I'd like to buy a 4-track to start recording some music.

Why a 4-track? Just use audacity

Before you decide if you want new or used, you should decide whether you want digital or tape.

If you want digital, you should consider whether you want an actual 4 track recorder, or instead want an audio interface for essentially an infinite number of tracks.

If you want cassette, I have a Yamaha MT4X I love to death if you want me to answer some questions/talk more about it.

if you want cassette get a used yamaha portastudio

>>74429980
What are the differences between digital and tape (besides the obvious)?

>>74430082
Well digital is certainly more flexible and has more features. If you were to ping-pong/bounce several tracks to one track (I'm not sure digital 4 tracks even have this option), it probably will retain a lot of the original quality.

With tape, the sound is probably more worn-sounding than digital, and with each ping-ponging of tracks, the quality becomes more washed away.

>>74430236
With that in mind, I assume tape 4-tracks are more for people who are looking to attain a lo-fi sound?

>>74430388
Yes, but IMO it is a little more than lo-fi. A lot of people will say that cassette tape isn't warm by reel-to-reel standards, however, cassette certainly has desirable qualities beyond lo-fi.

For example, Guided By Voices used cassette for some of their albums, and while it is grainy, there is this great, compressed sound to the whole thing. Some other great examples are Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska and Ariel Pink's House Arrest (though the later was with an 8 track Yamaha recorder).