Review on 📻 Get Groovy with the GPO Brooklyn : 1980s-Style Portable Boombox with CD/Cassette Player, FM Radio, USB & Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Silver by Jerry Olson

I've put off writing this review. If I was on Youtube I would post a video of my review to give more details about it. Because I'm not here, go. A NOTICE. I think it's important that the opinion I'm expressing in my story is relevant. I'm in my 50's and grew up listening to the 80's analog music that was available and I still play more cassettes than the bad digitally compressed music we have today. In my opinion, analogue is the only way to listen to music. I've experienced what it's like to play and own REALLY good tapes, players and recorders. I have several Technics dual cassette players for my receiver which I still think are the BEST recorders for recording my music in my small studio. There are still a few yellow Sony sports gear that work! So I'm comparing this "boombox" to what was available in the past and still works. I bought this box for the looks and because the straps were brand new. It appears to have stereo recording and playback heads. The sound is great as you can adjust the volume with the treble and bass controls. (cheaply made but works) I also like the input and output functions that are on the left side of the box. I plug in my condenser mic and then export it from the line out to a tape recorder and it sounds great! does the job. Mine came in a box, the right plastic antenna holder was broken. doesn't matter much to me. Now the not so nice things. It seems that there was no one in the overseas company from the 80's who "trained" them beforehand. You do not know and do not fully understand the following things. The Tape Count is not a timer that tells you how long you've been using the Boombox's Tapes feature. The tape counter is used so that you can (as long as it works ONLY after pressing the PLAY button) visually see where you are on the tape. Example: If you find a song you like on a tape and want to return to it during editing or for playback reasons, you can reset the counter and return to the same spot on the tape at any time after the tape has been played. This boombox does NOT. I have no idea what they were thinking when they added this feature. I modified mine with a simple strip of duct tape that I covered in black marker to cover that ridiculous window. A complete example of failure. There's no reason to have this when playing tapes. Visual layers are also not needed. Any visual graphics app on any market that can hear sound might work better as I plugged my old 4 inch phone into this box and it looks way better. Of course I turn this feature off. I did notice that the volume knob increases when I press it a little on the sides. Should he do it? I do not think so. Another thing I don't understand is why they couldn't add a STEREO display to the radio tuner display? I've tried tuning into any FM station but I have no idea if it's in stereo. It looks like I can't receive a station in stereo. I bought this for the cassette deck and CD player, Bluetooth, I/O capabilities and USB editing capabilities. I can tip my hat to the GPO that everything works. That's why I bought it. It's worth $$ IF the other features work correctly, but for what it's worth, it's not worth the hard-earned money I'm making. I use all the good features in my daily work, but it's far from perfect. The GPO needs an '80s 'adviser' before they attempt to create something that ties in with something from the past. So what about the battery? it was a BIG plus for me! I LOVE the fact that you do NOT have to get HUGE bulky D size batteries from old boom boxes. My solution is to charge it well the night I got it and then just turn it off and I turn it back on when I know I'm going to be wearable like at the beach. But for now it is always connected to the network. A final note concerns the "toy" feel and the plastic cassette keys. The cassette deck is not autoreverse, which can be a plus of this technology, but at the end of the tape, when it hitchhikes, you can bring your relative out of the coma! It is so loud! It's not a simple click, it's BOOM! The sound is as loud as a bullet fired from a gun! I modified it by adding 2 white one-sided pads on top of the play and record buttons. This lowered the DB somewhat to a relatively acceptable level. In summary, this is a good box. Heavy and durable which is amazing! If you need some "advice" from the 80's about audio or video - let me know! My VCRs work too. LIVE LONG ANALOG PHYSICAL VEHICLES! Love it!