Device to record & playback music ?

If you are not concerned with taking the music with you on portable cassette or CD, and you want to "recycle" a piece of gear that probably hasn't seen much use since the advent of DVD and Tivo, you may want to consider dusting off your trusty HiFi VHS deck.. They don't call-em HiFi for nothing! It will record near-CD quality stereo audio that will trounce the cassette format for signal/noise and you get a minimum of 2 hours of music per tape. Many decks even have VU meters so you can set your own recording levels. You could record in EP mode and get 6 hours on a standard T-120 tape which would still sound very good for mix tapes/background music. The tape counter would make it easy to index and find your songs. Just set the VCR's input to "Line" and you're good to go.

I can't help you with that blinking "12:00" though.. :)

-jz

"Near CD quality"? The Alesis Masterlink IS CD quality; you also have the ability to record 24 bit (playback only in Masterlink) but the convenience of burining bit for bit compilations and playing back in your CD rig (or car) is a big plus. DAT is very good, but I don't have a DAT player in my car. You can get a Masterlink for $800. I love mine and the CD's I have recorded actually sound better than the source CD. I use the Mobile Fidelity Gold CD's and have had no drop outs and excellent, excellent sound.

Any other players?

You might want to look into sound devices offerings - industry standard for recording digital sound - they are also portable.