Cassettes are back in

Cassettes had no place after 2000, much less in the 2010s.

 

I was in a Deli in Manhattan last week, I looked up and saw they were selling Maxell D90's normal bias cassette tapes.

I asked them when the last time they sold one and he said last week.

 

I like them. Recently preordered the new Nate Ruess album on cassette. But yeah, all for nostalgia.

 

For recording purposes maybe since they can't just be "deleted" like digital files and be done with them. For music... Probably not. I will pretty much only use my cassette player as a portable radio, mostly Houston Rockets games lol. No true redeeming qualities to cassettes like CDs/MP3 and vinyl do.

 

Cassette is a great way for a modern band to release a very exclusive album or song that few people will actually get to hear. Which makes it extra exclusive. I could name a band that has done this. But you wouldn't have heard of them.

 

There's a few extensive, reasonably active threads on cassettes and decks here. I have several high end decks that see regular use.

 

My Nak Dragon gets regular use and always will.

 

Not what you're referring to I'm sure, but I'm guessing that's why Metallica released No Life til Leather on cassette only. Or maybe they have a digital download equivalent, I'm not sure, but I thought it was a nifty move. Would be awesome to be like "Hey mom, I need to borrow your car." "Why, honey? Everything Ok?" "Yea man, just really want to jam this new Metallica release and yours is the only car in the family with a cassette player still!"

 

Only if you have car with a cassette player. Nah, seriously, I (musically) lived on a strictly cassette diet for almost a decade out of sheer poverty. As soon as I was able to upgrade my rig and buy records again, I sold my 2 cassette decks and spent the money on cds and lps (no kiddin'). Prerecorded commercial cassettes rarely sounded OK and the ones that sounded nice were recorded from friend's lps or cds, so I saw no point in keep on listening to them.

 

A really top shelf cassette deck can give a fairly expensive CD player a realistic run for its money with a quality home-made tape, but is that a reason to own and run one? Back in the day of common place home cassette players in HiFis, in cars, and in Walkmans, I think it made sense.

Loved the recording quality and stability I got out of those TDK SA-XG 90's in my Nak. They were the cat's pajamas, beyond the SA-X or NAK High Bias and my go to tape. But have you looked at the ebay prices on NOS (blanks) cassette tape??? Holy cow! Simply amazing what happens when ANYTHING becomes unoptainium! $5-$20 a pop for a single 90 minute High Bias depending?!

I have two untouched cases of those squirreled away, perhaps it's time to broom them and the ZX-7...

 

I know a guy who has a band here and they're releasing their first album on cassette. It's all DIY. He bought the blanks, copied dozens on cobbled together duplicators he bought dirt cheap off eBay, designed and made the labels, affixed them by hand, etc. It's been an extraordinarily time consuming project, which I doubt will reap any financial rewards. However, it's a unique handmade curio they can sell at shows and at the local record shop that is more interesting and unique than a bunch of CD-R copies. It's also more accessible than having LPs pressed. So, yeah. I see why it has become kind of a thing.

dan c

 

Listening to a Sir Elton John concert recorded on cassette off a FM broadcast in 1993. Sounds incredible.

 

I buy them because they're $.10 - $1 and I like the music. Also, it can be a nice way to "test out" a particular album before seeking out the vinyl.

 

I have no interest in prerecorded cassettes, but I use my Nak Dragon to make party mix tapes for when I have too many guests and it is not practical to spin records. It sounds really good and people enjoy it.

 

I just recently bought a 10 pack of these for around $35 . They run dead quiet and record great.

So, yes folks there are decent blank tapes still available at a fairly reasonable price.

 

I would like to get into cassette recording as well, but I don't have a decent deck and when you record cassettes, it's basically trial and error. You have to get the bias tuned right, and get the recording level right so that there is no distortion. If you mess up, you have to re-record and do it again, and that can damage the tape or cause it to degrade.

With MiniDisc, there is no bias adjustment, and recording level is good, as long as the "OVER" light doesn't flash during recording. Much simpler and easier to use.

 

There is an upcoming release I am very interested in which, to this point, has only been confirmed to be released on cassette. Do I wish it was this way? No, but it is what it is.
I don't like cassette and I don't find them to be particularly useful in 2015. But we still need to maintain the good decks and keep them handy for when the rarities come up and need to be transferred to digital.

 

One of my favourite cassette releases, great sound, great packaging and extra tracks

 

Nope. I have a boombox for playing cassette tapes I find at flea markets or thrift stores, but I'm not going to go out of my way to get cassette tapes. Whenever I play cassette tapes, I play them just to record them with my computer.

 

That one escaped my attention back then.

I only bought a handful of pre-recorded tapes. Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues and David Byrne - The Catherine Wheel for the longer/extra tracks.
Badfinger - Straight Up (used) before I could find a decent LP for a price I wanted to pay. And a couple of others.

 

I never bought prerecorded tapes back in the day. I was taping vinyl from my Empire 698 turntable. Lots of friends begged for my tape dubs back then.

Last year though I decided to buy a few dozen, choice, sealed, prerecorded cassettes just for the hell of it to see what they might sound like and how they would play.

To my surprise several of them sound outstanding. Hendrix Band Of Gypsy's as well as Dylan Blood On The Tracks, Iron Butterfly In A Godda, and the biggest surprise of all was The Best Of Quicksilver Messenger Service. That tape sounds better than any Quicksilver I've ever heard, vinyl or CD versions, most all have a lot of distortion on the vocals on many cuts this tape does not, it sounds fantastic. I dubbed it to CD for archive.

Another dozen sound very good.

Several sound like total crap, and 1 chewed up, my fault, the pressure pad came loose, I should've checked it more careful.

 

An amazing sounding pre-recorded tape is the Elvis Presley box set "From Nashville To Memphis". Sounds really awesome on my Yamaha K-1000. I'm really thinking of taking the plunge and getting a Dragon. It's kind of fun to get the stuff you wanted but couldn't afford when you were young.

 

K-1000 is a nice deck. Read up on Dragons before you take the plunge, they can have issues that will cost $$$.

IMO there are better sounding decks than the Dragon, and at less cost. Still a killer, iconic deck nonetheless.

 

Wouldn't bother unless it's some cassette-only release from a group you're really into, such as the Metallica demo thing a little while ago. Although, they might be putting that out on CD later on...somebody please quote and reply if I'm incorrect on that one.

And, if you're into that old compromised sound for some old school nostalgia specific-sound, a couple record stores I frequent here and the old hometown both sell pre-recorded cassettes for next to nothing. I bought a few 80's standards and hair-band albums on cassette a while ago and digitized them using an HK-392, which produced the exact results I was looking for.

Let's see here...what did I get when I bought those. No Jacket Required, Vital Signs, Long Cold Winter, Appetite For Destruction, Lies, Classic Yes and Delicate Sound Of Thunder...all for $6 at the very most. 90% of the time I'll go for those titles on CD or LP, but once in a great while if I want to lay on the couch and space out - well, nap out as I crossed the 40 yard line a few months ago - I'll go for the cassette versions....just because.

 

I have a Onkyo TA-2090 that was their top of the line model. It was in immaculate condition and had been serviced. Sounded very, very nice. Way better than the Yamaha (which isn't too shabby).Unfortunately the pop out knobs went bad and short circuited the whole thing (these parts are unobtanium). Now I have a very expensive door stop. Which decks would you reccommend over a Dragon?