Sales of Cassette Tapes set to explode

[andyjm]

According to the Sunday Times this morning, "sales of tapes are rising so quickly that the RIAA ... is pondering ways to track numbers for the first time since the early 1990s"

I guess if you were looking for an example of 'fashion over function', there is no need to look further than this. Cassettes were dreadful. There is no other word for it. The tape was too thin, the speed too slow, the tracks too close together, and no space in the enclosure for decent capstan, tape guides or multiple heads. I spent hours trying to get cassette players to give a decent response, and failed every time.

With apologies to vinyl and valve fans, I am afraid this is just more of the same generational fashion nonsense. Those guys at Sony and Philips in the 80s really did come out with a great system - which when supplied with a decent master can produce remarkable levels of clarity and depth. It is always telling that classical music fans (who generally listen to music with wide dynamic range) embraced digital recording with open arms, and don't seem to have looked back.

I might try and pre-empt the next fad. Edison wax cylinders. Fragile if you drop them, and I guess there is that big horn and the dog to carry around, but I am sure it will be worth it to get 'closer to the music'.

 

[chebby]

Pre-recorded 7" open reel tapes.

There is also a shop nearby who sell pianos. Real ones just like the ones all right thinking modernists smashed up in the 1960s because of the retrograde thinking they represented.

At least this bunch are recycling old gear and having fun with it rather than smashing it all up.

 

[MeanandGreen]

There is no doubt about it, cassette has no place in today's world. I only ever used it as a recording medium until CD-R came along. Now I only occasionally use CD-R for vinyl ripping, the days of recording are pretty much gone as music is so easy to come by now and digital playlists on hard drives or portable devices are very much established.

I will say this though, I never experienced any of the issues I've read obout cassette tapes jamming and chewing up. Head cleaning and demagnetising was a pain in the behind, but my decks always worked well, (still got two single deck Aiwa's in storage). Back in the day I used to experiment with tape brands, bias levels, recording levels, Dolby B/C and often achieved good results, never as good as the original source, but in no way terrible. All digital sources today blow tape away for convieneinve and sound quality without a doubt.

Music in my car in the 90's was cassette based and I made all of my own mix tapes for the car. Today I have my iPod stashed away in the glove box.

There is no way I'd want or need to do any of that faffing with tapes again. As for pre recorded tapes, I never liked the cassette as pre recorded format. Copied tapes from a CD always sounded better than the proper album released on cassette.

It must be a fad, are we going to see a rise in VHS or Betamax popularity again in the future?

 

[chebby]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

 

[bigfish786]

Music collection was built of cassette, back when I was pre-teen I would listen to music on a cassette Walkman, I used to wear them out, the players, I used them so much. Up until I bought my first CD player/hifi in '88 that's all I listened to.

Now, it's a format I don't listen to at all. I don't even know if my collection of around 70 cassettes would even play any more.

I never had a mini disc player, maybe they are next on the retro-fi scene?

 

[expat_mike]

So sales of tapes are set to explode from naff all, to twice naff all?

I guess all the manufacturers of the USB memory sticks (or SD cards?) used to plug into car stereos, must be quaking in their boots. *lol*

 

[steve_1979]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

You must be very proud. She sounds like a cool girl who knows what she's talking about.

 

[steve_1979]

There is no doubt about it, cassette has no place in today's world. I only ever used it as a recording medium until CD-R came along. Now I only occasionally use CD-R for vinyl ripping, the days of recording are pretty much gone as music is so easy to come by now and digital playlists on hard drives or portable devices are very much established.

I will say this though, I never experienced any of the issues I've read obout cassette tapes jamming and chewing up. Head cleaning and demagnetising was a pain in the behind, but my decks always worked well, (still got two single deck Aiwa's in storage). Back in the day I used to experiment with tape brands, bias levels, recording levels, Dolby B/C and often achieved good results, never as good as the original source, but in no way terrible. All digital sources today blow tape away for convieneinve and sound quality without a doubt.

