BAIJIALI
$29.99 Price may change
6 videos
Philip Riggio
But now I am. I purchased this cassette player because I thought it looked cool to own and play my little cassette collection. But unfortunately, I am very disappointed with this item. It nearly destroyed my Nirvana - Nevermind cassette. Luckily I was able to save it. But it did destroy my Bad Company - 10 from 6 tape. Save your money and Don't buy this product.
Justin
Brings back the nostalgia and works great pretty loud for being so small
Bridget
Ruined my tapes. It worked for the first day and then it started eating all the tape out of my cassettes and now it will hardly even play them and ruined my tapes. It’s an adorable radio and I wish I could give it a good review but tapes are expensive these days and the fact that it damaged some of mine made it really disappointing.
JENE C THOMAS
It is fine and does its purpose. And looks cute. I have several cassettes and I am able to hear them again.
Steve Mesler
I couldn’t be happier with this portable cassette player boombox! It perfectly blends nostalgic charm with modern features. Not only does it play my old cassette tapes beautifully, but the built-in AM/FM/SW radio gives me plenty of listening options wherever I go. The Bluetooth connectivity is a fantastic bonus — I can stream music straight from my phone when I’m not in the mood for tapes.
I also love that it can record directly from the radio, which brings back that classic mixtape feel. The SD/USB playback adds even more versatility, and the headphone jack is great for private listening. Whether I’m using it at home or taking it on the road, the AC or battery power options make it super convenient.
Sound quality is surprisingly clear for such a compact unit, and the controls are simple and easy to use. If you’re looking for a portable player that combines retro style with modern functionality, this is an excellent choice. Highly recommended!
DW
I'll get right to it:
Pros: Great, portable design. USB and SD card options. Nice outward esthetics. Great range on Bass/Treble adjustment knob.
Cons: When turning volume up past a normal room setting volume while playing cassette, it warbles the sound like back in the day when you knew your batteries were almost dead. I was not using batteries for power, FYI. I tried older, used cassettes and a brand new one. It does it on all of them.
Recording: I tried recording from radio, and both 30 second test runs yielded terrible results. The SOUND, when playing back, has buzz and static. And yes, when I was recording, the radio song volume was perfectly tuned and crystal clear.
It also doesn't auto-stop when it reaches the end of FF or Rewinding. This is simply ridiculous. So if you are in another room, don't assume it stops. This alone would put stress on the motor and burn it out.
I didn't care about USB or Micro SD. I've seen enough. Higher volume and poor recording capabilities is enough. Returning the item.
Rick
There is so much functionality to like about this compact radio/cassette player/recorder, that it's unfortunately held back by mediocre audio quality when playing FM radio, and especially when playing cassette tapes.
For the very reasonable price, this player is built decently enough, appears well built and durable, has a very intuitive set of control buttons, switches, and input jacks. It has a very useful foldable handle. The antenna telescopes out to a reasonably good length, and it can be tilted and rotated very nicely. The radio offers 3 bands: FM, AM, and shortwave, and I was able to receive stations on all bands. There are input jacks for USB drives and SD cards. For those inputs, there are pushbuttons for Next, Previous, Play, and Pause. To turn off the radio, position the FUNCTION lever to the TAPE position. The player can be powered by either 4 D cell batteries (not provided) or the provided AC cord.
The speaker appears to be large enough that it should produce decent audio quality, but either the speaker or more likely the audio design circuitry result in a tinny sound. Fortunately, a rotary "BASS" knob is provided to mellow out the tinny/treble audio emphasis by turning it all the way to the "HIGH" setting (by high, they mean highest application of bass, not high as in frequency). And the player's amplifier can produce a very loud volume. I'm fairly fussy about audio quality, so please consider that. I have other audio products in this price range that produce better sound, but they don't provide the wide range of functionality of this product. I found the audio acceptable for listening to talk on AM, FM, and shortwave, but not for music on FM and cassette tape. The cassette motor had a bit of wow and flutter (fluctuation in motor speed changing the pitch), but it was tolerable. The cassette transport controls all seemed to work well to play, reverse, and fast-foward. The cassette door opened nice and smoothly when pressing the EJECT button to open the door. But the audio quality of my music cassettes was poor compared to my other low-cost cassette players.
Calamity Jane
I was successful with every option, including AM, FM, Shortwave, SD Card, and Cassette Playing and Recording, on this little boombox. I was also pleased that it plays with more volume than I expected for a unit of this size. If you're like us and still have cassettes, it's fun to play them again! I'm giving it four stars because there was no electric cord included with the player I got, even though the description claims there's an AC adapter cable. Fortunately, the cord from my travel iron fit and worked (see my photo).
Mohamed Benjelloun
I needed a reliable way to listen to my old cassette collection, but I also wanted a modern device that didn't just feel like a relic. This boombox was the perfect compromise. The sound quality is surprisingly robust and clear, especially considering the price point—it easily fills my whole kitchen or living room with sound. Being able to effortlessly switch between playing my vintage tapes and streaming music via Bluetooth from my phone is incredibly convenient, making this the most versatile sound system I currently own.
