It's hard to find an audio cassette deck of any worth these days. I am no old-timer but I love audio tapes and know way more then most teens. First off, the fact it can hook up to your receiver is good, but not y u should buy it! It's compatibility. For one, there is not just one tape type. There is 3 [Type 1,II,and IV]! All new stereos and boomboxes tell u plainly not to use Type II and IV tapes because there non-compatible! Read your manual people! U can't make real copies of CDs or LPs without Type II and IV compatibility. That's what they are for. Secondly, Dolby B is a MUST for pre-recorded tapes. Virtually all tapes [new and old] have "Dolby System" or "Dolby B" written on them. Unless your tape deck has Treble control, u need Dolby B. Most decks today don't have anything. U need a decent unit like this. As far as Auto-Reverse, unless your a music-mixer or Dj, or something like that, u don't need it! It kills tapes! If your that lazy, get a CD player morons! Sorry but people irritate me with their laziness. Auto-Reverse is for people [as mentioned] who can't afford to stop and flip a tape over, otherwise your just damaging your tapes when using it! I may not be over 30 or any where near it, but I know u need a cassette player like this for standard recording: CD's,LP's, and off-air [radio] or pre-recorded tape duplication. As far as sound, it is not equal to CD's, but good. No static can be heard when using a Cr02 [Type II] tape withOUT Dolby B. All features are great and sound good. I haven't used Metal [type IV] due to availibilty issues, but Normal [type 1] and Cr02 tapes work great. The only problem is manually setting recording levels. While this is a must unless u are a DJ or mixer etc... ,for some reason it won't always record what u set it. This generally only happens on my Rap Cd's I guess due to loud Bass impact. A manual fine-bias-tuning control would help. That's when u adjust settings for different brands of tapes. Maxell [Cr02] tapes almost always distort on this deck while Sony CD-It [Normal and Cr02] generally don't. Memorex [Type II] tapes are good and actually go just a little bit lower then set. All in all, most recordings played on other decks [including Deck A of this unit] play lower distortion then Deck B. One more thing, clean your deck before CD recording or after ten hours of playing/recording. It may seem like trouble but it's worth it. If record and play doesn't work, u must immediately clean them. Don't Demagnitize until u hear hissing or very low sound witch probaly won't happen if u don't constantly use Metal tapes. If u use a Cassette Cleaner Tape, be sure to let recording

"Record" on the non-recordable leader [white or blue leader at end and beginning of either tape side] to wype dirt/magnetic particles from the erase head, where Tape version cleaner can't get. Best to just clean the heads with a non-lint Q-tip lighly moistened in Radioshack cleaning fluid for audio cassette decks. Happy shopping!

I've used this deck for years, and was surprised to read the other review panning it. It's an excellent unit, very easy to use, and very durable. I've recorded hundreds of hours on mine, and the resulting tapes sound clean, loud, and well-balanced. It plays back well, and doesn't try to do too much - auto-flip or double-sided tape decks have always given me maintenance problems. This deck works great.

I've had no problems with my deck. It still runs the same as when I bought it. I do pampere my equipment however. I've even recorded from my studio equipment to the deck and had minimal generation loss.