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Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

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Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#131

Post by cellularmitosis »

jackdoe wrote: post #128
cellularmitosis wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it is really hard to make a good sounding cassette It is unfortunate that cassettes are the lowest fidelity consumer medium (of modern times). But there is some room to optimize within that space. If you are curious: The cassettes available today are Type I, Type II ("high bias") and Type IV ("metal"), each being higher fidelity than the last, but not all portable players supported these types of tape. Dolby B/…

> Type IV also they are 20$ per cassette :)

Wow! And Type I are about $2.80 on amazon. That's quite the span!

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#133

Post by kh_hk »

yourusername wrote: post #126
kh_hk wrote: post #117

My car radio has stopped playing cassettes for a while, I inherited this car with a full library on the glove compartment that I enjoyed playing from time to time. Guess it can be fixed?

A common point of failure is the belt that drives the mechanism, it will deteriorate with time. You can buy the belts off aliexpress for a few cents.

I will start there, thanks!

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#134

Post by arethuza »

ceuk wrote: post #7
finaard wrote: post #5

I started getting cassette players working again when I had kids - I had lots of old cassettes with stories still, and after looking into a lot of stuff determined that it is one of the best physical storage formats for that kind of content for kids we currently have. Its major advantage is that it automatically saves state, and the state saving is player-independent. Add to that that players typically have large clu…

Basically the same story here for me. I have a trove of audiobooks I've carted around with me from house to house since I left home which my kids now eagerly pick from each night to listen to at bedtime. I've even supplemented my collection considerably since from eBay and the like. It's just such a great medium. Fairly resilient, incredibly easy to use, compact, cheap ish. And of course there's the heady dose of nos…

I still have the BBC Radio 4 version of His Dark Materials on CD somewhere - I ripped them years ago and listen to the digital version. I've experienced HDM in various forms, including the stage version and of course the books, but I am most fond of the Radio 4 version.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#135

Post by jjav »

jghn wrote: post #10

I lived through vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, and CDs. I digitized all of my music over 20 years ago and no longer even own a physical media playback device. I can't fathom going back. Digital or bust.

Cassettes were always a pain, but LPs are an awesome medium even today.

While it's convenient to just listen to anything with a click, the joy of the experience is gone. Purposefully pulling out an LP and setting it on the turntable, sitting on the couch to meaningfully listen while reading the album cover is a much more engaging musical experience.

Yes, I don't have time to do that much anymore either. But when possible, it is much more enjoyable.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#136

Post by kevin061 »

karlkloss wrote: post #114

As soon as recordable CDs were affordable, I switched completely, and never looked back. Cassette tapes were nice when we didn't have anything better, but they were always a big pain in the back. Noisy, wearing out, skipping took a long time, making compilations took hours. I don't miss those times. Nowadays, I can play mp3's on a $3 microcontroller, at excellent quality, and I love it. Do you still use a kerosene la…

While I agree with the overall sentiment, streaming services have also degraded our behaviours by prioritising instant rewards and locking us into a platform you cannot escape easily from, and that once you escape, you lose literally everything, for you never owned those songs. Then you have social media notifications interrupting your songs, no headphone jack, and no physical button feedback when playing music on your smartphone.

I also don't really see the appeal of cassette tapes, personally, and the quality of digital media like CDs and even MP3 files is arguably superior.

I guess a good middle ground is one of those modern audio players that don't have smartphone functionality and take an SD card or so. FiiO I think is quite popular. Might give it a try some day.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#137

Post by 2000UltraDeluxe »

yourusername wrote: post #123
jackdoe wrote: post #105

I stopped using my smartphone for about 1 year now and bought a walkman fiio cp13, it is really cool, but it is really hard to make a good sounding cassette, particularly if you dont know what you are doing (like me). I record stuff from youtube and make mix tapes. I am experimenting with "not getting what I want the second I want it", e.g. "I want to listen to XYZ", 1 second later I click on spotify and its done. No…

>but it is really hard to make a good sounding cassette, particularly if you dont know what you are doing (like me). All these modern cassette players use the same super basic mechanism. To make a good sounding tape you would need vintage hardware with Dolby noise reduction and less wow/flutter.

Yeah, with high-end vintage decks in good shape, tapes can sound pretty decent, more than enough for day-to-day listening.

A type I tape recorded on a modern player? It'll sound horrible.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#138

Post by Mashimo »

ares623 wrote: post #127
jackdoe wrote: post #105

I stopped using my smartphone for about 1 year now and bought a walkman fiio cp13, it is really cool, but it is really hard to make a good sounding cassette, particularly if you dont know what you are doing (like me). I record stuff from youtube and make mix tapes. I am experimenting with "not getting what I want the second I want it", e.g. "I want to listen to XYZ", 1 second later I click on spotify and its done. No…

The GTA games (yes, those ones) have pre-recorded radio stations that I found to be perfect for cassettes. You play songs with no way to skip them with funny commentary in between so it feels like one long take (like Pink Floyd’s DSOTM)

Are you tired of dad?

Dad, no one wants to hear your stupid Vietnam stories.

Are you tired of mom?

Hi angel, do you want to read a book or go outside?

No.

Degenatron!The arcade comes to your living room, only without the creepy guys offering to show you puppies.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#139

Post by Mashimo »

karlkloss wrote: post #114

As soon as recordable CDs were affordable, I switched completely, and never looked back. Cassette tapes were nice when we didn't have anything better, but they were always a big pain in the back. Noisy, wearing out, skipping took a long time, making compilations took hours. I don't miss those times. Nowadays, I can play mp3's on a $3 microcontroller, at excellent quality, and I love it. Do you still use a kerosene la…

> Do you still use a kerosene lamp when you go into your barn at night?

No, but people still use candles or LEDs that resemble candles, including the flickering.

People also read paperback books. It's not always about practicality.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#140

Post by nemo8551 »

cellularmitosis wrote: post #124
jackdoe wrote: post #105

I stopped using my smartphone for about 1 year now and bought a walkman fiio cp13, it is really cool, but it is really hard to make a good sounding cassette, particularly if you dont know what you are doing (like me). I record stuff from youtube and make mix tapes. I am experimenting with "not getting what I want the second I want it", e.g. "I want to listen to XYZ", 1 second later I click on spotify and its done. No…

> but it is really hard to make a good sounding cassette It is unfortunate that cassettes are the lowest fidelity consumer medium (of modern times). But there is some room to optimize within that space. If you are curious: The cassettes available today are Type I, Type II ("high bias") and Type IV ("metal"), each being higher fidelity than the last, but not all portable players supported these types of tape. Dolby B/…

I wish the comeback was minidisc. I was just the right age to think this was the future of portable music.

Mostly because I could record radio, other cds and cassettes onto them.

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