Music in my car in the 90's was cassette based and I made all of my own mix tapes for the car. Today I have my iPod stashed away in the glove box.

There is no way I'd want or need to do any of that faffing with tapes again. As for pre recorded tapes, I never liked the cassette as pre recorded format. Copied tapes from a CD always sounded better than the proper album released on cassette.

It must be a fad, are we going to see a rise in VHS or Betamax popularity again in the future?

Totally agree. Even vinyl is silly compared to digital really but at least that looks cool and is fun to use. What has tape got going for it? Nothing.

The general public seem to get very easily influenced by the media. I wonder if this sudden interest in tape is a knock on effect from a Walkman playing a pretty major part in the Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy?

 

[chebby]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

You must be very proud. She sounds like a cool girl who knows what she's talking about.

I am proud of her.

I don't know if I necessarily agree on this point but I don't really know how badly (or well) her age group were catered for in music. We gave them both fairly decent Sony mini systems, computers, portable TVs etc. But I think she misses the old Rega I had from when she was 4 until she was 15 (and the stack of 1970 and 80s 12" singles I used to let her be 'DJ' with, so I didn't have to get up from my chair!)

She is also a big fan of solo female singers from the 1960s (inpired by Adele and Amy Winehouse possibly).

 

[Vladimir]

Many say that cassettes sound much better, warmer, smoother and realistic than CDs. No wonder they are coming back. People are no longer fooled by marketing brainwashing with "perfect sound forever".

 

[steve_1979]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

You must be very proud. She sounds like a cool girl who knows what she's talking about.

I am proud of her.

I don't know if I necessarily agree on this point but I don't really know how badly (or well) her age group were catered for in music. We gave them both fairly decent Sony mini systems, computers, portable TVs etc. But I think she misses the old Rega I had from when she was 4 until she was 15 (and the stack of 1970 and 80s 12" singles I used to let her be 'DJ' with, so I didn't have to get up from my chair!)

She is also a big fan of solo female singers from the 1960s (inpired by Adele and Amy Winehouse possibly).

I think that equipment wise the youth of today have it better than it has ever been before with cheap digital sources sounding so good. The only issue now is that they prefer to spend their money on mobile phones and game consoles rather than equipment that includes a good quality amplifier and speakers so they rarely get to utilise the advantage they have.

Music wise they now have easy access to everything thanks to the Internet but again unfortunately they don't really take advantage of this either and mostly listen to modern music which for the most part is rubbish. I find this particularly odd because where I work most of my colleagues are in their late teens and early twenties and every day they choose not to play their own music instead preferring the music played from my MP3 player which contains mostly 60/70's rock, 70's disco, 80/90's pop and 90's club music. They can play their own music at any time but they almost never do and prefer classic pop/rock music that was made before most of them were born.

So they can potentially have it better for music than ever before but ignore the opportunity preferring to spend time on Facebook and computer games.

 

[Gray]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

For years current music seemed best to (the majority of) each generation. I know that when I was about 15, Radio 1's 'Revive 45' jingle used to make my heart sink a bit.

I really do think though, that your daughter may have a point about the music.

Never was there a more appropriate time to make that ultimate Old Git statement that "They don't make 'em like they used to" Not 100% true of course, (old rubbish will always be rubbish) but surely truer than ever before.

As for the technology - wish I could have had (some of) todays tech. when I was 23.

 

[keeper of the quays]

I hope my 78 player comes back in fashion..wind up! No carbon footprint! If i feel instruments need more 'air' ill play 78s outside!

 

[Gray]

I hope my 78 player comes back in fashion..wind up! No carbon footprint! If i feel instruments need more 'air' ill play 78s outside!

I've also got a wind-up gramophone in my museum (or loft as some people know it)

It's stored with Sanyo? 9300 Betamax (all I know about that is it's almost too heavy to lift) Ecko 405 line, VHF TV (I'm still waiting for them to switch the signal back on as I thought the 1980's switch off was just a temporary technical fault)

.......then there's the older stuff.

