It has ports for RCA cables on it, and you connect it to your existing audio gear with the to shoot the tunes out to your computer via USB. The device has recording level controls and volume controls on board, and it ships with software for digitizing tracks onto your PC or Mac. It also has a headphone port that will allow you to listen as you convert. The Vinyl Forever converter will ship sometime in 2012 for under $35 (USD).

At CES 2012, the company has rolled out a new turntable called the Duo Deck. It gets its name because not only will it convert your 33-1/3or 45 RPM vinyl records to digital tracks, it also has a cassette player in the back that will convert your 80′s cassette collection to digital too. The deck also works as a standalone turntable and tape player, thanks to a built-in speaker. It even will run on batteries.

The device comes with EZ Converter software and Audacity software to clean up the tracks once they make their way to your PC or Mac. ION didn’t talk price or availability yet, but it should be around $100 or so I’d figure. ION is rarely way out there with their pricing. This may be the best way yet to get those Milli Vanilli cassette and records onto your iPod.

It will play your cassettes and easily convert them into digital files, thanks to its USB connection.

You can easily convert that bunch of mixtapes into MP3 files with this device. It comes with software that will help you get the deed done, but since it’s a plug-and-play USB device, other music recording software should do the trick as well.

While it’s powered by USB, it can also be run on AA batteries, and you can use it like a Walkman, thanks to its headphone jack. If you need to hear what’s sitting on all those old cassettes, head on over to Brando where it will cost you $26 (USD).

Modder themadhacker managed to rejigger the innards of this old 8-track cassette and wired it up so the magnetic playback head can play tunes from the iPod Nano docked conveniently inside of it.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now I’m guessing the reason he decided to go with the Beach Boys tape instead of the Alice Cooper one was that he didn’t care too much about destroying Beach Boys music. I certainly wouldn’t have any issue with it. After all, Kokomo was probably the worst song ever written. School’s Out, on the other hand… It’s especially fitting that he’s cued up the Beach Boys to play Ozzy instead.

Anywho, I can honestly say that this is the first time I’ve seen an 8-track that can hold 500 songs. Kudos, madhacker!

[via ModRetro]

This speaker is a dead-ringer for a classic cassette tape, and plugs into your MP3 player’s 3.5mm audio jack. It’s available over at fredflare for $22 bucks.

I’d imagine that it would look even dumber plugged into one of these MP3 players that looks like a cassette tape.

[via Chip Chick]

And if you thought Apple did you a favor by having all sorts of colors for the iPod nano’s casing, you’ll love the fact that there are 32 different 45 nano cassette tape designs to choose from. Actually I shouldn’t call them designs, because the cases really are cassette tapes. They were just gutted and hacked to house an iPod nano. Variety, old school looks, and environment-friendly!

What’s not to like? Well, Contexture Design is selling the 45 nano case for $45 (CAD) (appx. $41 USD). If you’re good with your hands, you can probably make your own cassette tape case for free. But if not, well, you can sulk and flame Contexture Design for selling a gutted cassette tape for $41.

[via Gizmodo]

This handmade leather case comes to us courtesy of London UK artist Tovicorrie of Beautiful Skin. Each one is imprinted with a retro image of Sony’s classic cassette player, layered onto either a soft brown or burgundy red cowhide, and in orange, blue, brown or hot pink Walkman colors. Note the tape that’s in the player is AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock” – a nice touch – unless the thought of Angus Young strutting around the stage disgusts you.

In addition to iPhone cases, he’ll also make iPod Classic or iPod Touch versions if you specify that when you order. They’re available over on his Etsy shop for $28 (USD) each. Tovicorrie – we salute you!

Designed by Jason Amendolara for Fred & Friends, the »REW cord caddy looks like an old-school cassette tape (or more like a microcassette, IMHO), and lets you conceal all that unsightly extra wire inside.

No word yet on pricing or a release date yet, but if I were to make a bet, I’d check out Perpetual Kid to see when they start stocking ‘em, as they often carry products from Fred & Friends.

Etsy’s packed with bags made with the most adorable fabric ever, but this is really one of the cooler examples I’ve seen. This particular bag, from the capow shopfront, measures 7.5″ x 4.25″ and makes a good clutch or large wallet. The capow shop has some other geek-friendly bags, too, like this casette tape clutch (for the retro music lover in your life):

These and other capow bags are priced between $12 and $20, plus shipping.

[via Etsy]

The 4-port USB 2.0 hub may look exactly like an old school cassette tape, but I can pretty much assure you that you’ll wreck your tape player if you attempt to pop this thing in and listen to it. I can only imagine the horrific screeching sound that would come out of my speakers when I press play. Of course, assuming that you actually follow the instructions and use it as a proper USB hub, it should be much more benign.

It’ll look really great sandwiched between your old Steve Miller Band, Boston and Foreigner tapes that I’m sure you still have lying next to your Walkman. You can get your hands on the USB cassette tape USB hub at UK gadget shop I Want One of Those for £12.99 (appx. $24 USD).

[via Random Good Stuff]

While the full-sized skeleton looks like it’s inspired by 80s greats such as R.E.M., The Knack, and The Police, this skull the artist also made appears to have fallen off from too much head-banging. (Note the Judas Priest and Mötley Crüe cassettes).

For some reason, these remind me of the famous face-melting scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[via Clutter via ALBOTAS]

That’s exactly what the guys over at Transparent House are doing with their cassettes. The designers make each lamp from dozens of individual cassette tapes, arranged into visually appealing patterns. Not only do they look cool as a sculptural piece, they cast dramatic shadows onto surrounding surfaces.

Each lamp uses a bright, cool-burning neon light source to keep the plastic cassettes from melting. Of course, they left each tape in its original transparent case so they could be together glued neatly.

