- Gadhouse announces its new Miko portable cassette player
- Modern features in a retro chassis
- As digital detox continues apace (especially in music), it makes sense
First came the hipsters for vinyl. Then came the hipsters for CDs. And in the last few years, hipsters have reached back a little further in time to reclaim the humble analog cassette player, proving that until wax cylinders are back in mainstream use again, they won’t rest.
In the past year, we’ve seen Barbie-colored players that come with pencils to rewind your tape, FiiO-built Walkman emulations with modern features, and even boomboxes that let you make mixtapes like you’re listening to the Sunday night charts again. And now audio producer Gadhouse has an option that looks like a certain strain of retro technology.
This new item is the Miko Cassette Player which retails for just $99 / £59 (approx AU$120). It’s available to buy on its own right now, but there’s an option that combines the Miko player with some Gadhouse headphones that’s set to arrive at the end of the month.
The article continues below
As you can tell, the Miko plays cassettes, but it also has a few modern features. It can output to headphones via Bluetooth 5.3, record from a cassette, let you record via a microphone (like an old-fashioned voice recorder) and connect to charge via USB-C (or do it the old fashioned way via two AA batteries).
According to the brand, the Miko was designed to evoke the design of Japanese technology between 1985-1995, and it gives off that retro-tech, vaguely Sony Walkman vibe.
Ca-sit in, there’s more
As someone who frequents thrift stores – aka thrift stores, aka charity shops – it’s not hard to find countless CDs for sale and lots of records too. According to a source who works in a charity shop, far too many of these are donated all the time and many are destroyed as there is very little demand.
What I don’t see often are cassettes, although my sound editor tells me that outside of the UK capital that changes drastically. Hipsters can easily get their hands on the other physical media mediums that are making a comeback, but it’s sometimes hard to see how (or why) they’d pick up on these potentially awkward, slightly hissy, warm-sounding things. Maybe that’s the reassuring message…sip putting them into the opening and closing the door, or the rewarding sensation of pressing down actual mechanical buttons?
The fact is that more and more companies are releasing cassette music players; it sometimes feels like we’re in the noughties again because of how many are hitting the market. I recently tested an MP3 player and wrote about how I still use my iPod Classic; I’m part of the growing wave of people like my audio editor (whose digital detox continues) ditching music streaming for more old-fashioned solutions.
Partly there is the nostalgia factor for this kind of old technology, but much more of the push is a rejection of rapidly deteriorating subscription entertainment. I think a certain swear word was coined to describe the problem — and you won’t find any AI slop on a cassette album. It feels like everyone seems to hate modern technology right now, right?
And I get it. When you’re trying to entertain yourself online right now, you’re faced with rising prices for services, deteriorating features, advertising everywhere (even in thing; this summer’s tentpole blockbuster is a two-and-a-half-hour space-set Skittles commercial) and gallons of AI slop that’s enough to put you off these services. And what do you get for rising subscription costs? Companies that seem to waste it on more AI nonsense and the nagging feeling that the bands you love are being squeezed more and more.
So it’s easy to see why people are returning to OG media ownership. Physically owning your CDs/records/cassettes (as well as the technology you can play them on) and enjoying them on your own terms can seem better than paying ever-increasing costs for a streaming service that feels like it’s giving you less and less.
While a resurgence of cassettes and their portable players still feels like a wild ride in the mid-2020s, I can at least understand why it’s happening.
The best music players for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