 

[MajorFubar]

I guess if you were looking for an example of 'fashion over function', there is no need to look further than this. Cassettes were dreadful. There is no other word for it. The tape was too thin, the speed too slow, the tracks too close together, and no space in the enclosure for decent capstan, tape guides or multiple heads. I spent hours trying to get cassette players to give a decent response, and failed every time.

They were certainly limited by their technical specifications but it sounds from your bad experience like you only ever heard a crap one. I had much better experience of them, especially when I bought my first double-speed multitracker with DBX; truth be told it sounded better than my open reel recorder.

 

[Infiniteloop]

According to the Sunday Times this morning, "sales of tapes are rising so quickly that the RIAA ... is pondering ways to track numbers for the first time since the early 1990s"

I guess if you were looking for an example of 'fashion over function', there is no need to look further than this. Cassettes were dreadful. There is no other word for it. The tape was too thin, the speed too slow, the tracks too close together, and no space in the enclosure for decent capstan, tape guides or multiple heads. I spent hours trying to get cassette players to give a decent response, and failed every time.

With apologies to vinyl and valve fans, I am afraid this is just more of the same generational fashion nonsense. Those guys at Sony and Philips in the 80s really did come out with a great system - which when supplied with a decent master can produce remarkable levels of clarity and depth. It is always telling that classical music fans (who generally listen to music with wide dynamic range) embraced digital recording with open arms, and don't seem to have looked back.

I might try and pre-empt the next fad. Edison wax cylinders. Fragile if you drop them, and I guess there is that big horn and the dog to carry around, but I am sure it will be worth it to get 'closer to the music'.

If you've never heard Digital through a decent Valve Amp, you owe it to yourself.......

I thoroughly enjoy my Devialet, but I love my Unison Research S8.

 

[Rimse]

actually market exploded already.New metal audio tapes are very desirable and hold their price ,sometimes even more expensive these days.I bought a lot of them from around the world,especially when GBP was down Music recorded on metal audio tapes even from computer using high quality dac to tape deck sounds pretty damn good on some sony walkmans

 

[Al ears]

Music recorded on metal audio tapes even from computer using high quality dac to tape deck sounds pretty damn good on some sony walkmans

My experience of cassette decks has been the opposite to most, especially those whose experiences mirror those of Andyjm. What I've learned is most people don't want to hear about experiences that are wildly contrary to their own when they've got their opinion set in stone about something and will happily ridicule opposing beliefs no matter how succinctly you try express them, so I'm careful what I say when my opinion flows largely against the tide.

But for the record (or should that be tape), I found it amazing how good cassette could actually sound when supported by decent electronics, completely belying the format's indisputable technical handicaps. Nakamichi managed to make a machine with three discrete heads and twin capstan drive as long ago as 1973, it was hugely expensive but sounded better than most cheap domestic open reel recorders which had the technical odds massively in their favour. But quality always came with a price premium which most did not spend, and because of that, the truth is most people never heard cassette at anything nearly as good at its best.

It also kickstarted the home recording revolution, which began when affordable multitrack machines began to appear. Even commercial releases were sometimes tracked on cassette, most notably Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album which was tracked entirely on a 4-track Teac 144. I joined the revolution much later in the 1990s when when I bought a Yamaha MT4X, which ran at double speed on Type 2 tape, used DBX NR and had a sound quality which comfortably saw-off my Akai GX4000DB open reel recorder. I used it for my own home recording ventures well into this century.

Sure they had their limitations, but those people who dis cassettes as a joke either just had crap recorders, or their opinion is based on the sound quality from mass-produced musicassettes, which generally with few exceptions, was lousy.

+1

I still use my Walkman WM-D6C with some decently recorded tapes now and again and I must say it sounds great through my system.

