Forget about vinyl, here come the portable CD and tape players

If your interest in vinyl hasn't been revived in recent years, then how about dusting off your casette tapes instead?

Portable music might mean downloads and streaming for most of us in 2016 but Groov-e is hoping its range of affordable 'retro' products will have you pining for the portable CD and cassette experience. Yes, really.

There are three new models, two portable CD players and a tape machine, priced from £18 to £35. (And they join a surprisingly large number of similar products that are still on sale.)

The basic Groov-e Personal CD Player supports CD, CD-R and CD-RW discs and costs just £25. It comes in red, black, blue or silver finishes and is supplied with earphones (sadly not in the style of the vintage Walkmans of old). Don't forget you'll need your own batteries.

MORE: The tech behind the vinyl revival

MORE: 5 of the best iPod alternatives

If listening to CDs on your commute leaves you longing for your digital files, Groov-e will be only too happy to sell you an upgraded portable CD player complete with a 99-song MP3 player and an FM radio. And it's just £10 more.

Worried about the reliability of listening to CDs on the move? Worry not: both players come with "anti-skip protection", which we all know means your CDs will almost never skip...

But if you really want to go full retro - and, let's be honest, don’t care much for sound quality - then Groov-e’s Personal Cassette Player & Recorder (!) is for you. For £18 of your pocket money the player comes with a built-in FM radio and a clip-on attachment for your belt. And what a look that would be.

Convinced? The Groov-e retro players are on sale now on Amazon.

If that's got you feeling nostalgic, then you might enjoy our look back at this What Hi-Fi? cassette tape player Group Test from 1981...

MORE: That Was Then... Sony Walkman review (1981)

MORE: Best portable music players

See all our portable music player reviews

Max Langridge

Max is a staff writer for What Hi-Fi?'s sister site, TechRadar, in Australia. But being the wonderful English guy he is, he helps out with content across a number of Future sites, including What Hi-Fi?. It wouldn't be his first exposure to the world of all things hi-fi and home cinema, as his first role in technology journalism was with What Hi-Fi? in the UK. Clearly he pined to return after making the move to Australia and the team have welcomed him back with arms wide open.

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