WM-GX652

The WM-GX652 is a radio-recording Walkman that allowed recording from its built-in FM/AM tuner or from an external microphone while also supporting standard playback with Mega Bass. The body stayed practical and portable instead of premium, with the machine clearly arranged around doing two things well enough: listening and capturing. It was not a luxury recorder, but it was much more than a playback-only radio model.

Here the late GX line still feels alive as a tool instead of just a leftover branch. The GX652 sits in the part of Sony's cassette world where tape was still being uses actively-for notes, off-air recording, and simple field capture-more than replayed. This leaves it more useful than a lot of more glamorous late playback models.