You'll plotz. It's actually a $4.99, clip-on portable cassette player I bought last weekend at Target - the Emerson EW71. Don't howl yet. I looked at the various portable, personal CD players, priced from quite low up to $89.99.

This cheap Chinese import won my hard-earned dollars.

The sound quality is OK, not a big problem. I happen to have a lot of cassettes, mostly special mix tapes I've made; everything from New Orleans r&b to Latin jazz, to 60s rock and wailing pedal steel guitar music.

INTERJECTION: You'll be seeing CD reviews and buy-links here in days and weeks to come. Here are a few related, very different (i.e. not "cry in your beer" country music) pedal-steel CD tips. They're from a few years back but likely all available at amazon.com.

Anyhew, the EW71 clips on nicely, and adheres well while I do slanted-board sit-ups (holding a 15-lb. ball, thank you) at my local health club. And it keeps staying put while I torture myself with various other exercise machines.

I can't help but notice other health club patrons who are enjoying somewhat superior sound quality with their personal CD players that...DON'T CLIP ON.

There they are, headphone-clad on the aerobic striders and treadmills, but with their CD players vibrating toward the edge of the little reading platform because they have nowhere else to put them.

And you should see them trying to use the weight machines, while carrying their little devices around like pet rocks.

Probably, there's a portable CD player with a really good belt clip out there. But none of the half-dozen or so models at Target met the bill. I was thankful for the low-cost option, because my lovely BETTER HALF was somewhat exercised about an additional consumer electronics expense, having recently opted - without UN approval, or mine - to buy a new TV.

A belt clip as deal-clincher? Awk. Perhaps you're reminded of American car buyers who decide what to buy, not based on any "Buy American" shtick, but because we do cupholders better than the Japanese.

Myself, I drive a Honda CR-V with very iffy cupholders, and love it anyway. But I want my mobile music device to stay attached to my belt. Low cost is a nice plus, though not crucial. And I want MY music. The Emerson EW71 gives me all that, for $4.99.

Outrageous. If this has something to do with globalization, I, um, vote "Yes."

I'll keep you posted on how well this cheap little gizmo performs over the coming months.

Crunch. Crunch. Abs of Steel, here we come?

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 29, 2004 06:30 PM

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