Skip to main content

The humble cassette player gets a modern-day makeover, sort of

Introducing IT'S OK - The World's First Bluetooth 5.0 Cassette Player

There were a lot of things to hate about the humble cassette tape. The sound quality, the clunkiness, the endless winding back and forth looking for the right track, the limited play time, and the persistent, niggling fear of the tape unspooling inside the device … to name but a few.

Recommended Videos

Still, if you relish a bit of retro, or are simply curious to learn more about the first-world struggles of the older generation, then this contraption out of Hong Kong may be just the ticket.

Ninm Lab, which was also responsible for this offbeat camera gadget, describes its latest offering as “the world’s first Bluetooth portable cassette player.” Impressively, it has managed to reach its $13,000 funding goal on Kickstarter in about the same time that it often took to locate a music track on an audio cassette — 24 hours.

The product is called It’s OK, though whether it really is OK depends much on your disposition and how you tend to approach sales pitches linked to items that went out of fashion with big hair, massively padded shoulders, and underwear as outerwear.

All right, it has Bluetooth 5.0 built in, so you won’t be messing about with a mass of wires. But because it uses audio cassettes, it’s almost certain that at some point you will be messing with a mass of thin brown tape as it unspools inside the cassette player during a particularly energetic jog or bike ride. The good news is that the device has a transparent case so you’ll be able to watch the tape emerge from its plastic housing in real time.

In fact, It’s OK comes with a tagline as mangled as some of those old tapes: “Reappearance of the romance of the 80s’ portable cassette in more perfection.” The device will sell in three colors — cloud white, sakura pink, and evening blue — and includes a record button, too, so you can log all of your thoughts regarding the quality of your decision-making when it comes to backing retro-inspired devices on crowdfunding sites.

If you do decide to fund It’s OK and then realize you don’t have any cassettes to play on it, our advice is to hit eBay. A quick search pulled up a compilation of festive songs for $2.50, a Harold Faltermeyer effort for $6, and a limited-edition Sheena Easton collection for $15.

The It’s OK portable cassette player costs $63, with shipping planned for December 2019. As always, though, be sure to exercise caution when coughing up cash for a crowdfunded project.

For more ideas on what to back on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, check out Digital Trends’ guide to some of the best campaigns running right now.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Honor Magic V5 is a seriously impressive foldable phone, so it’s gutting it’s not available in the US
We've been hands-on with the world's thinnest foldable phone
The internal screen of the Magic V5, standing on the edge of a foosball table

The Honor Magic V5 is the world’s thinnest foldable phone, and while the thickness of your phone may not be a driving force behind your purchasing decision my brief time so far with this handset has shown there’s more going on here than a simple spec benchmark.

If I were Samsung, I’d be looking a little nervously over my shoulder as I prepare for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 launch on July 9.

Read more
The world’s thinnest foldable phone is actually thicker than its predecessor
The Honor Magic V5 is super slim, but it also bulks out in one key area
The Magic V5 and Magic V3 foldable phones being held in one hand

I’ve been hands-on with the Honor Magic V5, officially the world’s thinnest foldable phone - a title the Chinese manufacturer expects the phone to retain throughout 2025.

But while it is the thinnest foldable around, it’s also oddly thicker in one key way than its predecessor the Magic V3 (a former world’s thinnest foldable itself) and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold I had in my pocket.

Read more
Apple Watch Series 11: everything you need to know
The Apple Watch Series 10, with a leather band, on someone's wrist.

Apple’s next smartwatch is merely a few months away, and ahead of its expected Fall debut, we have come across rather interesting bits of information. For starters, it may not serve any design surprises. On the other hand, some next-gen health innovations could be on the horizon. 

Let’s start with the name. Well, don’t expect any fireworks here. The upcoming smartwatch will most likely hit the shelves carrying the Apple Watch Series 11 label. How much will it cost? Barring any major hardware-level changes or Apple seriously feeling the pinch of tariffs, we are looking at a familiar starting price of $399 per timepiece. 

Read more