Testing- One, Two, Three...

This week I'm going to feature an item that really has no practical purpose any more, but I still think is just plain cool. I was at an auction in Denison, Tx a few years ago, and I picked up this...

This is the Aiwa TP-31 portable tape recorder from around 1968! Here she is without the cover...

The TP-31 is a very small unit that was made for recording on the go. Heck, it doesn't even have an external power jack. Power comes from two C cells and one 9 volt. And this unit is very, very hungry. Batteries don't last long.

Oh yes, it works. On the tape is a kid from the 60s or 70s singing....something. Obviously, they were playing around. Here is what they used to record...

Yep, it's not exactly high tech, but it does have an "On/Off" switch. So....there's that.

So why do I think this silly thing is so cool? After all, you can do everything it does (plus a whole lot more) with your smart phone. Heck, I'm writing this on my phone right now! Still, I have a feeling smart phones are never gonna have the same kind of "cool" these little reel to reels have.

For one thing, there is Mission Impossible. Not the retooled, slick, Hollywood, Tom Cruise movie- but the original 1960s masterpiece that always featured a tape burning away after presenting the mission; "...should you choose to accept it."

Also, there were these guys...

That's Bob Andrews and Jupiter Jones, two of the Three Investigators. Oh, look what Bob has in his right hand! Obviously, these things are cooooooooool! Add to all of that the fact that I had a similar unit when I was a kid, well I just had to have it!

By the way, Aiwa is still around. Here is my amp for my office stereo...

And what about getting a really nice reel to reel for listening to music? Well, it turns out I recently got that covered too...

Extremely cool, but in a very different way. You're not going to catch bad guys with that unit (although you can listen to tapes in quad...and that is just... so... cool)!

So there you go. Why do I need that little recorder? I don't. But I have it, and I like it, and I guess that's what matters.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!