It doesn't have a volume control because it's designed to go into a head unit, or I think you mentioned you had a mixer? That's fine too. It outputs at a standard level, but if you hacked a pair of earphones on to the output with special adapters, it'd be much too loud.

You mean as magnetic tape storage on the cheap? 😄 Worth the try, but be prepared for some data degradation in the transfer?

My one remaining tape is a mix I recorded in my late teens, put together to ruin other people's parties. One or two dance songs, then a burst of death metal, then some more pop before whatever schlager or polka BS I could find in my parents' collection. And so forth for 90 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, nobody would let me near the stereo at parties after a while, and joke's on me. I'm stuck with the Tape of Terror all those years later 🤣

It might be fun to compose mix tapes again, but you'd have to find other cassette deck owners to share them with.

Hey, Amazon sells blank cassette tapes!

Which mixer are you using?

Always good to stumble upon another Fallout fan!

It's only my shitty opinion but only the green level meter appeals to me. But you can keep it until you find one that is more cyberpunk, futuristic, or retro. Or until you find a large deck that can play MiniDiscs (now THAT would be my life's achievement).

Fwiw, I think this looks very well kept, and you already gave the insides a checkup.

I'm not familiar with the model, but Harman Kardon has a good reputation for quality builds. If it plays, I'm sure it'll serve you a good while.

Most decks are the same generic black box with small variations. Personally I'd go for something with analog VU meters, but different strokes and all that.