Would 80's BBX's be worth anything today if.....?

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Would 80's BBX's be worth anything today if NONE of them had a line in?

Isn't it interesting that although cassettes made there exit some time ago to be replaced with CD's which are quickly making an exit now and being replaced with MP3 players that can be....you guessed it....plugged into machines that were designed to play cassettes!


Your Thoughts???

 

[Fatdog]

I think the real question is "would 80s boomboxes be worth anything today if there weren't collectors like us paying big money for them"?

 

[docs]

The most important aspet to me is the tape deck. I record my vinyls to tape to listen to them on the boomers even though I have the vz. I work on every tape deck more or less, so the line in function is absolutely secondary for me. I know what you mean though for general use out there in the wild, line in is what matters but I'm not sure the value is affected by it. I guess in a minority of cases it would. Theres nothing beats the turning of a tape in a blaster that sounds sweet.

 

[baddboybill]

I would have to say that because of members/collectors the real reason for interest is the the tape decks and analog tuners. Also the switches and buttons and rotary volume controls. The vu meters and the leds that dance.. The tens of the thousands of batteries they use up. These are things that interest us as collectors And why we would pay $1000 and up on them

 

[redbenjoe]

for purists --the line in is just a 'nice to have it' feature --
so yes --boomers would be valuable without it

 

[im_alan_partridge]

I listen to my boxes mostly through my crappy fm transmitter that plugs into my ipod, most of my cassettes i binned years ago.
So long as the radio picks up FM, thats the main thing i look for. Although i have just bought a tape MP3 adaptor but i cant shut the cassette doors when its in because of the wire.
The "line in" on some of my boxes is for turntables and sounds sh$te, only my GF-575 sounds really nice on the line in.
Personally I just love what they look like more than the performance.

 

[mellymelsr]

I grew up during the boombox era and I remember lugging around dozens of tapes to play in my boombox. Although my cassette all function on my boxes I only use them every blue moon. For me a box has to have line in because 99% of the time I listen via my mp3 player. It is so much easier to plug it in, set my playlist, and I have hours of music without having to change one tape... ...I am not saying mp3's are better just more convenient for me.

 

[Ken]

Choices. It's nice to have choices. I think we can all agree on that.

Leave it to Ira to be the only one to answer the original question. I gotta agree with him.

I'm just in an agreeable mood tonight...

 

[jaetee]

for purists --the line in is just a 'nice to have it' feature --
so yes --boomers would be valuable without it

 

[saxonman]

I just love the tapes makes no differents about line in !! so i would still collect them! oh yer a have 1000's of tapes

 

[bill]

its all about the radio.
for me anyways. the last thing i think about when i pick up a boombox is if it has a line in.
the second to last thing is if the tape deck is working.
i mean i like listening to my tapes and i doubt i will ever archive them to digital media.
i do however listen to the radio all the time.
yes i do think line in helps keeping the prices on blasters high at this time but honestly line in dosent bug me much. i have a great fm transmitter and i get lots of cool stations with a good radio.

 

[muto]

Got a cheap jvc kaboom without line-in. I didn't know there are models like this.. First thing i did was to install a line-in .

Usually my bbx's are connected to computer or other devices. With line-in the quality is best and no need to play with fm-transmitters. For me the line-in is the most important feature. After line-in comes radio and then tape.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Very interesting the varying reason / way everyone enjoys their radios and how they use them!

 

[bill]

Got a cheap jvc kaboom without line-in. I didn't know there are models like this.. First thing i did was to install a line-in .

Usually my bbx's are connected to computer or other devices. With line-in the quality is best and no need to play with fm-transmitters. For me the line-in is the most important feature. After line-in comes radio and then tape.

a kaboom with no line in??????
put up some photos of that. i mean i thought they all had line ins. that was one of the main selling features of the kaboom i thought. was so you could busk with it.

 

[neko]

It must be LOUD and with clear sound, so skaters and bmx riders wont drown music while doing tricks. 2nd thing is line-in, really useful thing. Line-in makes more ppl to like old bboxes because not everyone likes casettes. Theres only one problem, while im doing run and rideing my bmx, my friends are pluging in theyr mp3's XD

 

[Zippy]

Usually my bbx's are connected to computer or other devices. With line-in the quality is best and no need to play with fm-transmitters. For me the line-in is the most important feature. After line-in comes radio and then tape.

I totally agree. Though tapes are cool 'cause they never run out of power