dac (08/04/82)
I have an Aiwa (forget the model name) which I like. It has FM and tape and will record from the FM section, via a built in monaural microphone, or from external stereo microphones. List price is prepostrous, about $169, but it's available at discount (~$129 in New York). I wouldn't use it for recording music however. It does a terrific job at compressing dynamic range which is great for conferences but terrible for music. It's about as compact as I've seen. It has a whip FM antenna which isn't too handy if you're a jogger. The salesman told me the earphone wires also serve as an antenna but I think he's wrong. In any case, if you're listening to a medium to weak station and you move around a lot, the varying signal strength will bother you. I'm not a jogger but I tried jumping around with it once and that causes some tape "wow". Otherwise I'm happy with the sound, either from the FM or a good tape. I have used it as a "copy from" source to a good tape deck with acceptible but not professional results.