ByronStatics Portable Cassette Players, Walkman Cassette Player Convert to MP3 WAV by USB Flash, Built-in Mic and Speaker Belt Clip Earbud Included 2 AA Battery

I read reviews for several CONVERTERS and decided on this one in spite of the very confusing reviews. Later I realized that on this site, you have choices of teal, pink, etc., but they are for PLAYING AND RECORDING cassettes, they WILL NOT CONVERT cassettes to MP3s. Be careful what you order.I read reviews mentioning the uncalibrated speed making it sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks and how to calibrate the speed from the little hole in the back, how it chewed up the tapes, how it burned through batteries, etc. You can disregard all those horror stories as not pertaining to the CONVERTER.I specifically wanted a device that had a speaker, as I did not want to have to wear earbuds to monitor how it was going. It does have automatic shut-off at the end of the tape, but if you have a tape that isn't recorded all the way to the end, you will be converting noise, so with a speaker, you can stop the converting manually.I have now recorded more than 70 sides and only had one get chewed and I think it was my fault for not making sure the tape was tight. Thankfully it was about the 3rd one so from then on, I put every side into my good old Sony machine and rewound to make sure the tape was tight, then put it into the converting machine. Also, I recommend using a USB power cable (the jack is not for the USB-C type) to an electrical source for a steady power supply.When I play the converted MP3s, they sound exactly like the original cassettes. I did several tests in the beginning: took the flash drive out of the device and inserted it into my computer to make sure they were converting correctly; the files are sequentially named (TAP0001MP3, 0002, ...) and I renamed them and made sure the renaming didn't corrupt them; I began converting them at the highest volume, adjusting the volume during playback on my computer, but that was too distracting for me to work on other things while it's doing its thing, so I tried lowering the volume way down, and the volume made no difference when it came to playback of the converted file.So, having said all that, here are my instructions for trouble-free conversions --Have the USB power plugged in, and the flash drive inserted.Set the button on the side/edge to "Tape".Insert the tightly re-wound cassette and close the door firmly.Press the Play button on the side/edge of the device.Then quickly press the Record button on the front surface of the device; the light will begin flashing.If you need to stop it manually, press the Stop button on the side/edge.This has been a long review, but maybe either you'll accept what I've written and dive in, or it will prompt you to double-check some things for yourself.One last thing - of course you can simply play pre-recorded cassettes or record on blank cassettes -- the buttons on the edge/side are for use as a regular cassette player/recorder. The 6 buttons on the front are for the converting process. The Play button on the side/edge does double duty.

This product was easy to use and find the right buttons, but the digitizing features never worked correctly from the beginning. As it was recording it would skip parts by not recording to the USB stick. I have long tapes, and it would just quit digitizing right in the middle of it. Instructions were easy to follow, nice clear buttons, lousy speaker.

At first I thought it wasn't working, so here's a tip: Don't press the record button too hard! I was leaning on it just a touch too long. Now it's working, and transfers tape to Mp3 with a minimum of fuss and botheration. Sound quality has considerable distortion on the high end, otherwise I'd give it 5 stars. So far, so good. I hope it doesn't break easily. This is the third converter machine I've tried. The first one didn't work at all, the second one recorded to an SD card but only worked once, then couldn't read the card anymore (there was nothing wrong with the card; my laptop could read it just fine). This one records to a thumb drive and hasn't broken yet... wish me luck.

Unit works so far. It does introduce an undesirable intermittent noise that is not on the tape. Hopefully my Audacity software will be able to get rid of such noise.I'm using a 32-GB USB drive formatted as FAT32. Until I formatted this drive, it did not want to record anything to the USB. So get ready to back up then reformat any used USB drive you plan to use.Let's see what happens once the return deadline is up.

I was able to easily transfer an old cassette of original music and speech; success.Rewind seemed very slow / dodgy, so I used fast forward to cue instead.I am grateful to have the mp3s, but the sound quality is not great. It is fine for a reference or a scratch track, but I won't be enjoying my old commercial cassettes or transferring them with this.The built-in speaker and volume control are groovy monitoring features, but personally I'd trade them for a more noiseless transfer result.

If you're looking to transfer tapes to an USB key / drive, look no further. This is the most ideal product for that matter. Many other brands promote walkmen (plural of walkman) "Tape to MP3" from brands like EZCap, DigitNow, Wendry, BlumWay, Pyle, Rybozen... has all the same casing and are manufactured at the same place and poor quality made.This model from Byron Statics gives a very good sound quality, unless your tapes didn't survive well over the decades. Super easy to use, either with 2 AA batteries or with a Micro USB B to regular USB plugs. I prefer the USB connection personally. While transferring your tapes, you can listen to them via the headphones or directly on the built-in speaker.You can also use this model to record voice onto a tape or directly onto an USB key / drive.I truly recommend this product. I tried the EZCap which last on 5 tapes transfer then stopped working. I tried another one which was supposed to work directly plugged on your computer and didn't work with GarageBand or Audacity programs.Byron Statics KCS-312B IS the solution for all of your tape to MP3 transfer needs

Recording not good. For play, it is good.

Very poor sound and did not work well. Very unhappy until I through it in the garbage bin. Lasted only a couple of days. Very poor sound quality.

It works good and the MP3's sound good, but the problem with tapes is that you can record anything andyou can't prove you purchased the original music, so, you can play and listen to the MP3's but you cannotdownload the digital copy to any other device, but that works OK with me, I just have a memory stick hanging out of my player

When I had first received this product, I had some anxiety in accepting this used item. Let me explain, first my expectations were not so great because for anyone wanting to sell this product had to have a reason why. Well here goes, I tried to insert some aa batteries and had problems in doing so. Then I tried to forcefully as well, that did no good either. It appears that something was jamming the insert of double aa batteries mainly in the inside of the unit. Anyways I had solved the problem and now, the unit works really well. Who ever had sold this item to Amazon.com could kick themselves because I personally believe the only reason why this action was taken was all because they couldn't figure out what was jamming the batteries.