Cassette tapes are making a comeback? • Hacker News Board

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#231

Post by georgefrowny » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:58 PM UTC

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?

To be fair, there really is nothing like the gentle hiss of a tilley lamp while there's a storm blowing outside.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#232

Post by titusjohnson » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:16 PM UTC

baobun wrote: post #188

Hackbraten wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The cassettes available today are Type I, Type II ("high bias") and Type IV ("metal") That statement feels a litle misleading. The only type of cassettes produced today is Type I. Everything else is new old stock, where you might end up with a decades-old, chemically degraded cassette.

> decades-old, chemically degraded cassette Somehow it never occurred to me. I wonder how all the C64 games in the basement are doing...

About 5 years ago or so I was able to collect my Dad's C64 collection from my Mom's house, buy some new cables and an official C64 monitor off of eBay, and gift him his old computer back for Christmas.

I can't speak to cassettes, we had only cartridges and floppies. My Dad was a prolific pirate, so cases and cases of floppies. I'd say roughly 3 out of 5 worked, and we were able to boot the old game up. Karateka, 4th and Inches, Hat Trick, Bubble Bobble, Impossible Mission...

I was surprised the C64 worked, honestly. It had been stored for nearly a decade in an old Barn next to decrepit plow/cattle equipment from the early 1900's, not protected from the environment at all, just an old cardboard box literally busting at the seams. At least it wasn't on the ground.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#233

Post by ceuk » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:31 PM UTC

georgefrowny wrote: post #121

ceuk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them For kids: Just William (read by Martin Jarvis) and PG Wodehouse Wooster books (don't recall who read that). Early Eddie Izzard shows were also memorably good as audio. Very quotable. There's a gigantic, not always unofficial, archive of Just a Minute online, which is excellent car journey material. This is the first 5 series, but there's 80-plus series of it i…

I absolutely loved those just william cassettes as a kid! Completely forgot they existed, must have been lost or broken. Will definitely be repurchasing

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#234

Post by j45 » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:33 PM UTC

prmoustache wrote: post #199

j45 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less about fidelity, more about portability and customizability. Today we can hear all the hifi we want, it's a trip to see what the imagination can fill in as well. If you're really into walkmans, check out the Panasonic ultra small ranges.

The point about fidelity/quality is moot anyway when most people are listening to overcompressed[1] music on crappy bluetooth speakers and/or in a noisy environment. [1] as in dynamic range compression, not encoding

Some decade, bluetooth will get there.

While it's improved a great deal, there remains a gap.

Noise cancellation is getting pretty good.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#235

Post by j45 » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:35 PM UTC

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…

There appear to be much higher quality sounding cassettes as well, made by companies like Sony.

Also, the phrase demotape for an up and coming musician to my recollection was often with a cassette tape due to it's accessibility.

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#236

Post by netrap » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:39 PM UTC

devilbunny wrote: post #172

binary132 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minidiscs were so cool! I was surprised to see they still make them. Unfortunately they’re not all that cheap but not terrible.

They don’t still make them. It’s all NOS or used.

Only recently discontinued in Feburary 2025!

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#237

Post by tech_ken » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:49 PM UTC

georgefrowny wrote: post #231

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? To be fair, there really is nothing like the gentle hiss of a tilley lamp while there's a storm blowing outside.

It's got that analog warmth

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#238

Post by guizadillas » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:58 PM UTC

nemomarx wrote: post #191

raumfisch wrote: post #186

I don’t think so. I spent a huge amount of time in my youth recording, trading, buying, and selling audio tapes (all from the metal/hardcore/punk underground). It was a lot of fun, but everyone I know was glad when other ways of sharing and spreading music became available. As a niche, yes otherwise no.

Plenty of bands on Bandcamp selling tapes as merch in my experience. I think they're more of a physical collectable item instead of a genuine medium for most of the buyers though?

Yeah on bandcamp they are collectables first and medium second

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#239

Post by cellularmitosis » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 5:52 PM UTC

bondarchuk wrote: post #145

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/…

>Edit: according to gemini AI: >* Type I had a dynamic range of about 50bB (roughly 8 bits) >* High quality tape with Dolby B, C and dbx yielded roughly 65, 75, and 85dB SNR (about 11, 12.5, and 14 bits) >So you could get pretty close to CD quality, but not quite. Source? AI content without it is less than worthless.

Did you actually try any searches? Or is this just an excuse to broadcast your feelings about AI?

The author of the Ogg format claims a bit more pessimistic range of bit depth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM

Here are some measurements of type I, II and IV:

http://www.ant-audio.co.uk/Tape_Recording/Measurements/HD3_v...

Here are the specifications of a typical dbx unit: https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/dbx/222.shtml

Re: Cassette tapes are making a comeback?

#240

Post by prmoustache » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

j45 wrote: post #234

prmoustache wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point about fidelity/quality is moot anyway when most people are listening to overcompressed[1] music on crappy bluetooth speakers and/or in a noisy environment. [1] as in dynamic range compression, not encoding

Some decade, bluetooth will get there. While it's improved a great deal, there remains a gap. Noise cancellation is getting pretty good.

It is not necessarily a protocol/technology issue, more a cultural one. Most people are just not looking at quality first and will buy whatever is cheap, loud and has the form factor they want. Music is so compressed nowadays that they don't even hear a difference between crappy and better quality speakers.