I still have boxes of cassettes - as well as 45s come to think of it. I never had any 8-tracks and those that did usually ended their lives in those huge anti-8-track riots of the early 1980s. But sad to see the demise of the handy cassette, the giver of mobile take anywhere music:
While the cassette was dumped long ago by the music industry, it has lived on among publishers of audio books. Many people prefer cassettes because they make it easy to pick up in the same place where the listener left off, or to rewind in case a certain sentence is missed. For Hachette, however, demand had slowed so much that it released its last book on cassette in June, with “Sail,” a novel by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.
I bought these from mid-70s elementary school to at least 1991 bootlegged versions in Poland. Good things about cassettes? Light, able to be grabbed off the floor of a car as you are driving and the "go to the next song" scanning feature that was created somewhere along the way. And, of course, the ability to make a mixed tape - an object to be preserved or given as it fixed the memory of what you liked at a point in time. Bad? Cracked cases and the poor quality of store bought tapes compared to most home-made ones.
Goodbye, media of my youth.
Comments
Paul Garrard - July 28, 2008 9:29 am
I still have loads of cassettes, 8-tracks, 45s & 33 1/3s. But no 78s!
Ben (The Tiger) - July 28, 2008 9:49 am
Now's when it's time to start feeling old, Alan...
What a revolution the development of the Walkman was -- when we could first carry our own soundtrack to life with us!
sean liddle - July 28, 2008 9:50 am
Luckily for me, we bought a multi-media sony stereo system a few years back that could play cassettes, cds and mini-disks (me being one of the only non-Japanese people in the world who actually bought mini-disk players a few years back.) Cool thing was its abilty to in real time copy perfectly the cassettes to the MDs which in turn could be directly swapped to the computer and turned into MP3s.. Also has the ability to transfer music from cassettes to the computer via blue tooth.. All in all, all of my boxes of cassettes have long since become refuse with a 2000 year half life.
Paul of Kingston - July 28, 2008 12:53 pm
boodle-woodle-weeeeeep!
I still have my Max Webster Million Vacationbs cassette in my old Volvo as an emergency backup.
Mike C - July 28, 2008 1:15 pm
I have a 1940 RCA Victor cabinet phonograph/radio that plays 45s, 33.33s and 78s. Needs a bit of work, including new cord; radio works - bought it at a yardsale for $15. Thought it would be a good cottage piece at the time but since I'll probably never have a cottage it sits in the basement office under a 1912 typewriter.
sean liddle - July 28, 2008 3:02 pm
You know what I want Mike? A big 1940s era floor mounted multi band radio that picks up shortwave. I have a small SW receiver but nothing with a tuner you can actually manipulate if you have hands bigger than a Hobbit's. That and a 1912 typewriter. I coudl drive my wife crazy sitting in my library listening to BBC World Service and typing out "no tv and no beer make homer something something" all night.
Renee - July 28, 2008 6:13 pm
You would totally do it, too. All night.
sean - July 29, 2008 12:36 am
You know it baby!