Panasonic RQ-A220 Cassette Player / Recorder

Dust off those cassettes and let this compact, feature-packed portable cassette player/recorder breathe new life into old tunes. The RQ-A220 offers auto-reverse performance, a built-in condenser microphone, and 3x recording for maximizing tape duration during meetings, classes, and other taping opportunities where length is a bigger concern than recording quality.

A built-in AM/FM tuner gives you access to your favorite radio stations, so you don't even have to grab cassettes on your way out the door. Tired of headphones? Listen through the unit's integrated three-speaker playback system. Extra Bass System (XBS) heightens bass response during headphone playback.

The unit runs for about 24 hours on playback (20 hours recording) on two AA batteries (not included). A three-LED indicator keeps you apprised of battery status.

What's in the Box
Cassette recorder, stereo headphones, hand strap, and a user's manual.

1 Good sound
I bought the Panasonic RQ-A220 player as I was tired of having to use headphones with my Walkman player.

The A-220 does have very good sound for such a tiny machine. Of course, it can't be compared with large component units.

I do have one complaint: description said that it has "auto-reverse performance". I have played a couple of tapes, and mine does not. It does have automatic shut off, which I like.

I like using Amazon.com for non-book items, as well as books.

2 Happy with my purchase
For the price, this unit has good recording and playback quality. I don't really like how the rewind button doesn't pop back up when the tape has fully rewound. While you can still hear the unit is "activated" at this time, luckily there must be some sort of quasi autostop function, since you don't hear the unit trying to continue to rewind (indicating undesirable stress on the unit on top of battery expenditure).

There is a warning in the manual not to use high bias tapes. I only buy high bias or metal tapes and so I took the plunge. FYI, with high bias tapes, I haven't really noticed any problems with sound quality on record or playback of live music, dictation, or internal radio transmissions.

3 INCORRECT FEATURE LISTED
THIS LITTLE ITEM ARRIVED YESTERDAY AND THE PRODUCT FEATURE LISTED INCLUDES "AUTO-REVERSE"

THIS UNIT DOES NOT CONTAIN AND HAS NO AUTO-REVERSE AS LISTED ON THE PRODUCT FEATURE AD ON THE WEB-SITE, SO BACK IT GOES, A REAL SHAME TOO (THAT'S THE REASON I PURCHASED IT)-HAS REAL GOOD TONE
AND A GOOD SOUND FROM MAKING A RECORDING BUT WANT & NEED AUTO-REVERSE AND THIS UNIT DOES NOT HAVE IT

4 decent cassette recorder
I bought this cassette recorder based on the reviews of other customers. I was looking for a cassette recorder with accurate pitch duplication.
I had also ordered two Sony WM-GX221 Walkmans which both were off more than 30 cents sharp...and off by the same amount.
The Panasonic was a little less off (less than 30 cents sharp)
so I decided to keep the Panasonic.
If anyone finds a walkman sized cassette recorder with better pitch accuracy, please let me know. it's been really difficult to find something better than the old Sony walkmans that I had before (which Sony no longer manufactures).

5 Nifty little portable stereo!
I bought the Panasonic RQ-A220 Cassette Player/Recorder after working part-time at a Radio Shack. Of all the things in the store, I thought this portable recorder was one of the niftiest things I saw there.

For months, I wanted to transfer my music cassettes to my Mac after endlessly trying to find CDs or even MP3s over the net of the many rare songs I love (and have owned for years) but couldn't find anywhere. When I saw this cassette player/recorder, I thought "Bingo!". I bought a Y adapter, connected the single stereo plug to the RQ-A220 and the two RCA ends to the back of my Mac (which has RCA and S-video connections) and used a freeware called Coaster (it creates AIFF files. It's for Mac OS 9 only) and after converting the AIFF tracks with iTunes, voila, instant MP3s of my favorite music. Coaster is extremely easy to use and it's free! The sound from my cassettes with the RQ-A220 is CD quality. In fact, the songs sound better than those I ripped from my CDs.

The RQ-A220 almost has everything: it's a voice recorder. You can connect a stereo microphone to it if the built-in microphone doesn't cut it. It's a radio. It plays cassettes. It can record off the radio or another source (if you have the right cables of course). It has three tiny built-in speakers, which is what initially caught my attention. And included with the recorder is a set of stereo headphones. When you listen to music with it (or when I connect the Y adapter to the headphone input), you can listen to music as is or with Extra Bass System, which gives a better sounding quality. I use the XBS option when I make my MP3s.

The sound from the three speakers is not super high quality but it's surprisingly good nonetheless, certainly for a product that fits in the palm of a hand. Oddly enough, of all the types of music, classical music and jazz sounds the best when listening to it through the three speakers, more so than pop (just good) or techno music (bad). And the speakers are perfect for listening to sports broadcast or any kind of talk radio.

There are two caveats about the RQ-A220: finding and keeping a radio channel is sometimes difficult because of the sensitivity of the tuner dial. And there's no 3v adapter to plug-in the cassette player/recorder to a wall socket when I need to work with it for long periods of time and batteries just ain't enough. I bought a 3v adapter (at Radio Shack, of course), so this problem was quickly solved but I still wish the adapter came with the recorder. As for the radio, well, a digital radio would have been better. If the RQ-A220 came with a digital tuner, I would have given it 5 stars instead of 4.

Keep this in mind: you can buy the RX-D20 boombox from Panasonic for almost the same price and you have a digital radio, a CD player with the RX-D20 and better speakers (we used the RX-D20 for our radio at the store and the sound from it was good). But you can't carry a boombox in your pocket or purse, so one has to pay a little extra for a more compact product.

All in all, I like this tiny stereo player/recorder. It's beautifully designed and the sound quality from it is excellent.

*BTW, the manufacturer specifically states on the product that it was built not in China, but Taiwan. Arf!

6 cassette ---> CD
I purchased this to convert my taped records/cassettes to CD. So far, it has worked very well. I use Audio Cleaning Lab 2004 to import the music onto my computer and clean the tracks before burning to CD. It's smaller than I thought it would be - and I wish it had digital radio - but I think it's better than a tape deck. Sound quality is good. Use rechargeable batteries.

7 Unique and Supremely Useful
I was afraid Panasonic would phase this item out. Like their SL-PH270, a portable CD player with built-in speakers, this is a pocket-sized device for musicians and listeners on the go who don't carry an MP-3 library and prefer not to be tied to headphones (as a result I use it frequently and ubiquitously). Moreover, it's the only model of its type that features stereo recording and reproduction, making it suitable for recording live music. Granted, the playback has little separation or bass, but the sound is still superior to comparable monophonic models, whose use is primarily for dictation.

For this latest model, Panasonic has sacrificed a bit of compactness to sound quality (there's an extra speaker). I preferred the lighter, smaller model, though the thing still easily fits in a jacket pocket.

Be forewarned that, though the machine will record radio broadcasts, the tuner's poor selectivity and sensitivity limit such use unless the headphones, which serve double-duty as an antenna, are plugged in. Also, contrary to Amazon's description, this machine doe not have auto-reverse. Finally, it's curious that Panasonic would produce a miniature cassette recorder capable of recording in stereo (through the stereo input) but then offer no microphone, even as an optional accessory (the on-board mic is strictly for mono recording). I solved that problem by purchasing the mini-stereo mic made by Sony (expect to spend more than the cost of the machine).