Cassette tapes are making a comeback

[Deleted]

I had this big stereo during my high school days and I used to had this one cassette tape and would literally surf through the radio stations to find songs that I like (I'm a little to embarrassed to tell what I had on there  ). Sometimes it was an exhausting experience to find what I wanted but it was a fun but funny experience. Man I'm getting old  .  

[Disco🌶️📖]

Aug 23, 2019 18:34:33 GMT -5 Choco said:

At least with vinyl you can claim it's for audio quality.

Some of the vinyl pressings done of certain albums were not done correctly as in that they didn't master them specifically for the vinyl medium. Or they used the wrong grade of vinyl.

[boscy]

Consumer grade cassette players are usually are made of cheap parts which playback at the wrong speeds (distorting the sound), and tend to "eat" tapes when overheated.  Consumer grade cassette players are built into mediocre tabletop portable players whose speakers sound mediocre; those cheap "all in one" boxes with cheap CD players, cheap record players, cheap tuners, and cheap speakers.

Cassette tapes can sound great when played back on old high end machines by Nakamichi.  For best cassette playback results on new machines being manufactured today (with store and manufacturer warranties), the pro-audio and higher end decks by Tascam and TEAC are the best, while Marantz comes in second.  Such decks can be ordered online or ordered from a pro-audio dealer like Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Sweetwater, etc.,  The Tascams are around $500 and less and the Marantz are around $200.

www.MarantzPro.com/products/view/pmd-300cp

[Deleted]

Just had a flashback to the number of times a cassette ribbon broke and I spent hours trying to coax both of the broken ends back out so I could 'mend' them with a tiny sliver of scotch tape. If fortunate enough for this effort to succeed, the spot where the tape was would always have a bit of a skip or distorted audio but in my child mind it was worth it to not have to spend my allowance money on a tape I already had.

I got so used to hearing a distortion at the beginning of 'Take Our Time' on CrazySexyCool that I forgot it wasn't part of the song and was completely thrown off when I bought the CD years later and that sound was not there.

[forg]

In my country we still had cassettes for new albums until 2004 It was the mass-consumed music product as CD is double the price

[Au$tin]

Aug 24, 2019 13:34:02 GMT -5 boscy said:

Consumer grade cassette players are usually are made of cheap parts which playback at the wrong speeds (distorting the sound), and tend to "eat" tapes when overheated.  Consumer grade cassette players are built into mediocre tabletop portable players whose speakers sound mediocre; those cheap "all in one" boxes with cheap CD players, cheap record players, cheap tuners, and cheap speakers.

Cassette tapes can sound great when played back on old high end machines by Nakamichi.  For best cassette playback results on new machines being manufactured today (with store and manufacturer warranties), the pro-audio and higher end decks by Tascam and TEAC are the best, while Marantz comes in second.  Such decks can be ordered online or ordered from a pro-audio dealer like Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Sweetwater, etc.,  The Tascams are around $500 and less and the Marantz are around $200.

www.MarantzPro.com/products/view/pmd-300cp

Is this an ad?

[Disco🌶️📖]

Bocsy is right though. Those high end ones are much better.

[Ty]

Yeah, I never really want to go back to the days of cassettes. Having to stop and flip side in the middle of an album sucks; and the fact that you cannot jump directly to and loop the one track you like. I remember growing up to my parents' collection of cassettes, and stopped buying them the moment CDs became more affordable.

But who knows? I wouldn't mind buying the short (<30 mins) EP/album/playlist being put into cassette form, as they can probably be contained on one side.

[Hefty Hanna]

I just do not get this trend at all. The sound quality ????

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Nostalgia

[Mylo13 💜]

I've never been exposed to real-life cassettes beyond seeing old radios with slots for them haha. I've even seen vinyl once or twice in family gatherings, but cassettes are something I've only heard in passing. Funnily enough though, my dad brought up the same issues you guys had with sound quality/DJ's talking when a song was on. By the time I'd gotten into music, CD's were also on the decline and I began listening (Save for early Taylor/Ed/P!NK/Lady Gaga/Katy Perry albums my parents showed me in my childhood) through Youtube. I listened to a few Youtube playlists around late 2014, and I remember getting into Spotify midway through 2015. Kinda crazy imagining life without that immediate access to music haha.

[boscy]

September 9, 2019
Cassette Store Day 2019: full list of exclusive titles

By Bill Pearis 

www.brooklynvegan.com/cassette-store-day-2019-full-list-of-exclusive-titles

Cassette Store Day, the annual celebration of tapes and tape culture, holds its 2019 edition on October 12. Like Record Store Day, a number of cassette titles are made just for CSD



There are over 100 stores that will be part of Cassette Store Day 2019 in North America, including Rough Trade in Brooklyn.

[Caviar]

Lol rough trade

[bat1990]

Aug 28, 2019 6:09:17 GMT -5 Mylo13 💜 said:

I've never been exposed to real-life cassettes beyond seeing old radios with slots for them haha. I've even seen vinyl once or twice in family gatherings, but cassettes are something I've only heard in passing. Funnily enough though, my dad brought up the same issues you guys had with sound quality/DJ's talking when a song was on. By the time I'd gotten into music, CD's were also on the decline and I began listening (Save for early Taylor/Ed/P!NK/Lady Gaga/Katy Perry albums my parents showed me in my childhood) through Youtube. I listened to a few Youtube playlists around late 2014, and I remember getting into Spotify midway through 2015. Kinda crazy imagining life without that immediate access to music haha.

Oh, my sweet summer child!

Here's a window into my teenage years:
In middle school from 2000-2004 I spent HOURS spinning CDs over and over, using Napster and LimeWire for song downloads, running home to watch music video countdowns or hear specific radio blocks, getting mad about going to church b/c I couldn't listen to the American Top 40...what a time. Some music was an elusive pipe dream of finding import CDs in Best Buy or Borders - for example, the Best Buy nearest me had Kylie Minogue's Hits+ compilation when "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" was peaking and I saved up to get it for more Kylie b/c her catalog wasn't available stateside. Only Fever, and my local library system somehow having her debut album.

High school me was elated when iTunes became a thing and you could sync music to a device in 2004/5. A friend of mine's family also had a Rhapsody subscription for $9.99 back in '07 and I was floored with the concept. Streaming has been around for a while, just not adopted on such a scale in the US until 2013/14.

[#LisaRinna]

Mariah Carey is releasing a special GREEN CASSETTE single of "All I Want For Christmas Is You."

Saving the format for good. :'(