Cassette players

Ok, so next form of media . . . cassette tapes! That veritable source of games from the 1980’s, when a C15 was useful - yes, 15 minutes on a “compact cassette”.

Now, thinking ahead, I’d kept a tape player “just in case” (or, another way of looking at it - I must be a compulsive hoarder). My Sony Walkman (a “WM-B47” according to the shell) was good in its day - automatically turns the cassette over to play both sides, Dolby noise reduction, metal tape support and a graphic equaliser! It’s in pretty good condition:

. . . but, looks can be deceiving . . .

Insert tape. Insert batteries. Observe a complete lack of movement! Hmmn. Checks batteries - they’re fine. Maybe a bit low? Try mains adapter (3v) - whirring noise from the motor! Hurrah!

Shame the tape didn’t move! Here we go - I needed to open it up and see what was up. No mains electricity here, so I was happy to dig in. But - no screws or any sign of any! What on earth?!?

Web search to the rescue, looking for “Sony walkman WM-B47 service manual” did actually return a hit! freeservicemanuals.info had a match, and a PDF scan of the manual - bingo! Time to delve within.

The challenge with a walkman is - no screws, just held together by clips that you must ease apart in the right order to pop open the case. Much fiddling (and a minor bit of cursing whilst dropping small screwdrivers) later, I had it open. And - the drive belt had rotted with age, now in approximately 8 pieces!

Always an optomist, I had a small elastic band of the right size and tried it.. clue was in the word “elastic” - too stretchy! Talk about wow and flutter - this most definitely not good enough, the beeb would notice the wobbly sound.

Time to purchase some replacement belts… eBay again. A set of belts “Linna 50 Square Rubber Drive Belts Bands for Cassette Tape Machines OIL Clean” was duly ordered from topline900. Fingers crossed that that is the last “fix” needed!