Cassettes are making a small comeback, why?

[Satiomeliom]

I see people that want simplicity. Push the PLAY or REC buttons and maybe the FASTFWD. No PC skills required, no technical stuff.

At the beginning, there was music. But then, digital was put into place, and all the IT that came with it.

 

[Robin L]

Ahem. DAT anyone?

Easily damaged tapes. Wonky anti-copy systems. Inconsistent sampling rates. Prohibitively expensive repair.
Fail.
Never going back to that one either. Micro SD is king, no reason to go to antiquated record/play formats.

 

[diddley]

As a kid i hated the cassettes i had one good one without hiss and it was a denon tape. the rest i had were tdk-sa90.
But did i hate the hiss.
I always knew something would be coming, that would be better, and guess what the cd was my relieve, what a perfection in sound.
i through al my cassttes away and never looked back.
I see the revival as a hipster kind of thing.it's sub sub sub culture.

 

[TimF]

I think it is because the current USA Supreme Court has removed all restrictions on buying and using them--cassette machines.

 

[Cbdb2]

Next big comeback in electronics.

 

[Ron Texas]

I did not like cassettes. Sound was mediocre and there were mechanical problems. They did work better in cars than early CD players which skipped whenever the car went over a bump. Today I just plug in a USB key and have my music without drama.

 

[Cbdb2]

What do you see about cassettes that are attracting people today?

The "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies.

 

[MattHooper]

Why some think that making something clunky, inconvenient, uncomfortable and complicated makes it worthwhile is besides me.

I could say the same thing about camping. But apparently some people really enjoy it.

 

[Newman]

Do you need to amend your signature to add cassette. Or to keep it simple would you use the more generic tape instead?

TAPE = terrible audiophile profiteering experience.

Nah, I’ll keep it focused on the big issues.

 

[Newman]

What do you see about cassettes that are attracting people today?

This:-

Fishermen and fisherwomen must be drawn like bees to pollen.

 

[Digby]

Next big comeback in electronics. View attachment 375721

We already had a thread why landlines are good and these old indestructible phones with nice sounding, clear, loud rings are good too!

 

[WillBrink]

What do you see about cassettes that are attracting people today?

Same reason there's been a surge in LPs, nostalgia.

 

[EJ3]

Cassettes are popular because it's the analog format for music that anyone can manufacture. All you need are some blanks and a deck, and you can start a label, right there and then. Beyond that, professional duplication services are still relatively inexpensive and can provide fast turn-around, generally.

Vinyl costs a lot of money up front, takes a very long time to make (lead times can be up to a year), and requires a certain amount of expertise to get a good quality product. None of those apply with cassette.

Also, not everyone cares about, or even desires, quality of sound. Degradation and imperfection as an aesthetic has a wide appeal - people seem to remain interested in the strange, mechanical world of analog music reproduction.

I can manufacture CD's. Getting good blanks (ones that will hold up for the next 30 years or so seems a problem.

 

[Mart68]

Ahem. DAT anyone? I had a Sony PCM-R500 back in the 1990's. Small cassettes, superlative sound quality. Super fun to use, too.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, I had a couple of of super-tweako 3-head cassette players that rarely worked -- constantly breaking -- and with good tape and DBX, though the sound was very good.

I was first in line to get a Sony CDP-101 in late 1983, and I never went back to analog.

Yes, still got a Sony DAT machine - and some blank BASF tapes somewhere.

Holding onto it in the hope that some young influencer hipster rediscovers the format and I can sell it for thousands.

 

[Satiomeliom]

Next big comeback in electronics.

Omg these. The wheel is fun until you have to use it more than twice.

 

[Alexander Gödde]

It's a physical format that you can collect and that is not CDs.
I think CDs were never cool. There's the tackiness of the silver/rainbow surfaces, you load them into a mechanism which hides what it is doing, and CD jewel cases are also not attractive.
Vinyl is a great format for collecting. Large cover so the art really shines, you can do gatefold, include posters, and listening is a ritual. (If you want convenience and great sound you can always stream it or play the files that the included download code gave you access to.)
The problem with vinyl for bands is that you have to press a minimum number of copies for the entire process to make financial sense. There's the master/stamper which needs to be recouped, the art needs professional printing etc.
Not so with tape: As a band you can copy tapes at the speed you sell them. No large upfront investment, make additional copies at any time. Cover art is easy to print yourself as well. There's a certain retro charm to something that turns mechanically, and the inconvenience is more of a feature than a bug.
I assume that a lot of the tapes that bands sell get never, or rarely played. They're just something to have on a shelf, to browse, remember the show you got it at, to show to friends and acquaintances to present your musical taste. That's something that digital files, however good they sound or easy they are to play, just can't provide.

 

[Joe Smith]

I recently sold a Nakamichi Reference Series Cassette (Joe Williams, "Nothin But the Blues") on eBay for about $85. There are collectors, for the rare/good stuff. This guy was clearly a serious collector, sounds like he's been on a ten+ year project to get their entire catalog... It was a nice cassette and all, but I was willing to move it along at that price...

 

[mhardy6647]

Omg these. The wheel is fun until you have to use it more than twice.

I keep a couple in stock just in case.
Last time I used one "regularly" was when our current house was just coming "on line" and it was still our second house (and only partially furnished & equipped) -- 2012-13 timeframe.
They're not too good for automated phone menus, I'll give you that!

 

[Mart68]

I keep a couple in stock just in case.
Last time I used one "regularly" was when our current house was just coming "on line" and it was still our second house (and only partially furnished & equipped) -- 2012-13 timeframe.
They're not too good for automated phone menus, I'll give you that!

My telephone is from the 1970s but it has push buttons. No way I'd go back to the dial. I don't know now how we lived with it.

Of course in the old films and TV shows they just dial once and say 'Give me Charing Cross 223'

 

[Brian Hall]

Next big comeback in electronics. View attachment 375721

Not inconvenient enough. These will be more popular with people who like turntables and tapes of any sort: