So cassettes are making a comeback?

[PopTodd]

Are these making a comeback, too?

[Lammycat]

I still listen to cassettes often. I have probably 1,200 or so. 

 

What makes you think they're making a comeback, though?

[PopTodd]

I've seen a whole lot more talk about them. Also, I see a lot more bands on Bandcamp offering a cassette option for purchase.

I think it's a young hipster thing: nostalgia for a time before they were born.

[Robby]

I'm anxiously waiting for the big comeback of 8-track tapes and quadraphonic sound systems.

[Lammycat]

They need to make a Walkman-like system, too,so I can listen to my reel to reels as I walk the dogs....

[The Inside of Outside]

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/cassette-tapes-stepp/

 

and

 

http://www.avclub.com/article/how-musics-worst-format-has-found-a-new-life-102531

[Al.Ducts]

I buy cassettes, have put out a cassette, and a lot of my friends in diy music circles do the same. For younginz without much disposable income, a $5 tape is a much easier way to support a band and take home a little tangible, physical copy than a $25 vinyl record. They almost always come with a download code as well, so you can access the record digitally. Audiophiles may well poo-poo their sound quality and general fragility, but that misses the point I think. On a personal note, I also have a tape player in my car and no disc drive on my laptop, so CD's don't make that much sense for me at this point. Plus cd's are kind of dope-y (to quote a certain rock critic from a certain documentary on a certain band).

[froggie]

 

[Lammycat]

With a BASF, you most certainly will eventually need the pen.

[winterland121072]

I always liked the maxell ud xl IIs....

 

[kidsmoke]

I still have a couple of those, sealed, up on a closet shelf, waiting to become music for somebody.

[dagwave]

I remember walking home with  freshly purchased  maxell cassette tapes and planning out my taping strategy. I loved those maxells- a little pricey but the best for my wallet. A mainstay on the Xmas list for years!

[Moss]

I still have tons. Hope they get all hipster and popular so I can unload those pieces of crap.

[LouieB]

Cassettes are a weird thing. Lots of bands do put out prerecorded cassettes, but honestly I am not sure who is playing them; mostly people with really old cars I guess and the people who saved their players (I am one.) I would say that if you have old mixtapes those are still not going to sell, but I do pick up new ones at garage sales which are still dirt cheap.

 

I bought one from a member of a band a while back and played the first side and before I got back to play the second side a few months later, the thing malfunctioned, proving that the technology is pretty much crap still.  

 

LouieB

[Moss]

The double album cassettes were super crap. So thin you could see through them. Lasted about 2 plays. My Heavy Metal soundtrack lasted a week.

[LouieB]

The vast majority of the general public has no idea cassettes are a thing, even those who still buy physical music.  Hell most people don't even know LPs are a thing.

 

LouieB

[jff]

Hopefully this will lead to the resurgence of mix tapes made for crushes.  CD or MP3 mixes aren't the same.  Cassette mix tapes were an art form when done right.

[LouieB]

Just bought a brick of tapes so I am ready.

 

LouieB

[Oil Can Boyd]

I just started listening to the 99% Invisible podcast and they had a recent episode about cassette tapes.  Apparently one of the big users groups for cassettes is prisoners.  

 

http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/loud-and-clear/