# Retro Cassette Player – your music on cassettes in a portable tape player
**URL:** https://community.muos.dev/t/retro-cassette-player-your-music-on-cassettes-in-a-portable-tape-player/1786
**Category:** Testing
**Tags:** anbernic, application
**Created:** [November 1, 2026, 1:20am UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/retro-cassette-player-your-music-on-cassettes-in-a-portable-tape-player/1786 "2026-11-01T01:20:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@alesavin](https://community.muos.dev/u/alesavin)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2026, 1:20am UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/retro-cassette-player-your-music-on-cassettes-in-a-portable-tape-player/1786/1 "2026-11-01T01:20:59Z")
Hi all! I’d like to share **Retro Cassette Player** , a music player for muOS where your music lives on cassettes. Pick a tape from the box, drop it into the player and watch the reels turn.
### How it works
- **Every album folder is a tape.** The library is a box of cassettes stacked spine-out. Open an album to see its songs as tapes too.
- **Every tape looks different.** Shell colour, label paper, stripes, handwriting and ink are picked from the album name, and the cassette in the player matches its spine.
- **No icons or numbers on screen.** You can tell what’s happening the way you would with a real player: keys that stay down, turning reels, how much tape is on each reel, the head against the tape, and minute marks on the cassette window.
- **Real tape behaviour:** songs sit on one side with short gaps, FF/REW actually wind the tape, a tap on FF/REW finds the next or previous song, and holding them plays the music fast (cue/review).
- **Big libraries:** the box label shows the letter you’re in and “40 of 87”, and A–Z dividers stand between the tapes.
- **Two SD cards** show up as SD1 and SD2.
- **Pocket mode:** the screen goes dark after 30 s without a button press while the music keeps playing. Any button wakes it.
- **Kept cool:** it only redraws when something moves, and songs load in the background.
- MP3, OGG, FLAC and WAV.
### Controls
The four keys on screen sit right above the shoulder buttons:
| Button | Player | Library |
| --- | --- | --- |
| L1 | REW (tap: back a song, hold: review) | Previous letter |
| L2 / B | STOP, press again to eject | Back up a folder |
| R2 / A | PLAY / PAUSE | Put the tape in and play |
| R1 | FF (tap: next song, hold: cue) | Next letter |
| D-pad ◀ ▶ | Previous / next song | ◀ back, ▶ open album |
| D-pad ▲ ▼ | | Choose a tape |
Volume is the device’s own volume buttons. Select + Start or Menu quits.
### Install
1. Download `RetroCassette-0.3.3.muxapp` from the [release page](https://github.com/alesavin/muos-retro-cassette-player/releases/latest).
2. Copy it to the `ARCHIVE` folder at the top of your SD card and install it with **Applications → Archive Manager**.
3. Put your music in a `MUSIC` folder at the top of an SD card, one folder per album.
It uses the LÖVE runtime that ships with muOS (from 2048 Plus), so nothing else needs installing.
**Tip:** switch the device off before taking an SD card out to add music. A card swapped while the device is on isn’t picked up until you restart.
### Tested on
- Anbernic RG34XXSP (720×480), muOS 2606 Andromeda
The layout is made for 720×480. Other screen sizes should work with black bars, but I haven’t tried them. Reports from other devices are very welcome, especially whether L2/R2 respond and whether A and B are the right way round.
### Feedback & source
Bugs and ideas are welcome here or on [GitHub](https://github.com/alesavin/muos-retro-cassette-player/issues). Free software under GPL-3.0.
Source: [GitHub - alesavin/muos-retro-cassette-player · GitHub](https://github.com/alesavin/muos-retro-cassette-player)
---
### Author:  [@Habbening](https://community.muos.dev/u/Habbening)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2026, 7:33am UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/retro-cassette-player-your-music-on-cassettes-in-a-portable-tape-player/1786/2 "2026-11-01T07:33:51Z")
aesthetically this looks amazing - I’ll give it a test on the gkd pixel 2
---
### Author:  [@Habbening](https://community.muos.dev/u/Habbening)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2026, 9:28am UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/retro-cassette-player-your-music-on-cassettes-in-a-portable-tape-player/1786/3 "2026-11-01T09:28:22Z")
ok testing on pixel 2 - works great.
it fits on the screen as you described, with some bars.
You could fix it and gate for device but it’s probably a lot more effort than you’re willing to do / test.
I did note that:
1. the draw on the screen seems to need ‘prompting’ with a D Pad or other button push; otherwise it’s just a dark screen.
2. volume bar is not visible on the screen when adjusting.
---
### Author:  [@alesavin](https://community.muos.dev/u/alesavin)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/retro-cassette-player-your-music-on-cassettes-in-a-portable-tape-player/1786/4 "2026-11-01T12:21:41Z")
Thank you for the feedback and testing! I tried to fix some issues in 0.3.4 - hope with them the app feels a bit better. Feel free to make PR for github I can merge if you have time/desire (AI harness should be super-helpfull there, I use Claude Code to manage Lua).
Main challenge for me is to keep it simple as possible - even without settings section, but I’m not sure it is possible in a way to be compatible with all devices / users preferences