My birthday is coming up next week and I am looking to purchase a good portable Walkman. I was wondering what are some common or easier to find units that sound good as well that are in the sub 50 price range. Also, i really dig the look of square shaped players like the WM-2091. Thanks, I am relatively new to this format and do not know much about it and was not sure which forum to post this in.

Avoid the 2091 and any other walkman based on the mechanism due to reliability issues. Avoid Aiwas for this reason as well.

Walkman DDs are some of the best machines, but they tend to have cracked gear issues, which can prevent them from working properly in some cases. If you can find a good working D6C for this price go for it.

You can go for a newer slim logic controlled Sony such as the EX-1 to EX-5,EX600, EX500 series as these can be had cheap and belt replacement is simple. They have weaker amps compared to earlier machines however.

Go retro, get a Walkman WM-2, they're cheap.

bub - he said SUB 50 quid

WM-2 is a olde reliable , good power for really early player good sound.  Belt easy to replace  probably in that price range maybe bit more.  Get yourself pair of Koss Porta Pro headphones usually new $40 or less on ebay careful of who buy from.  Awesome best sound Walkman headphones under $100 IMO and if anything goes wrong EVER you just pay shipping to them and back and they send you new pair.  Awesome deal and have had mine replaced no questions asked  once in past 4 years.  Best bass ever and reasonable highs and anyway unless you get really good player tape hiss you don't hear much on the Porta Pros another plus.  Using dolby encoded tapes and dolby b set on Walkman personally lose too much of highs unless a really better machine.

   The WM-D6C is awesome machine but you wont touch one working well for under $150 and they are big not really portable walk around with as far as size goes (twice as big as most Walkman or more).   Sony WM-EX1,EX2 and EX3 good machine easy to change belt on ( most made after 84 you have to desolder PCB board to get to belt).   Agree with bub sadly not play loudly but reasonable and good sounding.  Very warm smooth sounding players.  The EX5 way past $50 as its anniversary edition.   Probably have to spend $75 or so for nice EX1-EX3. 

   I have a WM-EX501 nothing fancy but very reliable, newer so usually what you buy belt will be ok.  Reasonably loud, has 2 stage mega bass and groove and dolby b.   Usually overlooked by collectors so you can find for good price.   I paid $90 for NIB in rare green neat color bout 18 months ago.  In Silver or other color probably around $50 or so can find..

   I like Panasonic alot especially the RQ-S series built like tanks reasonably powerful amps, clean sound great features but often need belts and you have to have pcb desoldered so not easy job at all.   The RQ-SX series (jst put in Panasonic RQ-S or RQ-SX in ebay search many models) are easy in $ 50 more or less range.  Pretty reliable not loud sounding though but separate amp each channel clean sounding for sure most SX models. 

Good luck and welcome to forum

Here is a WM-EX500 almost same as my EX501 at $50 now but its in UK so if your in USA exchange rate is AWFUL and has 9 bids so my guess is it will sell for $70 to $80 USD about 45 GBP plus $16 USD to ship here.  Better to find one in USA if can if your in USA. 

LINK

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SONY-W...;hash=item416a162ecd

BTW the older squarish players are mostly 80 to 88 and if found in 50 range will need belt replaced.  Also freq. response of most squarish pre 87 models that you might find around $50 usually top out at 15,000 whereas later more rounded many 17-18,000.   Better response than that have to spend much more than $50   just FYI

awesome thanks for the help, I actually have Portapros and love them such great headphones, ill look into spending a bit more and try to get some of the ones you mentioned in your post!

sony wm 672....no dolby c but sounds much better than walkmans like the sony dd9....and you can pick one up for a 10nner

trust me you do NOT want Dolby C on a walkman

the circuit EATS batteries - and NR in general is rubbish

toodle loo!

It's not just the Dolby C- it's just that Walkmans with Dolby C tend to be the better ones.

Personally I'd avoid the RQ-SX series due to difficulty in belt replacement.

And x2 on the Ex500/Ex600/Ex1-5 series- I have quite a few of these and most of them are pretty decent. Plenty of features and a great digital radio.

Best bet is go with EX-600 series or EX1/2/3/5 or FX1/2/3/5 series, easy to repair and sound good.

Since Dolby C Walkmans have only 1 battery, you could get only a few hours before you have to recharge or replace the batteries.

??? DC2 uses 2, D6C uses 4, JX505/707 uses 2. DD9 is one of the few that use 1 battery only, being a later model.

It is however, true that these higher end models tend to get poorer battery life compared to the likes of newer slim models (such as the EX1-5, 500 600 series). The newer machines have built in gumstick and addon battery holders, MUCH weaker amps, miniature disc type motors and in some cases, variable belt tension(!).

Dolby C needs to be perfectly calibrated to sound good.

Dolby C needs to be turned off to sound good