CommanderFrank
Cat Can't Scratch It
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The humble Audio Cassette Tape, forerunner of the Compact Disc and replacement for the once popular 8-Track Tape, has passed a milestone by turning 50 years old on Friday.
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Happy Birthday to the Audio Cassette Tape
- Thread starter CommanderFrank
- Start date
Commercial cassettes were inferior to vinyl and, indeed, inferior to Cassettes made from recording Vinyl to a cassette (thanks to the use of Type I tape until long after everyone's mix tapes were on Type II (or metal for those audiophile peeps).
I never bought Cassettes for the same reason I don't buy MP3s/AAC files: for about the same price I could buy a superior product and if I needed a portable version, I could simply make my own. The biggest difference is that it costs nothing to go to MP3, while I had to buy a Cassette in the old days. Haven't done cassettes since my first CD Burner....15 years: time flies.
I never bought Cassettes for the same reason I don't buy MP3s/AAC files: for about the same price I could buy a superior product and if I needed a portable version, I could simply make my own. The biggest difference is that it costs nothing to go to MP3, while I had to buy a Cassette in the old days. Haven't done cassettes since my first CD Burner....15 years: time flies.
RealityCrunch
[H]ard|Gawd
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Think I might still have some BASF Chrome tapes in storage 
Phoenix333
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What cassettes really had going for them was that they were not even close to being as touchy as early CD players when it came to being jostled, and they were certainly a lot more portable than vinyl. 8-tracks were not very portable and lacked the fidelity of vinyl, so the cassette was a great improvement for being on the go and took up a lot less storage. Once anti-skip CD players came about, the cassette was done. I still have some old ones I play once in a while, but given the choice I'd rather not have to FF past the leader on the shorter side of the tape, or worse... put all the tape back into the cassette housing after the player decided to get the munchies. Being able to rip a digital CD into high bit rate MP3s and stuff over 25 albums into a microSD card is the best. It may never match vinyl on tubes for fidelity, but I don't have to worry about scratching or breaking a record or figuring out where to store a bunch of large, delicate albums. If I lose the SD card or it fails I can just copy my music back onto another one from the files stored on my PC, and if those get lost I have backups, plus the original CD's. Cassettes were good for what they were, and I'm not mourning their end, but I do appreciate what they did for me at the time.
Didn't think they still counted as birthdays after your dead
You would be surprised, still used a lot.
Had an "on hold music" system at work that we would swap out the cassette every month with fresh voice over.
My first two computers were a Commodore PET and an Atari 400, and I remember using cassettes to load and save files. You had a number counter on the device, and you would have to remember the start number of your files to read them. (Thank goodness for floppies!)
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My first pcs were a Timex Sinclair and a Commodore VIC-20, both of which used tapes to load and save programs.
The Vic had an actual tape drive, the Sinclair used headphone and mic lines to plug into a tape player.
And we used to bitch about using 5.25" floppies!
The Vic had an actual tape drive, the Sinclair used headphone and mic lines to plug into a tape player.
And we used to bitch about using 5.25" floppies!
silk186
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I wonder how many people on this site have ever used a cassette tape
jbltecnicspro
[H]F Junkie
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I still use a 3.5mm to cassette adapter for my Honda CR-V and iPhone.
CommanderFrank
Cat Can't Scratch It
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I still have one in my 97 Infiniti. It's a Bose crossover system with CD Player and a cassette player. Never used it since I have no tapes for it. Need some get down Disco music to set the tone.
Betaboy1983
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"ever", I would say quite a bit. Recently, probably nobody. I'm sure quite a few have used 8 track too. *guilty*. The old vinyl didn't work very well in the garage next to the arc welder and sandblaster.
Used mine this weekend, Alpine 7400.
Most old school muscle car dashes don't play well with CD players and you can plug in an MP3 player in a pinch.
Phoenix333
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I actually just repaired a cassette player a week ago. Come to think of it, I think I have about 6 or 7 cassette devices scattered around my nest somewhere...
Dr. Righteous
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Wow, that brings back memories.
Used mine this weekend, Alpine 7400.
Most old school muscle car dashes don't play well with CD players and you can plug in an MP3 player in a pinch.
I had a 70 and a 71 Plymouth GTX back in the 80s.
The 70 was an original PlumCrazy purple with white interior car.
My job was cut and I had to transfer to stay with the company or loose my good paying job.
Had 2 weeks so I had to sell out all my MoPars. Been hunting a descent '71 GTX for 20 years now.