The Wonder Years - Realistic Micro 51 Microcassette Tape Recorder

[coolbluelights]

Hey Clydesight, where can I get belts for these microcassette recorders? I just got a Realistic micro 10 and a regular cassette belt from my kit is too tight and too big around...

[clydesight]

@coolbluelights

E-Bay, Look up cassette recorder belts. They come in assortments.

[howsthatsound]

i own one!

[jrcstudios]

I have one of these!! I bought it at radio shack on clearance (back in '96 I suppose) for around half price. I used it for recording phone conversations for a while. It still works, but my counter is aslo intermittent. Thank you for the wonderful inside video!

[clydesight]

@jrcstudios

Thank for the nice comment. I've tried to find a belt for the counter, but there just doesn't seem to be any workable solution. Oh well.

[prokid2000]

Very nice machine, used to use these kind of machines to record from the radio using the external mic inputs

[clydesight]

Thanks!

[oviwolf]

Interesting micro recorder!

Hmm...i never had a microcassette recorder, it works the opposite of a cassette recorder should!

[clydesight]

Thanks!

I think Olympus (developer of microcassette format) did it to distance themselves from the competing Philips minicassette.

[KKD1247]

I think I had that model back then. Clever idea having the Micro 51 giving its own description!

[clydesight]

Tyhanks. Realistic did have some innovative machines.

[Lachlant1984]

@clydesight They sure did, do you remember any of their portable radio/tape/TV units they sold in the 90's? I do, those things were fantastic, and of course I love the realistic logo they used back then, it's a shame they don't use that logo now.

[clydesight]

@Lachlant1984 I remember the radio/TV/cassette recorder combos, sure - JVC, GE and Emerson sold them. Some show up on E-Bay. I even saw one that had a STEREO micro cassette recorder built in! I didn't win the bid on that one though. I don't remember the Realistic ones, but I am sure if you say they made them,, they did.

[Lachlant1984]

I would not be surprised if these units were available down under, I may have seen something like this in a Tandy catalogue for 1993.  I'm sure you already know byt RadioShack was known as Tandy in australia, but we used the same trade marks, RadioShack, Optimus, and of cours my favourite, Realistic.

[clydesight]

Yes, Tandy was the owner of RS here in the US as well. Although here, back in the day, TANDY stores sold leather goods and plastic molds and other hobby crafts stuff (some of it quite good!) and RS stores carried the electronics. Both were fun to visit and "window shop".

RS used to have a lot more electronic components available than now. They still have some things, but they are so much leaning towards cell phones and such that they may drop their components altogether.

[CassetteMaster]

Nice little recorder, it has a classic 90s look. The sound wasn't the best it seems though, a little distorted. It is nice to still have that AC bias

[clydesight]

What do you expect from a microcassette recorder? This one is much better than some others that cost more. Remember that microcassette tape is thinner than cassette tape, more prone to saturation, and runs at 1/2 and 1/4 cassette speed. The physics of tape recording can only go so far, and microcassettes were really pushing the limit.

[ToastmachineIdiot]

Wow. That's a pretty neat machine for a era like the 90's, when it seemed tape would be surpassed by digital alternatives. I still think tape's better!

[clydesight]

Thanks, tape is good, or can be. The digital recorders I've tried are cheap and use 8 bit processing at 11 KHz or less, so not much improvement over tape, plus, how can you share the info except through a computer and network? With tape, you can give someone the tape and they can use it, and in the case of the tiny microcassettes, lose it too!

[vwestlife]

1992 - 1996 is five years. ;-)

It sounds great with the external microphone and speaker.

[CassetteRookie]

It actually is 4 years.

[clydesight]

I guess, if you count 2-3-4-5-6. However, aren't you supposed to start the count from 3, since the first year doesn't happen until 1993. so you have 2 to 3 (1), 3 to 4 (2), 4 to 5 (3), and 5 to 6 (4).

It's all very confusing isn't it?

[clydesight]

Oh, wait, okay -

It came out in the 1992 catalog, so it sold from 1992-93 (1), 93-94(2), 94-95(3), 95-96(4) and 96-97(5). It was not listed in the 1997 catalog.

So I guess vwestlife IS correct, it DID sell for 5 years!

I guess instead of restoring tape recorders, I should work on restoring my math skills.

Oh wait, I never had any to begin with!

[CoolDudeClem]

I know I'd get confused with the record and play keys being on the opposite side to where they normally are. It seems to be a really nice micro cassette recorder. I was expecting this to have DC bias like most of them are, but it looks like they took care when designing it.

[clydesight]

It is very confusing when the entire mechanism works in reverse to what we are used to. I have enough trouble distinguishing my right from my left! I expected this would be DC bias when I saw the magnet erase head. I was surprised to find the AC bias coil on the board.

[dmstealth]

Although I had yet to hit double digits in terms of age, I kinda remember when microcassettes were all the rage and a must-have for the successful businessperson. Because standard cassettes were 'so last week' XD.

[clydesight]

Yeah, they became the rage in the 80's in business, like PDAs did in the 90's. Business people follow trends like fashions folks do.

The format comes from 1969 by Olympus, but it just has never caught on except for the dictation. Dictation standard cassettes are much better, but bigger and you can't put them in your shirt pocket and "look cool".

[umajunkcollector]

About the only thing that makes it better than their (Radio Shack) nice micro recorders is that it has a larger speaker. Looks like it could be a 3" driver in there. I have a Panasonic dictation micro-cassette recorder, and it too has a nice larger speaker than those pocket units have. But RS had good audio even on the smaller units.

[clydesight]

I have a bunch of little microcassette machines. This is actually for the price much better than the competitors.

[BadEditPro]

Great video and thanks for the shout out! Do you have any idea why the tape goes backwards in a microcassette? I've never found any info on that... Rad Shack must have sold a ton of these for them to be in the catalog for so long. :) JC

[clydesight]

Thanks JC,

Olympus invented the format, and maybe they made it run backwards to distance themselves from the Philips Minicassette (which was rim drive. Did you know that DG released Beethoven's Symphony #9 on a microcassette?

Apparently, Olympus was hoping to break into the Walkman market but apparently, it didn't take too well.

For RS to carry this machine for 4 years and NEVER drop the price meant it had to be a good seller!

[DrCassette]

That's a really nice little machine! Sounds pretty good for a mico cassette recorder! And I like the way it's designed - it's really different from the other micro cassette recorders.

[clydesight]

Thanks DrCassette,

This is a better quality microcassette recorder for sure. RS often came out with surprisingly good products!