We must thank Thomas Fears of Rochester, NY for this week’s Magical Gadget. Thomas picked this Micro-Walkman up in Japan. Its silver finished and raised lettering indicate this was made during the hey-day of the quality-built portables. The micro-cassette is probably nearing extinction, becoming replaced with digital recording CD-Rs and the mini disc. But back in the late ’70s and well into the ’80s, the micro-cassette was a godsend for travelling businessmen, press people and size-conscious audio folks. Micro-cassette recorders offered all sorts of features, including stereo-recording, auto-reverse and in the case of Thomas’ Micro-Walkman, FM tuning. This incredible little gadget had an FM tuner in a micro-cassette shaped case, so you could listen to the radio, or remove it and record. This little module appears to be all-metal also and even has a little LED indicator for stereo reception! This idea was well executed in standard size audio-cassette walkmans in the early ’80s, but the M-50 is the only micro-cassette with such a tuner. Thanks Thomas!