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Cassettes are making a small comeback, why?

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Jan 26, 2022
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It seems that cassettes are making a small comeback. There have been some new portable cassette players that have been released. In addition people like You Tuber Mary Spender just released some of her own music on cassette which is just one example of younger people being interested in cassettes.

I used to have a Nakamichi CR3A cassette player in my stereo. Cassettes were inferior to CD's and records. Dolby B removed the high's, though Dolby C was better. The other thing was every time you play the cassette, the quality of the music degrades by a tiny bit.

What made cassettes so appealing was it was a good format if you wanted to copy your favorite records or if your borrow friends records and you wanted a copy of it to play in your cassette player including Sony Walkman, or car stereo In addition, we used to record music off the radio like King Biscuit Flower Hour where they had some cool live recording of the Rollings Stones or some other band. Back in the day, I took my Sanyo cassette player (their version of the Sony Walkman) to Madison Square Garden and recorded The ARMS concert with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. This is why they were so popular in their day. To get better quality recordings I used to buy metal tapes and then record my records or a friend's records onto cassettes. Then to play it on a portable device including boom boxes. However, when you compare the quality of the music with CD's or good streaming services, the music clearly sounds better on them vs cassettes.

Now records with a good phonograph player, stylus, and phono preamp sound better than cassettes. Not to mention the album was fun to look at along with the information on the back or inner sleeve while listening to the music. I can see the appeal for records as many records I actually found better than CD's or streaming services though this is subjective.

What do you see about cassettes that are attracting people today?
 
Nostalgia, I suppose...

Same as records, except as far as I know there are no claims of cassettes being better than digital.

I grew-up in the days of 8-tracks, cassettes, and records. I never owned an 8-track. At one point my parents had one in their all-in-one stereo but they never had more than 1 or 2 tapes.

I had a cassette deck and I used to copy my records to cassette for playback in the car. (I never owned a car with an 8-track.)

I see people that want simplicity. Push the PLAY or REC buttons and maybe the FASTFWD. No PC skills required, no technical stuff.
But you can't easily skip to a particular track like you can with CDs (or records). And like records you have to flip it over half way through.
 
But you can't easily skip to a particular track like you can with CDs (or records). And like records you have to flip it over half way through.
This creates a whole entire market for good quality cassette mechanisms with auto-reverse, music search etc.
 
What do you see about cassettes that are attracting people today?

Nothing. They will discover the frustration of that old tech when the cassette jams and the tape is stretched into a hair-like imitation of its former self or the take-up reel stops and the tape spools into the inside of the player. Ah, the memories!
 
Some people, especially those who were not yet born when cassettes were widely used, are fascinated by the "old school" sound. I'm paraphrasing what my son told me.
 
Nothing. They will discover the frustration of that old tech when the cassette jams and the tape is stretched into a hair-like imitation of its former self or the take-up reel stops and the tape spools into the inside of the player. Ah, the memories!
Pencils will make a comeback soon too…:D
 
Same as records, except as far as I know there are no claims of cassettes being better than digital.
I suspect that is because, other than portability/ease of use, cassettes ain't better than nothin'.
 
Sounds great on el cheapo bluetooth pod/bar/speakers. AND they don't know any better.
 
Pencils will make a comeback soon too…

My Pentel P205 is always at my desk.

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We're moving and I'm clearing out. Last week, I sold a Nakamichi CR-3A cassette deck on a Facebook Marketplace post. Buyer said he was 1-1/2 hr. away. No problem.

Turns out, buyer is a guy in his late teens/early 20's, and brings along a slightly younger friend who already owns a Nak CR-series deck (!) and convinced his friend to buy one just like his. (I wasn't about to argue.)

They drove a long way from a different major city through rush hour to purchase my deck. They were not about to wait. They wanted their Nak, and they wanted it now!

This is where a retro analog medium like cassette trumps modern tech for the cool factor and the peer experience. Once you've got one of these, I've got to have one too.
 
They will never know the joy of an AM/FM, auto-reversing, Pioneer under-dash cassette deck on a hot summer's day as the tape direction cycles back-and-forth while winding the tape around the capstan drive.
 
They will never know the joy of an AM/FM, auto-reversing, Pioneer under-dash cassette deck on a hot summer's day as the tape direction cycles back-and-forth while winding the tape around the capstan drive.

And the tangled streamers of cassette tape wrapped around weeds and reflector posts on the highway...
 
What do you see about cassettes that are attracting people today?
I'd guess it's something you can do without needing a touch screen, app or subscription, and you can still score old cassette tapes pretty cheaply, unless they're NOS, in which case they are sought-after collectables. But I wonder if premium, metal particle tapes have since turned into ferric oxide..?
 
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