The Tapeless Deck Project, in Poland, is converting vintage cassette recorders into unique music players.

Artur, who is the creator of the project, told us: “I love old Hifi equipment – mainly because of its fantastic sound, but I also admire the mastery of engineers who create such fabulous constructions. Before era of digital CD players, cassette recorders were most advanced masterpieces of engineering craftsmanship. It was real art, to create precise and sophisticated mechanisms without using any CAD software or computer simulations. Today we can meet many of them – broken, damaged, forgotten. Could there be something more beautiful than giving them a new life? That’s why I started the MP3 TapeLess Deck Project”.

“I’m a graphic artist, copywriter, designer and blogger. I love my job and spend most of my work listening to the music. My second passion is DIY with Hifi equipment. Why not to combine these interests? For many years I have been passionate about collecting vintage HiFi equipment. I clean, renew, repair and restore to life old amplifiers, decks, tuners, loudspeakers and other stuff. One day I came up with an idea to mount a smartphone into a broken tape recorder and use it as a vintage-looking digital music player. MP3 TapeLess Deck Project was born… “

The heart of the system is a touchscreen smartphone with dedicated software and memory for music storage. The phone is permanently mounted inside the mechanically reworked cassette compartment (some of the deck mechanisms are removed). The phone is also electrically modified and connected to the deck circuits to imitate standard deck behaviour, e.g. working level meters, some regulations, adjustable output level and so on. The system is charged automatically, when the deck is in use. The Tapeless Deck is an MP3 / FLAC player with an animated cassette simulation (with over 30 changeable cassette skins). It also features an internet radio player, plays Spotify, Tidal, Dezeer, Pandora, etc. Some models also have an FM radio. It has touchscreen control, wireless music upload and management using any PC/Mac connected to the home WiFi network and has internal storage for music files. Artur says that “each Tapeless Decks is an individual, unique, handcrafted masterpiece”.

Prices vary but, for example, Artur currently has a Technics M12 available for £170 plus shipping.

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