PyleDual Cassette Deck Stereo - Hi-Fi Sound, Compact and Portable Tape Recorder Player with Digital Professional Noise Reducing System and RCA Cables, Record & Play Audio and Music - PT639D.5

It seems my older, expensive, name brand cassette deck could not be repaired. This unit may not offer all the bells and whistles of my old unit, but the price is right, it performs well, and the sound is on par with more expensive options.

The media could not be loaded. Despite my initial hesitation to purchase from Pyle, the recording quality was perfect, it had noise reduction that didn't bleed over into the recorded sounds, and I like that the counter kept track of the tape runs, it helps me time the recordings.I've read issues with the buttons but as long as you press gently, the buttons won't break. The only notable flaw is that the cassette door doesn't close all the way once a tape is inserted. It doesn't affect the recordings but it does create the possibility of the door breaking. Despite my full 5 feedback, I'm giving Pyle a 9 for the doors.I'm also leaving a note for people who are worried about the recording quality, and have also read other reviews about the recording quality:If the recording is hissing or the sound is just plain bad and fuzzy, easy fixes.1. Check if your blank tape has a magnetic shield. If not, then that's why the sound quality is plain bad. My recordings were like that for a while until I decided to put a magnetic shield into the blank tape, and there was a major improvement to the tape's sound quality.2. Hissing is on the tape's quality. I use two different brands. Maxell's hissing is so faint I barely hear it, but the other one has fairly loud hissing in the background.I hope this helps people make a decision on whether or not to purchase Pyle. I recommend it if you're looking for a reliable tape player and sound recorder.

I bought the Pyle PT639D cassette deck to make a tape, as my 40-year-old tape deck did not want to work. I found a cassette tape still wrapped in its original plastic, removed the plastic from around the case, opened the case and pulled out an unused tape. Placed the unused tape into the player and started to record using a stereo system I had never made a tape with. I did not like the results. I moved Everything to another room in the house that had my old stereo equipment set up in. I fully rewound the just opened and slightly recorded on cassette tape and with no inputs hit record to erase what had just been recorded. With out checking my recent work I started to record again. Once that was completed, I wanted to check the quality of my work so rewound the tape and hit play. At first it was very soft and then got loud as the most recent recording came across the head. Realizing that the soft volume was my first original recording on the tape, I decided I would record nothing on the tape multiple times to see if that would erase the unwanted starts. It could not erase what it had previously recorded. Not only was the tape deck unable to erase a tape it had recorded, when the record and play button were pushed there was a lot of give in them as if the support was going to bend in. Another telling sign is there is a card enclosed with it that says, “REGISTER WITHIN 7 DAYS TO CLAIM YOUR 1 YEAR WARRANTY AND *FREE HDTV CLEANING KIT +CABLES” This cassette deck is not only a waste of money but also a waste of natural resources.As others have said: use a boombox. I put the above-mentioned cassette in my twenty-year-old boombox and pressed record with no inputs and it erased the tape just fine. The Boombox also did a better job recording than this cassette deck.With so many proven designs from over the years this cassette deck is a total disappointment. They decided to take a wheel and draw an equilateral triangle that just touches the outside of the circle and market the triangle as a wheel. This Pyle product is a waste of natural resources. I looked at other cassette decks and their performance specs (dynamic range, etc.) were all the exact same lousy specs compared to that of the forty-year-old cassette deck I had. This led me to believe that behind the face plate, these new ones are all essentially the same product regardless of the name, and therefore I chose the cheapest one. IF this product had worked as well as my ancient boombox, I would not be returning it.So as others have said skip this Pyle of c*** and use a boombox.

Most tapes play no problem, though I sometimes wonder if the “wobliness” of the tape (brand new) is due to the deck or the tape itself; a minor quibble because most cassettes sound and play fine; I mean, the format’s shortcomings are part of their charm, at least to my ears :/. The only major issue that prevents me from awarding four stars to this deck is that for some reason some cassette tapes literally cannot fit comfortably into the housing, and the cassette door cannot be closed as a result. Manipulation of this mechanism eventually will allow the door to be closed so that the listener can play their cassette normally. Since cassette tapes were designed—in the past at least—to be compatible with every kind of deck, I’m surprised the designers didn’t allow for the slightly different shapes of cassettes so the housing mechanism can close. It doesn’t happen much, tends to be a small irritation because one can still play their tapes by jiggering with the door of the tape deck, so for me it’s a small quibble and for less than 200 bucks I think you get your moneys worth. I’m so glad some company is still out there making these decks, because after attempting to buy used decks that break after one week or never play in the first place, I was happy to finally have something I can reliably play my cassettes on. So as long as the buyer goes in aware of this small quirk it’s a great value for the money.

The quality of the product meets expectations. Definitely worth it!Ignore all the comments about wows and flutters—if you're not an audiophile and you want something acceptable, new, and you don't want to worry about those old Japanese cassette decks, this deck is for you!It sounds good enough! The material quality is good. I'll probably buy it again in the future.