satisfied and a little surprised to find they were still being made...
1670441
The tape cassette makes a turning over noise in my tape deck and won't stop making the noise like it keeps turning over
1263298
When I recorded from cassette to computer there was a lot of noise on recording like small static. I probably would have done better getting an interface and using my own cassette player into my computer. Not a good quality recording.
3805773
This player is not a professional-grade device. It has a plastic turntable and a rather flimsy tonearm. This is typical of "nostalgia" electronics coming from China.

If you've got a few old albums or 45's from your youth, this will play them, and they will probably sound about as good as they did on your portable record player back in the 60's. This player does not sound as good as your parents' mahogany hi-fi system that sat in the living room.

Are you attempting to archive vinyl recordings to digital? This is not the right device. Further, the lack of balancing and overall instability of the tonearm could do damage to fragile records.
4237905
The radio itself is easy to hold and relatively smooth sounding with radio frequencies.

Though the radio and antenna played perfectly together to give me a quality sound, the cassette player had failed my expectations. It was slow and kind of broken; the play button had been pushed down too far into the machine, therefor the wheel that would spin the tape went at a slower pace.

Results are dissapointing. I got what I paid for; it's a cheap radio with a cassette player. I have learned that buying from companies I've never looked up before can have consequences-or, dissapointing results.

I give this product my rating of three out-of-four stars, because of the good radio quality. Two more stars and someone would be definitely interested and hopefully not as dumb as i were when I was just ACHING to have just some sort of cassette player and buy one I didn't know would dissapoint me.

Cheers, my friendly online shoppers! And if this review helped you in interest of the product-my good chaps, give yourself a pat on the back because you earned it. Thanks, and have a wonderful time shopping. Toodles.
4313364
Disappointing. This seems to be an electronic  re-make - sans-band. My pirated cassette copy of the original, gotten in Belize City in the early 80's won't last forever.