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No penalties and a few nice touches

The WM-FX290 plays tapes clearly without the warbly speed changes (known as “wow and flutter”) that render piano music unbearable. At this price point, competency is the key; anything better is icing on the cake.

These days, people shopping for a cassette Walkman probably listen to audiobooks or have a boxful of old tapes they think they’ll get around to playing. Neither customer likely expects Dolby noise reduction or the ability to play CrO2 or metal tapes. Also, in case you were planning to dictate notes to self, note now that this unit does NOT record.

The pleasant surprise is what you DON’T expect to find at this price: Attractive styling, digital tuning with presets, comfortable headphones, exceptional battery life (from one AA battery!), and a “hold” button that prevents unintended station changes when the unit is stuffed in a pocket.

What isn’t so hot? Well, weather band has weak reception even in areas with usable signal, the “bass boost” function produces a sonic mudslide that will alarm even “boom car” afficionados, and the nearly opaque clamshell makes you eject to read the tape label or see how much tape remains on a side (yikes).

At this humble price point, the presence of a few nice touches — and lack of jarring penalties — spells an easy five stars.

Update (5/20/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Sony WM-FX290 Stereo Cassette Player with FM/AM/TV/Weather Tuning Electronics, was written by Nathaniel C. Moffat.

The average rating for this item is 3.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.