Presenting the Magnavox D7549, an ambitious combination clock radio, telephone, cassette recorder, and answering machine from 1987. Music clip in intro: Slugbug - "Weird Life": • Slugbug - Weird Life
Without the compass, calculator, internet, etc. Isn't modern technology amazing? What would have taken a whole desktop of equipment condensed down to a smartphone.
@@JacGoudsmit gotta say you can use an internet radio app and a phone sound recorder app to do that digitally on a smartphone... And I say that as a major cassette tape enthusiast.
Magically tunes in 2 stations both playing songs that would have been on the radio in 1987. Magic by Olivia Newton John 1980 and Let it Whip by the Dazz band 1982.
I'm impressed by all the functionality they threw in, somewhat surprised by what they left out...and don't think I'd want one because of the odd limitations. It seems very...busy. The outgoing announcement certainly sounds like a recording, rather than a synthesizer.
holy shit... I had one of these... I used it from 1998 to about 2004 when I was able to purchase my first cellphone... at 16... Yes iI used this phone at only 10 years old... I had a friend that moved several states away when I was 10 and we would call and play video games together through the phone... not online games just playing single player games and telling each other about the cool things that we found and could do... we both got our first windows xp computers in christmas of 2004 and then switched to using skype with 1mbps upload and 256kbps DSL connections... That was a different era... the phone/clock/alarm/radio was a whole different era in and of itself from before I was born... I never used the answering machine cause my mother at the time had an at&t digital answering machine model 1725... that thing was sooo cool. I think i remember calling into it and using a code to get the answering machine to play back messages...
im all for old electronics and love stuff like this, but to be honest, i dont think this is still usable... the audio quality is so poor! and nobody wants to have a noisy machine like this next to their bed when they have an all-in-one smartphone...
raafmaat, I think you have missed the point. Any mobile / cellphones from the 1980s or early 1990s stopped working in the year 2000 here in the UK. More recently my Ipad 2 struggles with many modern web sites.There is no chance of Magnavox ever making this completely unusable with an over the air software update. I don't know about other countries but in the UK a 1950s dial phone will still work.
The batteries will almost all invariably derp out within 10-15 years. (And, with the trend these days being sealed-in batteries, they won't be easy to replace if at all possible)
Awesome. Kind of a neat 80s fad back in those days where they tried to cram many different devices into one box of electronics. It's amazing how many devices have been made obsolete by "smart" phones. My old "dumb" flip phone had an FM radio that you could listen to anytime, even if there was no cell signal. When I tried to find this feature on my newer "smart" phone, I found out that all smartphones actually have the FM radio receiver functionality built-in, but the telecoms disable it so that you have to use their music apps. I guess so they can make more $ & track what you're listening to.
Yes, I remember my original HTC smartphone had a FM tuner that did work, your headphone cord was the antenna...and didn't use any data. oh, and my current phone still has a headphone jack :)
It would include a virtual assistant, a screen of some kind, it could include an entire single board computer for other functions, a cellphone charger of some kind (maybe even wireless charging), satellite radio features, a USB connector for playing files directly, and even a CD player if you wanted something with a retro feel. (All of that should fit into that size form factor with current technologies.)
Having features permanently and prominently advertised on the unit was a very 1980s thing. You see this in audio equipment of the era a lot, it made stuff look "cool".
Same Magnavox (or almost same) from a thrift store 'adventure' posted on 25 March 2013. :) That video was with the Sangean/Discovery pocket radio. Love that feature to record both sides of a phone conversation, without the beeps to warn that conversation was being recorded. :)
You're telling me... You tuned randomly to two FM station on an analog dial... And BOTH stations were playing 80s hits?!? I call shenanigans! (The first station is playing "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John from 1980 and "Let It Whip" by Dazz Band from 1982.)
"- Oh! What did I do last night? Bounce! The party never stops on Bounce. - It burns when I pee! The party on Bounce, Bounce, Bounce. - Damn! I gotta go to the clinic!"
Back then, this was the kind of bedroom clock radio a business owner or professional person would have. One's livelihood often depends on punctuality, communication and news.
Speaking of phones in the 80's and such. I remember they used sell recliner couches that came with phones in the center compartment throughout the 80's and 90's (or maybe they still do?)...
The answer voice sounds almost like that of Don Elliott. He's the guy who was on some early telephone announcements as well as once being the voice of WWV. Really apparent when you play the HQ version. Also, notice how far right the radio dial goes. Could that tune into the extended AM band?
Ooh, i have exactly that clock radio but without the answering machine. Interestingly, it can't record but it does have the erase head in the cassette deck.
I've got a telecom brand mini cassette phone tape answering machine . It's the best thing ever. Especially when telemarketing bozos calls U only to hear a drunk guy singing never gonna give U up.
