RCA RP3504 Cassette "Shoebox" Voice Recorder,Gray

I purchased this in order to record family members talking about the family history and plan on putting it all to paper. I needed something that was 1) user friendly (as opposed to those digital recorders); 2) reasonably priced (as opposed to those digital recorders); and 3) easy to operate (again, as opposed to those digital recorders). This recorder met all 3 requirements. I wasn't intimidated by the size (which isn't all that big) -- this recorder fits into a Ziploc zipper plastic food bag beautifully, along with the mike and cord. The only downside is that the microphone connector cord is so short. When I'm recording family members, it takes a some thought to set up the recorder + mike conveniently so that I get optimum clarity from the subject who is speaking. Admittedly I have not used it without the mic so I cannot write comment about using it with no mic. Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. If you're looking for a recorder that is a no-brainer to operate, this is it.

I bought this for my kids to listen to old tapes on, it works pretty well. The eject button doesn't always work though- sometimes I have to stick my fingernail into the crack to get the eject button to engage. Plays fairly well but has a slow rewind. Have not attempted to use the record feature as I have no use for that right now.

I bought this player almost a year ago, but just opened it last week. I use a cassette player to listen to books on tape from the library, and my old player was wearing out.The very first tape I put in the new machine ended up ruined. The roller sucked the tape into the innards of the machine and it was impossible to remove it without breaking the tape. I have had a few tangles before with other tape players, but previously it has been easy to gently pull on the tape to remove it from the rollers. Other players seem to stop when the problem begins, but this one just keeps eating tape until it can eat no more. As a result, the tape was so jammed up and tangled inside the player that I couldn't remove it.Foolishly, I let myself think that it might have been a problem with the tape, so I tried the first cassette from a different audiobook. The same thing happened. This time I decided to do whatever was necessary to get the tape out of the player (I couldn't face telling the library I'd ruined TWO of their rapidly diminishing supply of audiobooks on cassette). I ended up having to take the machine completely apart to free the tape -- no big loss because there was no way I would ever use that player again. The tape was crammed in under the keys, with the space packed full of many, many feet of tape. The tape was crumpled and tangled so badly that there was no way to remove it without having access to both sides of the roller. Pulling causes the tape to knot up and wrap itself around any available obstruction. You have to have access from the back to untangle it.In the end, I had rescued the tape but the player is a bag of screws and plastic pieces. I doubt that I could put it back together even if I wanted to, and I don't want to. I hope to get some satisfaction from AMZ, but that hope is not high. A form letter is more likely.If you buy this, don't use it with any tape that you value.

I had been hanging on to a large "Boom Box" type radio just for the cassette player, and wanted to replace it with a smaller unit that I could also use recording contacts on my Ham radio. This unit is small and came with an internal and a external mike, as well as a power supply to save on batteries. It is no bigger then a paper back book and will do a good job for me. I through out the big boom box and saved a lot of room. RCA makes a good recorder as I have owned them in the past. I am very happy with this unit.

I bought this as I want to record my old tapes into digital; I'm not from USA and our power supply is 220 volt. I thought that because this had an external AC adapter (Transformer,) it would rate between 110-240 like many do, hence the reason why I bought this one as appose to the Panasonic one (Hard wire plug into unit.) Unfortunately it doesn't, it is only a 110 ac adapter which burnt out after about 5 minutes. Anyway, I have since got another 6volt - 200 m-amp @ 220 adapter and it is rocking along nicely (so far, about 18 hours of recording - no issues. AWESOME!!)I do suspect that this generates more noise while recording than I had hoped. That means more noise removal from the final edit. (I have a little tape player too - which is stereo and generates less noise it seems.) If it were to operate from batteries (Which it does as well,) then it would generate less noise. Great unit but only a four star because of the AC adaptor and the noise.

If you would like to get the newest, flashiest gadgets for your audio needs.......this is NOT for you.This tape recorder uses plain, inexpensive cassettes, does not play MP3s, does not easily download to your laptop, like the new-fangled flash memory recorders from Sony or Olympus. THAT is the down side. On the other hand, this tape recorder is inexpensive, easy to use and will provide you better sound ( a large speaker) than most flash memory recorders, at a much lower price. For my needs, taping a lecture, interviewing a person, etc., this is ideal.

I guess it's worth the low price I paid. It's very hard to activate the mode - hard to press. Once it's on, the sound is excellent. I've waited months to get a cassette player, as my boom boxes are getting cranky. I am enjoying my best-loved cassette tapes. Thanks!

Although it isn't the highest quality, I only need it to playback old tapes. I plugged it into my power conditioner, and the tape hiss was much less than expected. I recorded two tapes from a 1981 recording session, and the quality was fine. The mic is a joke, but I won't ever record to cassette anyway.