I like the pink color in the picture. Weren't we just talking about this the other day on here? I object to the term antique, though, it makes me feel old. http://www.necn.com/news/tech/Casse...onsumers-Yearn-for-the-Antique-330621951.html 10 million tapes sounds like a lot for 2014, although the short report doesn't give a comparison number from other years, so it's difficult to ascertain how big the jump was from years past.
That is really strange ! I didn't think that many people even still have a cassette player anymore. CD's were much more popular for many years, and then just having an iPod or some kind of mp3 player seemed to be where the music listening devices went to. Now, I do not even have any CD's, or even anything to play one on, let alone a cassette player. I usually stream music from either pandora or Spotify, and that meets all of my music needs. We do have a stereo player; but it is not even hooked up; simply because we never have any need of one anymore. Both Bobby and I have totally different tastes in music anyway; so when we do listen to music, we wear headphones so we do not disturb each other. I just can't see cassettes becoming very popular again, pink or otherwise.
Maybe the comeback of cassettes appeals to the babyboomer generation but as that generation fades away so will the cassettes because the younger generation wants fast and convenient streaming…not to mention an abundance of choices at their fingertips. I also read that the vinyl records are coming back. Same thing. A fleeting fantasy…a generation thing. That's my guess anyway.
I'm so glad to hear that cassettes are making a come back! I have some cassettes that I'd like to sell. I'll check soldster.com or other places to sell my cassettes. Thanks for the tip!
My husband used to write songs. He would be writing `one song every day for his collection. And to preserve the melody (since he doesn't know how to write notes) he would sing the song and record in cassette. In 2002, his tape recorder broke down so he used the digital recorder of the computer for that purpose. He bought a cheap microphone for his recording. But what about the more than 200 songs on cassette? Fortunately he was able to find a cassette player/recorder in a department store last year (hmm, 2 or 3 years ago, I think). He is now in the process of copying the songs from the cassette into digital format. He would play the cassette tape and place the computer's microphone in front of the player so the song will be recorded. Good thing that the cassette player is still running good.
I think the appeal of cassettes, is that they can be held in the hand. The feel of them, the moving parts, etc. Also, the fact that there are two sides to every....cassette! Ready.....cassette.....GO!
@Joe Riley, yes, I well remember the feel of a cassette in my hand. However, I sure do also remember that the cassette player would sometimes "eat" the tape, and only after it had totally tangled most of the tape did the cassette player stop working. Cassette players mostly only ate your very most favorite tapes, so then you had to spend the next two hours trying to untangle the scrambled tape from the tape player, and then get a pencil and try to wind about a mile of tape back into the cassette. Once you got it all back in the cassette, you still didn't dare play it again, because unless the tension was exactly perfect, then the machine would eat the tape all over again. So, once the tape was all back in the cassette, then I always had to run it back and forth through rewind/fast forward several times to get the tension set again. Plus, if there were really bad places in the chewed up tape, then I had to use scissors to cut the bad spots out and then tape it back together with scotch tape. This always resulted in part of your favorite song of the whole album being mostly gone, and you only got the first little bit of it, or the ending. I really don't think that any of us, either today's young people, or most of us that remember doing this when we were young, want to go back to having our music on a tape that can shred itself up. I am going to stick with Pandora, even if cassettes become popular again.
Another problem is that over time the tape will stretch, and the sound will bleed through to the other side of the tape, creating an "audio, double exposure" of sorts. I recall using a splicing kit, with a 45 degree blade to slice both ends and tape, in one slice. But don't forget how fussy the CDs are....a little dust or dirt....a spilled beer or two, and they just refuse to work!
@Yvonne Smith, your post reminds me of my husband untangling the tape in the cassette that was eaten by the player. After untangling, he would roll it back to the reel with the help of a pen that is inserted in the hole. When done, I would see him get a cotton bud dipped in alcohol that he would wipe the tape head with. He said that when the tape head is dirty, it tends to eat the tape. I don't know if it is true. From what I know, he had used more than 20 tapes in recording his songs plus some backups so that would amount to a substantial number.
A cleaning cassette and cleaning fluid kit is still available on amazon. You put a couple drops of fluid on the tape and run it to clean the heads.
So, cassette tapes are still being made. That's interesting to know, I was sure that these were now obsolete. Kind of like the VHS tape is now becoming obsolete. As others have said tape isn't the best way to preserve something. Over time it can break or become warped. Maybe there are some who might still be interested in cassette tapes, but to be honest I'm not one of those people. I would much rather go to a CD if I were to listen to music other then that downloaded to my MP3 and even CD's are now becoming a thing of the past.