Freako~ The DRM-800 looks like the '555's more feature-rich older brother. If it performs anywhere near as well, it's way too nice a piece of gear to gather dust in a closet. Plus, I firmly believe that these things are like classic cars--they're more likely to stop functioning if you *don't* use them enough. (Note the guy who just posted a comment in Mr Mejias's blog about the Nakamichi he's been using hard for years w/o a bit of trouble.)

What ya need to get your '800 back in action is one of these:

In the U.S., you can get this (the Sony VS-4) or something similar at Crutchfield.com, Amazon, Radio Shack, probably even Best Buy--just about any place that sells A/V gear.

Used to be Radio Shack sold a couple of audio-only stereo switch boxes, but I can't find them on their site any more. I have one of them keeping my '421 and '555 "in the loop." The one above'll give ya the same benefit though; you just won't be using the composite or s-video connections. Yeah, I know, the purists are flipping out at the mere thought of introducing such a device into your signal path. But we're being practical here, and it's a connection for a cassette deck, not an SACD player. If you keep the cables between the deck and the box, and the box and the pre-amp/receiver short, I don't notice any loss in sound quality.

What I find fascinating about my old cassettes is not how much their sound has been superseded more modern digital sources, but how well they hold their own.