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It seems like pre-recorded cassette tapes are a frugal (10 cents to 25 cents each at garage sales) way to try out music, but it seems like used cassette decks themselves aren't frugal and a lot of sellers don't have the ability to let you test the machine before purchase. I am looking to spend no more than $20 on a working and in good cosmetic condition brand name cassette deck that I an connect to my receiver. If an ad for a tape deck has been posted for more than a month at $50 , would offering $20 be appropriate and also asking if the machine can be tested before purchase? What or where is another way to frugally acquire a used cassette deck in working condition that be tested?
05-10-2015, 09:30 AM
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n/a posts
$50? You can buy a brand new, dual deck, rack mountable on for $70 on Amazon.
Yes, talk them down if you really want a cassette deck. You're basically just taking old useless junk off their hands.
I'm not convinced it's really frugal though. What if you ever want to listen to something that came out since music labels abandoned the cassette circa 2002?
The issue with cassette decks is not so much the tapes as the drive belts. These are narrow black rubber/neoprene/goobers that have a limited life. Buying a used deck doesn't make much sense, because these will likely fail quickly and not be easily replaceable - finding the correct size at a decent price can be next to impossible even if you do know how to disassemble.
It's a lot more frugal to just listen to the radio. Or if your posting on this website, then we can assume you have an Internet connection so you can stream all kinds of music for free from Pandora and other sites.
Have you tried any local thrift shops, like Goodwill, Salvation Army, ARC, Savers, etc ? also call around to local pawn shops . You could get lucky. Estate sales are another possibility.
Try Goodwill......I dropped two there about two weeks ago.
As it goes, I do have four of them, one in my car, one in my old stereo, one as Mom's old tape deck, and a Panasonic player that I had as a teenager and now keep around as a prop for 70's plays.
Hence, we have two suggestions here. Players who carry keep odd things to use as props and if you are shopping at garage sales, ask; maybe there is an old von moldy there with a tape player in their chariot.
Stream Pandora or Spotify, get i Heart Radio, do any number of other things... than spend good money on things that may or may not work and have limited options.
There are a variety of reasons.
They are much simpler to operate.
You OWN a copy of a favorite song and can LEGALLY make backups.
You don't have to "re-buy" the same thing over and over like with a subscription service.
You don't have to worry about the service losing rights to your favorite music or video.
You want instant access away from the internet or cell service.
You have data caps on your service plan.
Your phone/computer/dingdong stops working.
You want to re-use the recording media for other projects.
For me, one of the big reasons to have older format available has to do with movies and tv shows. Movies in particular get changed and re-cut after the initial release, to the point that they are INSANELY different. I remember the first time I watched the movie about the kid who sees ghosts, it was on tv and made NO sense. I got around to renting the DVD and found that crucial scenes had been completely removed. Blazing Saddles routinely has the bean scene fart track removed. I recently watched a version of "The Fugitive" where Tommy Lee Jones played an almost heroic character, due to selective cuts, instead of the Javier type character in the real movie.
But in this case, the OP does not own anything and is looking to buy cassette tapes and a cassette player. I see no reason to spend money on those when there are cheaper options.
That antique cassette deck can stop working just as easily as the "phone/computer/dingdong".
And those old tape won't have much 'play' in them before they break.
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