I liked everything about audio cassettes - except for the fact that the sound deteriorated more than vinyl did, every time you play them.

The shape and dimensions of the cassette box, the smell of plastic when you unwrap a new blank tape. Blank CDs just don't have that strong a smell.

I used to love making compilations, sat there with headphones on with one finger hovering over the pause button. Using drag and drop to make CDRs just isn't the same. Its so clinical and unorganic.

The fact that you had to stick to around 45 minutes for each side - it'd cause you to be more creative with your choices. I like how you can't just skip forward or pick up the needle on a cassette - you had to fast forward and wait. Usually, because I couldn't be bothered to wait, I'd let the current song just play out. It forced you to listen. Fast forward never seemed to really be that "fast"...

I know that a lot of audiophiles say that vinyl has a better sound than CD... Well, I have a few cassettes that sound better than some CDs and vinyl. I don't even mind mild cassette hiss - it sounds warm, like something's cooking in the kitchen.

God - I miss cassettes, but its just easier, cheaper and safer to use blank CDs.

the sound deteriorated more than vinyl did


if you take care of your vinyl... it doesnt deteriorate..

i recently threw away about 500 cassettes.

i just never played them and the sound quality is way inferior to my vinyl and cds.

i went threw a phase last year where i organised all my tapes and listened to a lot of them.....but it's kind of sad now.....i'm sad because i don't really miss them and i used to love them so much.

mrdespues said:

Didn't you back them up to your hard drive and make WAVs from them all?

BinaryJustin said:

nup. I have most of them on CD anyway now.

the ones I didn't have on CD I didn't even like (things like Poison, Motley Crue, which I have no interest in listening to anymore!!!).

Hmmm... Well, purely to prove a point, here's a zip file containing something that I archived from a cassette tape.

GONE

Have a listen and let me know if the sound quality is all that bad - I really don't think it is.

p.s. Your discretion is advisable!
[This message was edited Sun May 9 5:56:00 2004 by BinaryJustin]

I'm removing the link - its been up ten minutes and it should only have took 8 minutes to download over a 56k modem. If anybody's interested in listening to the file - Org Note me!

Um... So did anybody get to listen to the file?

i have a dresser drawer full of tapes that i should throw away, but there's a few tapes that i've had for a long time that i don't think that i'd ever wanna part with.

i'm a cassette packrat.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

You should archive the cassettes onto your hard drive. Its easier than you think and there are loads of WAV edit programs out there that will digitally remove tape hiss.

Anyway - Haystack downloaded the test file I uploaded and he didn't know that it was sourced from a cassette tape.

when i asked my mother if i could buy an CD she always would say: listen to the radio and tape it.

like a whole entire album would be broadcasted !!

most of my old prince albums are on tape.
i really think i should replace em.