Maxell Japan has launched a portable ‘Walkman’ cassette player, but this retro audio tech is boosted by modern convenience. The new Maxell MXCP-P100 (h/t Liliputing) looks a lot like the old Sony, Aiwa, Panasonic, and other cassette players which were popular personal music accessories in the 1990s. However, it adds useful new 2020s standard features like Bluetooth (v5.4) and a rechargeable battery that connects to a USB Type-C charger you probably already own.
It is quite surprising to see a new cassette Walkman launched in 2025. The Maxell product page might capably answer questions about the product, its abilities, and specifications - but it doesn’t really address why it reckons launching such a product in 2025 is a good idea.
In the west, Maxell was best known for its tape and disc media, not player hardware. So, that’s another surprise about this announcement. However, it is good to see that some thought has been put into the player mechanism.
There has been talk of very limited audio cassette mechanism availability in recent years, not surprisingly, and the only remaining producers aren’t supposed to sell stellar quality components. Thus, it is good to see Maxell directly address mechanism quality. It says that the new MXCP-P100 includes a brass flywheel that “reduces rotational irregularities and provides high quality sound.”
Some other key features of this portable cassette player are its battery life – it is claimed the rechargeable battery lasts nine hours using wired headphones, or seven with an active Bluetooth connection. A USB charging cable comes in the box.
The device is quite portable at 210g, which is lighter than many modern smartphones. You will have to add the weight of a cassette tape(s) to the carry weight, too. Maxell’s MXCP-P100 measures 122 x 91 x 38mm.
If you buy this for the Bluetooth headphone/speaker connectivity, you might still be pleased with the 3.5mm headphone jack, as a backup.
Maxell sells this new cassette player for ¥13,000 in Japan – roughly equivalent to $90 today. It has sold out, at the time of writing. That might sound like a remarkable success for this old/new tech, but we have no idea about how many Maxell put up for sale in its initial batch.
We await TDK’s response.
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