Cassettes are making a slight comeback

[GH85Carrera]

Next they will revive 8-track tapes.

I do not miss cassettes or vinyl and especially 8-tracks.

My daily driver is a 86 El Camino with lots of wind noise, my toy is a 85 911 with lots of engine noise and wind noise. Ultimate sound quality of any recording is not the issue and it is good enough for rock and roll. I have a MP3 thumb drive and a stereo playing it in random order in both of my cars. The sound is fine. Truly plug and play. I miss cassettes as much as I miss my rotary phone.

[RKDinOKC]

Set up a system to digitize a 22 year collection of reel to reel recordings of our local symphony. The biggest problem was the symphony's dynamic range was larger than the 100db limit of digital media. When the orchestra got really loud it would just overdrive the tape and keep going. Digital recording it would clip and greatly effect the quality of the sound at those levels. Because of that tape was considered better.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by RKDinOKC

Set up a system to digitize a 22 year collection of reel to reel recordings of our local symphony. The biggest problem was the symphony's dynamic range was larger than the 100db limit of digital media. When the orchestra got really loud it would just overdrive the tape and keep going. Digital recording it would clip and greatly effect the quality of the sound at those levels. Because of that tape was considered better.

Analog recording has a special quality. I've done session work as a bassist on a couple occasions. Best sounding project ever was Neve console to Studer Revox 2 inch 24 track analog. Blew away any fully digital projects I worked on.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

....

Was at a friends house recently and he still had all his 80s mix tapes. He had a fancy stereo, but I really was surprised how good they sounded - most were recorded from records.

...

I never purchased a prerecorded cassette...yuk. Boxes full of high quality Maxells recorded from LPs only....nary a "mix" in the bunch however. They still sound great to be approaching 40....damn

I got into recording live shows on DAT and mastering to CD...much later on. Grew to aopreciate the Deadhead tapers juggling cassettes during long sets/songs way back when

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

I'll tell you why this thread was started, what caused the resurgence of cassette love...



End of story.

See, told ya!
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/us-cassette-album-sales-rose-35-2017-led-by-guardians-galaxy-1071970

[cairns]

Cassettes? I miss my Revox.

[john70t]

[asphaltgambler]

Other than nolstagia, why? Music is just a file. Why have it stored on something so bad and inaccessible?

[CurtEgerer]

8-track tapes have a solid following, mainly component-type players. I've sold a few for decent money. Recently, VHS has become popular with the hipster/millennial crowd. Apparently, they are fascinated by these tapes and are paying $50-$100+ for VCR players that wouldn't sell for a dollar at a garage sale. I heard there is a popular series on Netflix set in the 1980s and VHS players are shown frequently - the popularity is partly attributed to that.

[stevej37]

[QUOTE=cairns;9874773]Cassettes? I miss my Revox./QUOTE]

Mine was an Akai...back in the day.
Sounded fine...pain in the azz to use.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

8-track tapes have a solid following, mainly component-type players. I've sold a few for decent money. Recently, VHS has become popular with the hipster/millennial crowd. Apparently, they are fascinated by these tapes and are paying $50-$100+ for VCR players that wouldn't sell for a dollar at a garage sale. I heard there is a popular series on Netflix set in the 1980s and VHS players are shown frequently - the popularity is partly attributed to that.

I just tossed my VHS several years ago....
Somewhere stashed away however....I still have a top-of-the-line, $1500 (in '85 dollars) Sony Betamax...not sure why...bet I could get five bucks for it....mebbe not

[sc_rufctr]

Is Reel to Reel the new Vinyl? "It sounds as good as anything I've ever heard"

It's a long video but worth watching.

[KFC911]

I never had a reel-to-reel but yeah, as far as tape goes...it was the thing back in the day (analog...DAT was a new age)....some folks even used VHS for audio recordings...can't recall why...tape speed maybe...dunno...

[look 171]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

8-track tapes have a solid following, mainly component-type players. I've sold a few for decent money. Recently, VHS has become popular with the hipster/millennial crowd. Apparently, they are fascinated by these tapes and are paying $50-$100+ for VCR players that wouldn't sell for a dollar at a garage sale. I heard there is a popular series on Netflix set in the 1980s and VHS players are shown frequently - the popularity is partly attributed to that.

Really? I have something like 6 of them in my garage. Maybe its time to sell them. I was going to throw them away come spring cleaning. They all belong to my wife. YOu can still get then new, can ya?

[RKDinOKC]

Went digital in the mid 90's. Got rid of my tape and direct vinyl. Did CDs at first, now it's all digital files, plays everywhere. Music distribution is what started requiring digital files and stopped most of the reel to reel hi-fi tapes from being the 1st generation of recordings.

My turntable is sealed up and in the attic along with my now digitized but not replaceable vinyl. Traded off my tape machines for computer equipment.

Retired my CD/DVD player in 2005. It's all on hard drives, thumb drives, or in the cloud.

[herr_oberst]

Back in the day, when I bought a new record album, I also made sure I had a brand new Maxell blank cassette to record that very first play of the album to. I still have the albums, but I got rid of the cassettes years ago. In the 70's it was state of the art. I'm kind of glad that the kids are keeping it alive for nostalgic purposes.
Of course, that cassette in GOTG would have sounded like trash in real life if it was played as many times as the script alluded to, but that's the magic of hollywood for ya!

[Mark Henry]

I used to buy a record and record to cassette, then tuck the record away. With the resurgence of vinyl I have all kinds of LP's and 45's that have little playtime.
I have a Technics 1200 mk2 and scored a NIB shure cartridge (same as OE) for $50 a couple years back.

I still have the cassettes from the '70's and early 80's, but I don't know if they would be any good now.

[LWJ]

Christmas for my son this year? A vintage turntable and some vinyl.

I use old cassettes for wind indicators on my boat.

Anyone want so sell vintage vinyl? My son is a blues -rock nut.

Fun thread.
Larry

[serene911]

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

I still have the cassettes from the '70's and early 80's, but I don't know if they would be any good now.

I have tapes that I made in the 70's that still play well on my old Nakamichi deck...