Sony Portable Sports AM/FM Cassette w/ TV/Weather Band (WMFS421) Review

One long-asserted myth of consumer capitalism is that products improve over time, tested and winnowed by the market. This Walkman disproves that. I had a Sony Walkman that I used every day for over a year (until I dropped it down the side of a mountain); it had auto-reverse, a convenient belt clip, it was compact enough to fit into a pocket; it was everything I wanted in a Walkman. And, of course, it's not being made anymore. Instead, you have stuff like this.
This is a device that's designed for one apparent use: to hold in your hand (a large hand; it's too big for my wife to hold comfortably) (and only in your right hand; it is not laid out to fit comfortably in the left hand) while jogging in the rain. Or, perhaps, trail running or some ther "edge" sport.
It's big and heavy; about twice as large as it needs to be. This means, among other things, that you can't easily fit it into a pocket.
The cassette bay opens a bit like a submarine hatch, which is to say it takes two hands and a lot of attention to get the cassette in and out. So, you'd think they'd put auto-reverse in it to reduce mucking around (and keep the water out) but they don't.
The volume knob is very easy to find and adjust, but if the Walkman is anywhere but in your hand (in a coat pocket, perhaps?) the volume changes every time you move.
There's a belt clip, which is on the short list of things I need on a Walkman, but there's also a fabric strap to hold it onto your hand with, and the strap, which is not removable, gets in the way of the belt clip and makes it really difficult to clip securely.
It is ostensibly water-resistant (though it's not meant to play underwater) and there's a rubber seal in the cassette bay. I use my Walkmen primarily for bicycling to work in rainy Seattle, and I've never had a problem with any of them being damaged by water. I guess I'm not extreme enough. This would be a useful feature for a kayaker, I suppose, except that a kayaker would have a hard time holding it in one hand, as he paddled.
But it looks great: if you have one of those traffic-cone yellow Nissan Xterras, this Walkman would look really cool sitting on the hood.

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Product Description:
What do you do when you can't decide between listening to your favorite old cassette tape and the new morning radio show? Or maybe you can't choose between keeping up with what's happening on your latest soaps or figuring out tonight's weather forecast...either way, what you need is the WMFS421. This Portable Radio-Cassette Player also features a TV Tuner and Weather Band, giving you so many choices, you won't be able to make up your mind which to listen to first!

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