I really appreciate all the extra features packed into this portable unit. The multiple radio bands (AM/FM/SW) mean I can pick up almost any station, and the options to play media directly from a USB drive or SD card are a huge value add. Plus, the ability to record from the radio directly onto a cassette tape, or even record playback onto an external drive, is fantastic for archiving old memories. The dual power option (AC or battery) makes it genuinely portable, perfect for taking outside or bringing along on trips.
Customer
The BAIJIALI cassette player / radio is a knockout in the looks department, with a striking red metallic finish. If you’re used to seeing giant boom boxes balanced on one shoulder, this similarly-designed portable cassette player is smaller than one might expect, and a whole lot easier to carry.
This device is a jack of (almost) all trades. It can play prerecorded cassette tapes (hello 1985 Hurricane album; it’s been awhile!), record from radio to blank cassettes, play digital music from USB thumb drives or SD cards, and stream music from your phone or laptop over Bluetooth. I was able to pick up AM, FM and even a shortwave radio station broadcasting news in Spanish.
I searched for Bluetooth devices with my laptop and found the BAIJIALI unit listed as BJL-659. I was able to play a Lady Gaga song from my Windows Media Player library through the cassette player. When I tried to pair the cassette player with my iPhone via Bluetooth, it didn’t show up. I fixed this by going into Bluetooth settings on my laptop and disconnecting the BJL-659 there. At that point, the unit appeared in my phone’s Bluetooth list and I was able to play a song from my iTunes library.
Please note that it can’t convert cassette tapes to MP3 format, or pump out bass like your booming system with 6x9 coaxial speakers and subwoofers back in the day. If that’s what you’re trying to do, keep looking. However, if you miss hearing your treasured hair metal tapes, this is a way to enjoy them again along with modern favorites.
Shopper
This cassette player and radio is exactly what I expected: it plays my old cassettes and the radio tunes nicely. It’s a multi-band radio (AM/FM/SW) and connects wirelessly if you prefer that route but I like to plug it in the old fashioned way.
The sound and volume is really good! It’s not going to blow you away but I don’t think anyone who purchases this is getting it for a sound check so you’re good!
The one thing I wasn’t expecting is how small it is. I was just picturing something bigger but small is great! It’s easier to store.
Overall, great product.
D. Anderson
Great to see the old boombox concept is still alive. To test this unit, paired it up against my old Sony CFM155, 1980s vintage, to see how the BaiJiaLi (BJL) unit compared. Here are some observations:
Out-of-the-box: The unit isn't very solid, felt like a lot of wobble in the handle. The tuning was not very stable, had a fair amount of physical jumping around and excess speaker noise when tuning to a new station. Overall did not feel like a high quality radio. The BJL does have BT, MP3, and an SD read function, which are nice touches.
Electrical: Both units are set to run from 4-D cell batteries, an external 6V DC power supply, or using the attached cord, from a wall outlet. They are both set for universal voltage (100-220V, 50/60hz) and while the Sony uses a selector switch the BJL did the voltage switching automatically. Good job there.
Sound quality: OUCH!! Even with the bass boost turned up to full, the BJL sounded very tinny. It's OK for AM and SW, but hurts to listed to music on FM or cassette. Plenty of volume, but not very listenable. This is my biggest complaint on the unit.
FM performance: Selectivity is on par with the Sony, but there is a fair amount of FM drift. Again, hard to listen to music on this unit for very long.
AM operation: Again, selectivity is very good and in this case, stability is good. This would be a decent AM radio if you care to listen to Coast to Coast often.
SW reception: Surprisingly, the radio does a great job on the 8-16 MHz band. There aren't a lot of SW stations left but it pulled in CRI (imagine that, as that's where the radio is made!) at about 9690 KHz and the WWV time station at 10 MHz. Tuning is not great, as mentioned earlier, with the tuning function jumping around. But once you find a station, it does pretty good staying on frequency.
Cassette: Very poor operation here. Did not try recording, but playback using a good quality commercial tape (Rod Stewart-When We Were The Young Boys) was poor. Lots of wow/flutter and tape dragging. Overall the cassette function is poor, and don't count on using the cassette.
Overall, it is another Made-In-China device that is cheap, and has limited functionality. If you're OK with voice and want to try your hand at SW reception, the BJL is OK. But for a more quality listening experience, spend a few more bucks on a higher quality unit. BTW, I see the Sony CFM unit is listed for $30 on one of the auction sites.
Gerry
Here is a small portable casette boombox that plays AM/FM/SW radio. It also has bluetooth capabilities built in. It will play and record SD cards.This boombox also has an auxiliary input and runs on 4 D batteries or the included AC power supply. This allows you to record cassettes from the radio or make mix tapes.The FM antenna is a telescopic type.The USB port also allows MP3 music playback. Having just one built in speakers, it sound pretty good for its size. I wish it had duel speakers.You can also plug in headphones for stereo private listening. Overall, it is a nice small portable musical boombox that is easy to travel with.
Tini
This is a nice cute in color boom box. It's a nice shiny red, and black. It sounds nice and clear. It has a cassette player, radio, and it could be wired or battery operated. There is an attached antenna. I chose it for the cassette player. I own many cassette that I have found unusable until I came across this device. It even has sb, usb, and headphone jack. It has a handle for carrying, It's not too big, but not too small either. It is good for home or travel. A great buy for carrying on any outing, when you want to take some music along.
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