Cassettes seem to have seen a resurgence of late. Although they never truly went away, they seem to be about as popular now as ever, certainly within certain genres of music. So why is this? Personally, I do not see the attraction at all. I get the appeal of CDs. I get the appeal of vinyl. I even get the appeal of mp3s, but cassettes...I can't see why anyone would choose a cassette over another format. I'm genuinely interested, so if you have any thoughts on this, please let me know!
tapes seem to last longer than the players they go into.. I still have tapes from the 1970,80,'90's. all work. While I wouldnt buy any tapes now. I like the format most of all.
I collect cassettes. I like them for the same reason I like film photography. Somewhat the nostalgia factor, but mostly because they are tangible. You have something in your hands, unlike an mp3 or digital image. In this digital age, something in your hands is a good feeling. I guess it's kind of like that part in Soylent Green, where they're talking about their shitty future food. And they mention fruit and the idea of an apple is special to them.
I have a fondness for cassettes because they were the first format I encountered for listening to music on as a young teen,having only a very simple cassette player machine at my disposal.Also up until recently you could pick up cassettes very cheaply at charity shops and thrift stores,but they are less commonly to be had there now.Because of this cheapness,I would often find myself buying things for pennies which I otherwise wouldn't buy at full price,just taking a risk on something obscure or something that wouldn't normally fit into my taste range. They were also common ways of sharing music as mix-tapes between friends and lovers,before you could burn CDs on a computer.Another reason I like them is because,although smaller,they are in dimensions similar in scale to a book,and as a lover of books,I have always found this similarity fascinating.Lastly,I made my first musical recordings on a four-track cassette machine.(The technology is also simple to understand,which has an appeal of its own.)
This was my four track recorder,absolutely loved it until it finally clonked out some years ago: (Looks like this is an old one too - notice the missing fader on track four?)
I'll tell you guys a life changing cassette story (or as life changing as you can probably expect cassettes to be) Back in 1985 or 1986 I was a kid listening to whatever was popular on the radio back then. I was friends with my neighbor who was about my age. Her older brother was a cool dude and maybe 19 or 20. He had a large boa constrictor or python (don't remember which) in his room and he would let me watch when he fed it rats. I always noticed the large tape racks on his wall. I don't even know how many tapes there were but it was a lot. One day I realized that they were all tapes of the same band. I was kind of puzzled by that so I asked him about it. He told me a little bit about the band but decided to instead let me borrow a couple of tapes. He picked some he thought I might enjoy and I went home to listen. The first song was a song called Tennessee Jed and I never looked back. All these years, all the shows, all of the....everything. A long, strange trip indeed. I'm lucky to have been able to experience my small leg of the journey. :afro:
I've a similar experience, when I was about 10 - 12 a neighbour of mine copied all his Metallica albums on tape for me and my brother. We became big fans for years :biggrin: But I haven't noticed that cassette tapes are getting more popular again. I myself have no use for them at all either anymore.
Some years ago here on the forum. I gave all my Grateful Dead bootleg cassette tapes away.. Ive heard they still enjoy them. Somehow a Sade tape got mixed in there. haha..
i remember the pride feeling I had once with them. after a while the clutter was to much for me. realized I was spending more time putting tapes back in the boxes and less time getting on.. Im happy with my mp3-4 collection. sometimes I think there might be to much to listen too..
I have quite a collection of live music on cd and dvd. I rarely listen to or watch most of it in that format. I have no idea how many GD and Phish shows I have off the top of my head but I do have my entire collection inventoried and rated on another website I use for that purpose. I also have a lot of rare stuff. Live Pink Floyd, Prince, Dire Straits...all sorts of stuff. I could get rid of them to save space but I'm keeping my GD shows on tape because they are kind of a part of history for me.