 

[MajorFubar]

Music recorded on metal audio tapes even from computer using high quality dac to tape deck sounds pretty damn good on some sony walkmans

My experience of cassette decks has been the opposite to most, especially those whose experiences mirror those of Andyjm. What I've learned is most people don't want to hear about experiences that are wildly contrary to their own when they've got their opinion set in stone about something and will happily ridicule opposing beliefs no matter how succinctly you try express them, so I'm careful what I say when my opinion flows largely against the tide.

But for the record (or should that be tape), I found it amazing how good cassette could actually sound when supported by decent electronics, completely belying the format's indisputable technical handicaps. Nakamichi managed to make a machine with three discrete heads and twin capstan drive as long ago as 1973. It was hugely expensive, but it sounded better than most cheap domestic open reel recorders which had the technical odds massively in their favour. Most importantly it threw down the gauntlet and showed what could be achieved. But even two decades later, quality cassette decks always came with a price premium which most buyers did not spend, and because of that, the truth is most people never heard cassette at anything nearly as good at its best.

It also kickstarted the home recording revolution, which began when affordable multitrack machines began to appear. Even commercial releases were sometimes tracked on cassette, most notably Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album which was tracked entirely on a 4-track Teac 144. I joined the revolution much later in the 1990s when when I bought a Yamaha MT4X, which ran at double speed on Type 2 tape, used DBX NR and had a sound quality which comfortably saw-off my Akai GX4000DB open reel recorder. I used it for my own home recording ventures well into this century.

Sure they had their limitations, but those people who dis cassettes as a joke either just had crap recorders, or their opinion is based on the sound quality from mass-produced musicassettes, which generally with few exceptions, was lousy.

 

[MajorFubar]

Yep the D6C was a legend. Probably the best sounding portable cassette recorder ever made.

 

[CnoEvil]

 Music recorded on metal audio tapes even from computer using high quality dac to tape deck sounds pretty damn good on some sony walkmans

My experience of cassette decks has been the opposite to most, especially those whose experiences mirror those of Andyjm. What I've learned is most people don't want to hear about experiences that are wildly contrary to their own when they've got their opinion set in stone about something and will happily ridicule opposing beliefs no matter how succinctly you try express them, so I'm careful what I say when my opinion flows largely against the tide.

But for the record (or should that be tape), I found it amazing how good cassette could actually sound when supported by decent electronics, completely belying the format's indisputable technical handicaps. Nakamichi managed to make a machine with three discrete heads and twin capstan drive as long ago as 1973, it was hugely expensive but sounded better than most cheap domestic open reel recorders which had the technical odds massively in their favour. But quality always came with a price premium which most did not spend, and because of that, the truth is most people never heard cassette at anything nearly as good at its best.

It also kickstarted the home recording revolution, which began when affordable multitrack machines began to appear. Even commercial releases were sometimes tracked on cassette, most notably Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album which was tracked entirely on a 4-track Teac 144. I joined the revolution much later in the 1990s when when I bought a Yamaha MT4X, which ran at double speed on Type 2 tape, used DBX NR and had a sound quality which comfortably saw-off my Akai GX4000DB open reel recorder. I used it for my own home recording ventures well into this century.

Sure they had their limitations, but those people who dis cassettes as a joke either just had crap recorders, or their opinion is based on the sound quality from mass-produced musicassettes, which generally with few exceptions, was lousy.

+1

I still use my Walkman WM-D6C with some decently recorded tapes now and again and I must say it sounds great through my system.

I also remember my tapes (TDK SA & SA-X) with fondness.

 

[drummerman]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

I take it she doesn't approve of your new system

 

[chebby]

Our youngest daughter (23) said something the other day that suprised me. "You all had the coolest stuff and the best music when you were young. We got s##t!"

I take it she doesn't approve of your new system

She uses it (with Bluetooth from her Samsung) when she comes round to see us/eat/fill up rucksack with our food

 

[chebby]

http://www.whathifi.com/news/cassette-tape-revival-its-not-really-happening

 

[manicm]

Cno the SA was particularly stable, our tape deck was chewing cassettes but took a liking to this one! Good times.