benson (08/03/82)
I have an Aiwa CS-J1 which has cassette playback and record, plus FM. It does not have line inputs, only mic inputs, which would make recording phonograph records difficult. It cost $185 but I believe they can be found for ~$150 or less in big cities or via mail order. I've been very pleased with mine, although I've only used the record capability for voice recording. An interesting undocumented feature is that the headphones may be used as microphones as well. This works surprisingly well, better than the built-in mic, and stereo too. There's no Dolby and I'm sure the wow and flutter is dismal compared to home decks, but it hasn't bothered me. I play Dolby tapes on it without noticeable problems. If you want better fidelity, I understand Sony is coming out with a Walkman with Dolby for $350. That might be the way to go except it doesn't have FM. Perhaps there will be an FM tuner "cassette" available for it, though.