WM-FX290W Walkman AM/FM/Weather Radio and Cassette Player

It works like brand new!

I have alot of language tapes I like to listen to and I also enjoy talk radio on am and NPR on fm. This walkman fits the bill. The sound quality is good and the tapes play easily. Also the rewind option is really handy for the tapes. I found the sound quality improved when I used higher price earphones I had; however the earphones provided were acceptable. It is a little bulkier than I would like but it fits into a pants pocket and most shirt pockets. It comes with a protective case which provides good protection (I have dropped mine a few times while walking and it had no damage due to the protective case.) It takes a little time to pre-set stations. However if you're into computers and such you probably will do ok (i'm old school baby boomer so it could be me). If you don't want to preset stations the manuel control works fine. This model also has a separate button for the government weather channel; which is helpful for incoming storm warnings etc. Overall a good buy for the money if you play casettes and listen to the radio.

It does not play the way my other Sony used to and I have one cassette it won't play at all. I hope all my other cassettes will play; however, the quality of sound is not real good and these are much better and later recorded from clearer sources. Given the name Sony Walkman and the high price I am unhappy with the unit and the purchase!!

The tape deck works well & the sound is good. The FM works well although it does not have a lot of range - I can't get stations within an hour of where I live. The button to change stations is not easy to operate as I have the unit usually in my pants pocket & I have to fool around to change stations & the volume wheel can be hard to locate or operate quickly as the headphone cord can be turned that almost covers it. But the BIGGEST PROBLEM is the AM which fades in & out (& is annoying) as I take steps or turn - & this on local stations. It also does not pick up an AM station very well located about 1 1/2 hours away that I had programmed on my previous SONY Walkman where it worked reasonably well when pointed in the right direction.

I listen to a wide range of classical music and opera, often very long works, and prefer a cassette tape player over portable CD player because of its versatility and frankly, often superior sound quality (I use my own tapes). I-pods are inconvenient garbage with poor sound quality for my type of listening. Anyway, I am now on my second to last Panasonic player, which by the way, came with just about the best headphones ever produced at any price. Anyway, I purchased the Sony as back-up because all such products only seem to last me 1-2 years at most. Of course, the Sony headphones that come with the product are best used as a cat toy or thrown away; but with alternatve headphones, the sound quality seems almost as good as my Panasonic. The battery cover is annoying and obviously fragile. I swear, Sony portable players have always contained at least one fatal flaw which make them fail early. For years, it was extremely weak and vulnerable headphone receptacles, now it is the battery cover - planned obsolescence I suspect. All that said, as far as I know Sony is the only company still making portable cassette tape players and I certainly hope they keep it up. I have a huge and valuable collection of tapes I hope to keep listening to for at least 20-30 years or so. Kudos to Sony.