GE 35364 Mini Cassette Recorder (Silver) Review

I just recently bought my second one of these. I've been very happy with the performance of the 3-5364B Cassette Recorder.
What I like about the recorder is that it takes full-sized cassettes that can be played in your car cassette player. This is good if you're weird like me and read to yourself and want to hear your own homemade audiobook in the car while you're driving. I also use it to tape my phone messages before I erase them, because I may like the sound of their voice, and because maybe future kids will want to know what their grandmother sounded like. I also liked the fact that it fit so well in my hand.
It has a headphone jack, so that if you wanted to listen to an audio book and had a PROPER AC adapter (3V) you could go to bed with your favorite book. Don't expect Dolby noise reduction and stereo sound with this guy. It's very basic.
My first one was VERY good on batteries. I had it over a year, and I hadn't changed the batteries since I bought it. I used Duracell Alkaline AAs. These same batteries are now in my new one and doing fine.
The variable speed playback seems a useless feature since it does have a fast forward button which works better. The mic has two sensitivities low and high...it's got a pause, which I suppose works better than the STOP button. Again, my uses for the recorder are fairly straight forward so I rarely use these features.
There is one design flaw, in my opinion. When you load the tape, realize that the side that you can see through the window is the side you are playing. Looking at the device that way the buttons are below the window facing you. You're fine if you go strictly by the symbols on the buttons for rewind, play, fast forward, etc. However, you quickly notice that if you use it that way, the lettering that goes with the buttons is upside-down! This could be disastrous if you didn't realize this and flipped the recorder over, rewinding instead of forwarding! They really need to fix this if they make a new model.
I mentioned that this is the second one I've bought...I'll explain what happened to the first one.
The first one died by accident...I fried it using the AC adapter to my desktop paper shredder. Potential buyers should know this little recorder doesn't come with its own AC adapter. In and of itself, that wasn't a big deal to me, since I used mine for over a year without ever needing one. It's just this ONE TIME I wanted to not drain the batteries by going to bed with a new relaxation tape a friend sent me, and I thought I could use one the myriad adapters from portable CD players I have lying around to fit it, but the shape of the adapter fittings on all of them were just different enough to not work. Except one. The one to my shredder WAS the right shape, but, alas, wrong voltage! OOPS! Lesson learned: make sure the adapter is set for 3 volts and not higher! Not knowing whether I could revive the old one, I just bought another one since it was my fault it was no longer working.
But, all in all, I liked the device enough to buy another one, so there you go. It might also be noted that both recorders cost about a twenty percent less than what they're selling it for at Amazon.com. I hope this is helpful.

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Product Description:
Do you have a great idea you don't want to forget? Or do you simply want to "jot" down some audio notes for an upcoming project? Then look no further than the GE 35364 Mini Cassette Recorder. This recorder features a compact, slim design and is a perfect choice for your electronic notebook. The 35364 features quick, handheld push-button operation for both recording and playback. Plus, with Automatic Voice-Activated Recording (AVR), the device will sense sound and start/stop recording automatically, so you'll never waste valuable tape on dead air.
The five-button design features record, play, rewind, fast-forward, and stop/eject functions and the device is built with an automatic, end-of-tape shutoff feature. The built-in microphone helps assure optimum recording quality and battery operation (two AA batteries) means convenient taping even when you're away from home or office.

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