What's old is new again! Everyone loves a nice throwback, and that's exactly what IT'S OK is. The new device is a Bluetooth-compatible cassette player. If you miss the days of Sony's Walkman, then you're going to love this thing!
Is it necessary to blend an old and dated technology with the latest wireless standard? Absolutely not, but it most definitely is cool and interesting!
While people might not look back at cassette tapes with the same rose-colored glasses as they do with vinyl records, there are definitely people out there who are nostalgic for the sound of tapes, and this device aims to fill that niche.
IT'S OK Bluetooth Cassette Tape Player Features
The wireless tape player features Bluetooth 5.0 technology, so while it might be using an old-school form of media, it features the latest Bluetooth standard and all of the features and benefits that it offers. It can connect to a pair of Bluetooth headphones or a speaker, making it a pretty versatile device (assuming you still have some tapes sitting around to listen to).
In addition to playing music, IT'S OK actually has the ability to record audio. You won't need to worry about finding a store that sells blank tapes since the creators of the Bluetooth player include a tape with 60-minutes of recording capacity with the device.
If you really want to go old school, there's also a 3.5mm port on IT'S OK, so you can actually connect it to a pair of wired headphones or older stereo system.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ninmlab/its-ok-the-worlds-first-bluetooth-50-cassette-player
Keeping with the old-school theme, the device is powered by two AA batteries. That's an interesting design choice considering most devices nowadays elect to go with some sort of rechargeable battery. At least it's one less thing you need to charge.
The tape player is available in three different colors---Cloud (white), Sakura (pink), and Evening (blue). The actual portion that sits over the tape is transparent, so you can watch the gears turn while you listen to your old-school music.
As far as the size of the device goes, it's 118mm x 84mm x 33.5mm and 152g without the aforementioned AA batteries. It would be difficult for the creators to make it much smaller than that, as it needs to be able to fit the tape and physical parts that make a tape work.
IT'S OK Price and Availability
NIMN Lab is seeking funding for IT'S OK on Kickstarter. It already exceeded its goal, which was quite modest at only $12,789. If you're interested in ordering a device for yourself (though there's no guarantee that you'll receive one, as there are risks involved in backing a crowdfunding project), you can do so for around $75 USD.