Analog Gear News

If you’re gonna name a company whose raison d’être is to focus on celebrating all the joys of the resurgent cassette culture, you can’t do much better than declaratively calling yourselves We Are Rewind.

A French company based in Paris, We Are Rewind was founded in 2016 in collaboration with ORA and with support from French engineers who boast over 40 years of experience in analog technology — “especially from the Thomson company,” as they made sure to point out. (Mais oui, re that pedigree.)

Fast-forward to the here and now, wherein We Are Rewind recently introduced two high-profile limited-editions portable cassette players that respectively celebrate a pair of music icons from different eras. Let’s take a look at them both.

First up, as you can see from the above pic, is a portable cassette player fit for The King. Late last fall, We Are Rewind introduced their Elvis limited-edition player, which was clearly inspired by the giant “Red Elvis” sign made of light bulbs that was featured in Elvis’ performance of “If I Can Dream” during his infamous ’68 Comeback Special that first aired on NBC on December 3, 1968.

Initially intending the unit’s sales window for the holiday season, We Are Rewind capped the Elvis player at 1,957 units, in homage to the October 1957-released Elvis’ Christmas Album, which itself sees an exclusive cassette reissue that has been specifically remastered and reimagined in conjunction with the player’s release. (The player/cassette combo is still available, btw, via the link at the end of this post.)

Regarding its design, the Elvis player sports a matte black finish accented with gold detailing, just like The King himself would no doubt have approved. The Elvis player comes housed in a collector’s box that features archival imagery and a gold foil stamp of Elvis’ silhouette.

As to the player’s features, its core specs resemble those of We Are Rewind’s flagship WE-001 player, including Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity for wireless listening to headphones, speakers, and soundbars; a built-in rechargeable battery with up to 12hrs of playback; forward and rewind controls and 3.5 headphone output; and line-in recording for making mixtapes (or other vocal/music recordings, by way of a compatible mike).

Now, if only there was an upcoming, analog-centric Elvis release to tie this all into, he foreshadowed, alluding to something King-related I’ll tell you all more about next week. [Update, 01.28.26: The specifics about that “EPiC” Elvis analog reference can now be revealed -- go here to find out more more!]

On to the next player!

Thus, let’s FF to the ’80s, as We Are Rewind have also introduced an exclusive collaboration with a certain, iconic British new-wave band for their Duran Duran special edition portable cassette player.

The Duran Duran player comes with a cassette reissue of their century-turn, June 2000 Pop Trash album on cassette, all with a chrome-focused design that’s wholly reflective of the band’s sleek and glamorous visual universe.

The unit boasts a headphone amp that’s said to have been designed with cassette playback in mind, alongside an aluminium build and other modern features. The DD player has similar features similar to that of the above-noted, WE-001-based Elvis model, including the extra Bluetooth connection and rechargeable battery lasts for 12hrs.

In an official press statement, Andrew Day, Duran Duran’s creative art director, designer, and photographer, observed that, “When Pop Trash was originally released, the internet was in its infancy, and streaming really wasn’t a thing. Who knew that 25 years later, a cassette player would be a fitting way to celebrate its anniversary. The team at We Are Rewind bent over backwards to make sure this wonderful collaboration with the band was a truly fitting one. The result is something that’s a lot more ‘Pop,’ and a lot less ‘Trash.’ Over the moon and back with the result, and I’m pretty sure Liberace would approve.”

We Are Rewind founder and CEO Romain Boudruche added, “Duran Duran always had a look, a sense of style and control of how they looked, and how they sounded, and their association with cassettes is clear. We’re delighted to work with the band and help music fans connect with the value of music and physical media in an age of streaming.”

Our own recent DD tie-in of sorts came yesterday, January 14, 2025, with my New Wax Wednesday review of The Power Station DLX 2LP set, an update of the self-titled debut 1985 release from that supercool supergroup Duran Duran offshoot band — and you can see my original, of-era Power Station cassette on display in that story right here.

As to the bigger tape-oriented picture, I too have seen a resurgence of interest in cassette culture of late, especially in the eyes and ears of newbie listeners. If listening to and collecting cassettes gets them in the door to enjoying music in analog-centric fashion, and then finds them looking to upgrade to higher-end cassette playback and/or ultimately lead them toward getting into vinyl and buying a turntable to further upgrade their burgeoning interest, then I’m all for it.

Finally, the SRP for We Are Rewind’s Elvis and Duran Duran limited-edition portable cassette players is $199 each (€179 / £159).

For more about We Are Rewind, go here.
To order cassette-centric products directly from We Are Rewind, go here.