And if you have a fond place in your heart for the old micro-cassette, you don’t have to feel left out. They’ve got a lamp just for you, made from 140 of the mini tapes.

Now the guys over at Transparent House don’t say if they’ll be producing these en masse, or if they’re just one-of-a-kind design pieces. Personally, I’d love a couple of these in my media room.

[via geeksugar]

Chinavasion’s MP3 Cassette Player is a completely self-contained media player that just happens to slip inside your tape deck for easy playback through your car stereo. It’s not the world’s most feature-packed player, handling only MP3 format files, and zero on-board storage. You’ll have to add your own memory through the player’s SD/MMC slot.

I’ve always thought it would be cool if I could just dock my iPod directly into the cassette player in my car, but for now, this’ll have to do.

The oh-so-clever designers over at Suck UK have put together this kit that lets you make a modern version of the mix tape.

Packaged in a container that looks like a classic cassette tape, the USB Mix Tape actually contains a USB drive that you can load your special playlist of tunes onto. They’ve also included one of those ruled cards that comes with blank cassettes for you to jot down your playlist.

It’s part of their new Fall 2007 collection and should be available this September.

A clever visual pun manifested in 3-dimensions, they dispense Scotch tape instead of playing the magnetic type. Available for pre-order now, these dispensers should be shipping this September for about $25 USD.

[via designboom]

Regency TR-1
Back in 1954, I.D.E.A. released the very first portable transistor radio. The Regency TR-1 radio measured 3″ x 5″ x 1.25″ and featured an analog AM tuner. In a strange prediction of things to come (I’m talking to you iPod), the Regency came out in a variety of colors over the years, ranging from a simple bone white to pearlescent lavender and lime colors.

The TR-1 tuned stations by a simple gold dial and played through a low-fidelity monophonic speaker. It retailed for $49.95 back in the day, which would make it cost around $325 in today’s dollars.

KLH Model 11 Portable
With the companies he founded still making an impact on today’s audio scene, Henry Kloss developed the very first portable stereo back in 1962 when he released the KLH Model 11.

The Model 11 was the first transistorized stereo system, and featured a record player, amplifier and two speakers which all folded neatly into a “suitcase” for easy transportation. While the stereo only ran on A/C power, not batteries, it still was a milestone in the development of portable music players.

Philips Compact Cassette and the Norelco Carry-Corder 150
In 1965, Philips released the first ever compact cassette tape. Originally designed for recording dictations and other boring stuff, the cassette recorded up 45 minutes of sound on single 1/8-inch tape.

To compliment Philps’ innovation in recording media, they released the battery-powered Carry-Corder 150 cassette recorder. It ran on 5 flashlight batteries and weighed in at over 3 pounds (fully loaded). Later, Mercury Records would release a selection of music on Philips cassettes for about $6 a piece. Cassette and 8-track tapes would dominate the portable music world for the next 20 years.

Sony Walkman TPS-L2
Back in the 1970′s and 1980′s Sony was the king of miniaturization, and in 1979, they released the first truly self-contained portable music system, the TPS-L2 Walkman cassette player.

The Walkman’s real innovation was its size, measuring only slightly larger than a cassette tape itself. Featuring a pair of portable, lightweight headphones and operating on AA batteries, it ushered in a new era of portability. The original Walkman retailed for 33,000 Japanese Yen, which would be around $274 US dollars today. The Walkman went on to sell millions of units and spawned numerous variations and imitators for many years after its initial release.

Sony Discman D-50
As CDs overtook cassette tapes in both sound quality and popularity, Sony saw the need to update its popular Walkman line for a new generation.

In 1984, on the one year anniversary of the introduction of compact discs, Sony introduced their D-50 portable CD player, the first ever portable digital music player. The D-50 was actually my own first foray into portable music players, and it truly was a marvel. Just slightly larger than a CD case, the player offered all of the great audio quality that digital recordings had to offer.

SaeHan / Eiger Labs MPMan F10
The very first solid state commercial music player didn’t come from Apple, Diamond or Creative as many think. In fact, it came from a Korean company called SaeHan Information Systems, and was imported to the U.S. by Eiger Labs. The MPMan was the very first MP3 player of all time. It featured a whopping 32MB of RAM (expandable to 64MB by sending the player back to Eiger for an upgrade,) and held about 8 average length tracks (around 32 minutes of music.)

The MPMan appeared on shelves in the summer of 1998, and ran on a rechargeable NiMH battery pack. Since the player used solid state memory, it actually had about 9 hours of battery life, which is still better than many hard drive based players today.

Apple iPod and iTunes
Leave it to Apple to stand back, look at what other companies were doing wrong, and to vastly improve upon their mistakes. The original iPod, released in 2001 combined a 5GB hard drive with a rechargeable battery pack and a paradigm breaking user interface. Marketed by Steve Jobs as “1000 songs in your pocket,” the iPod didn’t necessarily do that much differently under the hood from other MP3 players, but it had a sleek design (by 2001 standards), a unique and simple navigational system, and the Apple brand name to back it all up.

Initially, the iPod only supported Macintosh computers, and the only way to get music tracks was to record from your own CDs or from (often illegal) downloads on the Internet. In 2003, Apple released iTunes and opened their iTunes store, which made it easy to purchase legal music downloads for just 99 cents a track. Shortly afterwards, they introduced a Windows-compatible version of their software.

With their one-two punch of form and function, Apple continues to dominates the portable music player market today. Over the years Apple has continued to release a plethora of new iPod models, including the recent addition of video playback, and the forthcoming iPhone.

Only time will tell how portable media players will evolve. With innovations like touchscreens, high definition video playback, wireless streaming, low cost solid state memory and more on the horizon, the first 50 years were just the beginning.