What tape players will work?

[Wall_Axe]

I'm finding it a little difficult to obtain one of those 80's tape players.
Are there other things like stereos or walkmans that have the right sockets to load games?

[stupidget]

When I got my 128 +2 off eBay in the late 90s I chucked a load of games onto a CD, used a portable CD player and plugged one of these into the tape player on my +2:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Cassette ... 63&sr=8-24

Worked a treat.

[Wall_Axe]

I'll probably end up using something like for another purpose .but I've got a rubber keyed spectrum with no tape recorder

So I'm wondering if a walkman earphone/headphone socket will be good enough to load tapes to the spectrum?

[deanysoft]

A walkman (other 80's portable tape players are also available) should work well enough. They usually had a 3.5mm jack socket for headphones which is right for the ZX. The walkman will be stereo and the ZX mono but for this I don't think it matters using the standard mono grey/black ZX tape leads. The downside with a portable tape player like this is that it might need batteries whereas the larger units had mains power.

[Wall_Axe]

Thanks!
I'll try buying one

[1024MAK]

If using a device that is stereo, you do need a different lead. Plugging a mono 3.5mm jack plug into a stereo device may short out one of the audio amplifiers.

And a stereo 3.5mm jack plug won’t work in a ZX Spectrum 16K/48K/+/128 machine.

You need a “3.5mm STEREO Jack Plug to 2 x MONO Jack Plugs SPLITTER Converter Cable Lead”, something like this (but I don’t know if the price on this is competitive).

Mark

[Wall_Axe]

Thanks I ordered this:
https://www.dataserve-retro.co.uk/conte ... k/p17.html

Is it a splitter?

[1024MAK]

Is it a splitter?

No. Thats a dual (in other words, two leads) 3.5mm mono jack plug to 3.5mm mono jack plug lead. similar to the original leads that Sinclair supplied.

One 3.5mm mono jack plug for the Ear socket on the computer, with the other plug for the Ear 3.5mm socket on a mono cassette tape recorder, the other 3.5mm mono jack plug for the Mic socket on the computer, with the other plug for the Mic 3.5mm socket on a mono cassette tape recorder.

Mark

[Wall_Axe]

Ok sorry for the possibly obvious question:

The ear socket is for loading games,
is the mic socket for saving?

[1024MAK]

Yes.

On a ZX Spectrum, the Mic is (officially) the output to a tape deck.

Mark

[Wall_Axe]

Thanks