Great portable music for sports!
Written: Feb 27 '02 (Updated Feb 28 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good sound, several options for carrying, rugged, water-resistant, auto-reverse.
Cons: No fine-tuning of bass or treble. Cassette is only a player; no recording.
The Bottom Line: If you need music for sports, this is a rugged unit, well built, water-resistant, and you might also like the HOLD button to prevent accidental change of radio station.
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| Emilio's Full Review: Panasonic RQ-SW44V Personal Cassette Player |
There's no easier way to prepare a good tape for skiing, jogging, or any other sport, than to hit the "record" button on your tape-deck, and record something directly off a radio station, or from a CD, or a vinyl record, or from another tape. Then put the tape in your Panasonic tape player, and enjoy hours of music!
I purchased the Panasonic RQ-SW44V radio cassette player when an older cassette player "died" after a decade of faithful service. Of all the various options for digital music these days (CD-RW, recordable DVDs, MP3 players, mini-disks, etc) I chose an analog tape player again because of it simplicity and dependability.
I like to record music off of a radio. Whenever something good comes on, I hit the record button on another portable radio cassette recorder that permanently resides on my desk. There is simply no easier way to record music. And there may never be any easier way, considering how paranoid the music industry is about (NOT) allowing us to record digitally.
Digital music media may have the edge in quality over analog, but it's a subtle edge. When you are jogging or skiing, there is simply too much ambient noise to allow you to appreciate these subtleties anyway. So, you don't really need digital music on the road or on the mountain.
On the other hand, CDs often tend to skip when shaken, while an analog tape player can take a lot of punishment and still keep on playing like nothing happened. I have had some spectacular falls while skiing, and it hasn't affected the quality of the tapes I listen to. My heart may have skipped a beat, but the tape player did not.
Only $49 for this brand new top-of-the-line radio/cassette player, and tapes costing only a dollar or two (depending on quality), it's hard to find a cheaper technology.
This Panasonic has several interesting features.
1. It operates on only a single AA battery, which is supposed to last for about 25 hours in tape mode, and 28 hours for radio. I have had this tape player with me for several skiing days, and I still haven't drained my first battery.
2. There is a battery charge indicator. According to it, my battery is still almost half full!
3. The battery is nicely protected inside the water-resistant tape-compartment, which is sealed with a nice rubber seal. This not only keeps the battery dry, but it also keeps it warmer and more insulated in cold temperatures(when skiing).
4. There are 5 buttons for pre-set radio stations, 5 AM and 5 FM stations. Additionally, if you travel to another part of the country on a regular basis, you can set a whole new set of 10 radio stations in mode #2.
5. There is a HOLD button, which prevents the station from changing if you accidentally hit one of the pre-set buttons.
6. You can change the tape-direction manually any time you choose, without having to flip the tape over. On top of that, the tape will reverse itself automatically when it gets to the end of one side. Thus, you can have an automatic loop, continuously playing your 90 minutes of music over and over, hands-free.
7. The buttons are rugged, encased in rubber, and yet they stick out just far enough that I can feel them and press the correct button even while wearing ski-gloves and carrying the cassette player in my ski jacket pocket. It helps that the PLAY button is on one end of a row of buttons while the STOP button on the other end of that row. That's what I call ergonomic design!
8. There is also a LAP function that will beep every 1 or 5 or 10 or 15 or 30 minutes, depending on how you set it.
Sound quality is great, both for radio and cassette. Of course, the cassette sound also depends on the quality of the tape itself.
Unfortunately, there is no equalizer or continuous slider-adjustment for bass or treble. Only for total volume. But there is a single-button control that turns a bass function on or off. It's called the XBS button, and it boosts low frequencies, adding an extra "boom" and richness to the sound. Depending on what you are listening to, sometimes this bass boost can be a bit too much, at least for my taste. I mean, I don't want to destroy my ear-drums while I am still young, so I prefer to go easy on my ears!
The XBS does not work for AM radio. It is really most noticeable for FM radio. For cassettes, the effect is noticeable, though perhaps not quite as strongly as with FM radio (but this might be due to the quality of my tapes).
The noise my skis make on the snow is usually so loud that it is often hard to tell the difference between the XBS bass boost ON or OFF. Just another illustration for why I really don't care if my music is analog or digital. (Except that analog is so much easier to record.)
One important point about the ear-phones. The sound is best with the included ear-phones. I tried using three other sets of ear-phones I have, including a pair that's built into a headband I wear when skiing. But there is a noticeable loss in sound quality when using other ear-phones. Only one of my other pairs performed similarly to the original earphones. I believe the differences are due to differences in the impedance (resistance) of the speakers and the wires leading to them. So, take good care of the included ones, and don't lose them!
There are several options for carrying the gadget. I usually just slip it into a pocket inside my ski-jacket. But you can also clip it onto a belt or hang it around your neck or shoulder.
I like the sound quality and the ruggedness of this radio/tape player. It is obviously well-built with attention to detail. And it's hard to believe how long a single battery lasts! I'd recommend this tape player to anyone who is into listening to music while engaged in their favorite sport activity.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Emilio
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Member: Emilio
Location: USA
Reviews written: 39
Trusted by: 23 members
About Me:
So many places, ... so little time!
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