This off-the-grid cassette player is a wind-up

A hand cranked cassette player that enabled tapes to be played pretty much anywhere.
Let’s take a look at it.

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[amaruqlonewolf]

The mere thought of Matt randomly walking through the neighborhood while cranking out a song is never going to leave my head.

[danjohnston]

Imagine the lucky wee parishioner tasked with cranking this accursed thing. There you were, minding your own business, enjoying a hunter/gatherer lifestyle until some pale-complected stranger steps out of the treeline and tells you, EVEN WHEN HE'S NOT THERE, how you've been wrong about everything since forever. 'Good news" indeed.

[TibCo]

Hearing the Techmoan intro music always brings a warm sense of happiness and Saturday. Then seeing Matt walking across the screen, frantically cranking a hand cranked cassette player, makes one explode in laughter. You're the best!

[ScottGrammer]

Some sixty years ago, Crown International made a field tape recorder for the National Geographic Society. It was a portable reel-to-reel machine with transistorized electronics, but the capstan and take-up reel were powered by a mechanically-governed, spring-operated motor that one cranked up like an old Victrola. Fast-forward and rewind were achieved by literally cranking the appropriate reel by hand. The idea was that field recordings could be made in high-fidelity, but without the battery drain of powering motors. The electronics used such a small amount of electricity that the batteries would last many, many hours. The machine you've demonstrated reminded me of this.

Unlike this machine, the Crown's crank wound a spring, and the spring then powered the machine's mechanism. And of course, the electronics were battery-powered. One did not turn the crank while the machine was running.

[ForDemoPurposesOnly]

These videos have become my "Saturday morning cartoons", as it were.

Nice touch seeing a post-apocalyptic Techmoan.

[jnharton]

It's actually kind of amazing how good that thing sounds.

[thpeti]

As a child, I made a funny device for powering a pocket radio. I got a stepper motor out of an old dot matrix printer. I've kept the paper feeding mechanism, and wound some fishing line to a bigger wheel. Then I mounted the thing on the balcony, and attached a weight of few kg's to the fishing line. Then I've connected two bridge rectifiers to the four wires coming out from the stepper, and attached a big electrolytic capacitor. While the weight was slowly moving downwards (it was a out 15 minutes to reach the ground) the radio was playing some music or news.

[RodCurrin]

Many years ago I was editing a video for some missionaries who had been to Peru. The local people used one of these to play songs as accompaniment to their singing. I was always intrigued to know how it actually worked. Thanks to Techmoan, I finally know!

[CassetteComeback]

I like seeing tech that was designed to live as long as possible, not one small component fails and so resigns the rest to be landfill...

[YOGNSHA]

The dry humor of this channel is just divine.

[FiXato]

After a night of being the operator, I bet you'd be quite cranky 😂
Jokes aside, I absolutely love the thought given to not just Right To Repair, but even *Encouragement* to repair.

[Zai]

I love everything about this. The visual design, the unbreakable and long lasting technical design, the detailed manual which gives the layman ability to repair. It's only lacking (removable) rechargeable batteries. I want it!

[PeterEmery]

My father had an AM/FM radio that could be powered three ways: by the integrated solar panel, external power from a DC plug pack or from the clockwork generator. A heavy clock spring wound by a crank handle drove a generator that in turn supplied power to the radio circuits. Fully wound up, it could run for 90 minutes.

[jasdog]

I live about 5 mins drive from the Australian office of GRN and had some friends who worked there for a time so nice to see some of their old tech featured from the other side of the world.

[SHUBH]

The perfect example for the right to repair movement

[TomJordans]

As a marketing and technical writer, I love hearing that some manuals are really well written. Great job on the video - now I want one of those!

[mattclarke]

An ingenious device; I can't help but think of a family huddled around one these in a storm cellar, taking comfort from a recording while a hurricane passes overhead

[ScottDotDot]

Can't believe he got James May to do a cameo at the end!

[davdbone]

Imagine a VHS or Betamax and also a CRT TV all with hand cranks, you literally would need a household of "crankers" to keep everything running. After a weekend binge watching I'm picturing the boys stepping out the door with arms like BA Baracus.

[johnstone]

Amazing build quality on that thing. The tape transport reminds me of the kind of mechanicals you'd see in the first generation players of the late 60s and early 70s. Heavy metal flywheel and very little plastic.