I remember once being a clock radio with a built in tape deck that could be used as an answering machine, but it didn't have a phone built into it. I was told the microphone in said unit didn't work. I don't know who the unit was made by, but I do remember it had a red digital readout and a red tuning indicator LED. I think the reason the tape deck doesn't sound so great is because of the built in speaker more than anything. The phone ringer sounds like a cricket. It's too bad the unit can't record from the radio, that surprises me.
I had a clock radio then with a cassette recorder that I could set the alarm to play the cassette. Sometimes when the cassette alarm went off with music I would dream I was playing in a band. I remember recording my voice saying " quit dreaming and wake up" repeating it multiple times because I hated the alarm and radio to wake up too.
Ha! I remember those from back then. If I recall many other companies made and sold these. I don't have the telephone clock radio one, but I still have a very cool GE version with cassette radio on it. And the clock LCD is rather weird, orange color backlit by an automotive side marker bulb, a 193. I've replaced it about 3 times since 92' With this one you can press play on the cassette and wake up with it. I got that way back in 1992
I bought my father the non-phone version of this very alarm clock (AM/FM/Cass) for father's day, silver with red LEDs, I still have the pictures (taken with my Fisher-Price 110mm camera) from the day he unwrapped it. The clock set buttons were a PITA to use. The radio reception was very impressive, and it could go pretty darn loud (although, as you noted, the speaker is craptacular). 2:43 - YUP, that's the exact model! 6:40 - I expected you to call 1-877-KARS-4-KIDS. lol I used to use Dad's alarm clock as a tape player for background music while sitting at the Macintosh Plus doing my homework. I put a *LOT* of mileage on that tape deck, and it never ate a tape, even previously-eaten tapes ran through it pretty well.
I graduated high school in 81, I remember these things, I never personally had one but they were everywhere for a while. The recording of your own phone calls was a pretty cool feature! And that ring tone!! Man that brought back memories!! Thanks for the upload!
I've just bought one today (of Philips branded variety though), and apart from missing the cassette cover, it seems alright. I even plugged it in, and it works, the sad thing I couldn't find any instructions for it
Very cool little machine, there. That late 80s red/black/grey style is still my favorite. Isn't it about time it makes a comeback? The design cycle seems to go chrome/black/colorful, then repeat.
The Eighties song I thought of while watching this was "Answering Machine" by The Replacements. "How do you say, 'I miss you' to an answering machine?"
Love this. I would totally use this if I had a land line connection. Yeah we had BBC micro computers at school in the 80s which had a crude text to speech voice and it was not natural at all. When we typed in the word 'fuck' it pronounced it 'Vuuug'
I went out and bought both and the D-7547 I got is the exact listing you showed. I'm gonna try to swap the displays, because I want the D-7549 in all red.
Heavens. We never had those here, as our GPO British Telecom were very snooty regarding what could be connected to their system. We did, however, have Philips clock radios, though with british LW/MW rather than just AM. The Magnavox you show I recall well, badged as Philips or PYE. Very interesting as always.
The sticker says that because there were amplifiers that clipped on the telephone receiver for those with hearing impairments. But with this phone, such a device would prevent it from being able to hang up.
If someone calls you and the radio is playing and you pick up the phone. The radio mutes, If you hold that mute switch can the person who called hear the radio playing over the phone or does it switch from radio to phone? My cousin had one of these a very long time ago. That ringer reminds me of Fox Mulder's cell phone ringer.
The greeting message is definetly a pcm sample, which would be perhaps8-10 bits 8khz sampling rate. I would suspect the system to use at least two chips, one for the rom, the others for the DAC and the control unit. Systems from keyboards such as the Yamaha ones and video game consoles were using already such DAC and even the old NES was able to play pcm. The only limitation was space. But this spoken greeting is really quick said... to save space...
I remember getting home from work (in the late 1990's) and looking for the flashing light to see if I had any messages on my answering machine. No anticipation of missed calls these days kind of sad.
If I still had home telephone service I would rush out and try to find one of these. Haven't had home telephone service in about four years. It's cheaper and easier to just have a cell phone.
The tone ringer in that sounds rather like a GPO Trimphone, very shrill and annoying (to me at least!!), much prefer a mechanical bell ringer myself... :)
I don't know why everytime I see any device like this from the 80s or 90s I feel like I belong in that period of time. I don't know, I feel like I'm at home. Although I love taking selfies and scrolling on Instagram haha
Landline as we know it is being replaced to VOIP is the only way now pn AT&T you can have a home phone business phone, mostly A router OS used cost less than a landline. it's nice to see vintage phones and answering machines I can remember a time we all had answering machines and a landline phone back than Than you paid for your calls you made on a landline
that thing is so mint looking. i noticed something theres a lot of stuff that was made in 1987 which is the year i was born December and that song couldn't have been timed any perfect lol (magic by olivia newton john 1980)
Lol I just looked at my bedside table and it has a separate alarm clock, cordless telephone, and AM/FM radio 😝. Of course my other bedside table has an iPhone, iPadMini, and IPad, so I guess I’m cool there.
