Cassette tapes revived in Japan

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mertoo, Dec 11, 2016.

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  1. mertoo

    mertoo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Turkey
    I don't know if this was posted before but my brother sent me this short video this morning; what do you think? I started listening music on tapes so always had a soft spot for these small friends.
     
  2. I've seen cassette tapes on sale in the various Disk Union stores for years. It's a semi-fad. 20 of them happen here every week of the year. They seem to making a bigger thing of it right now but I don't see anyone going crazy over it. I'm hanging on for the re-emergence of Mini-Disc, far more deserving of a re-hash than compact cassette.
     
  3. JustVinyl

    JustVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Interesting video and absolutely great for choice when it comes to buying music. Thanks for posting the link!
     
    J Vanarsdale, ispace and mertoo like this.
  4. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    I'm sorry but I always find stories like this to be highly suspect. When they say "Cassettes are making a comeback," all I hear is "Hey everyone, we're trying to cash in on nostalgia by bringing back cassettes, so if you want to be hip and trendy here's your chance!"

    If they want to try, more power to them, but lets be real. Cassettes aren't going to eclipse CDs, digital downloads or even LPs. Not gonna happen. A few people will buy into the 'warmer sound' cliche and they'll sell some units, but relatively speaking it'll be a small blip. Once people start experiencing the drawbacks to that outdated medium, it'll drop off again quicker than you can say "My deck ate another tape."
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2016
    RomanBlade, SammyJoe, Marzz and 13 others like this.
  5. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    There are about 1500 cassettes in a landfill near us if anyone wants them. Finally got round to dumping them (once I was sure I'd got equivalents for all the ones I actually liked) about 18 months ago. I've still got a nice Yamaha deck in the shed though.
     
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  6. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

  7. The Killer

    The Killer Dung Heap Rooster

    Location:
    The Cotswolds
    Cassettes are pants, they were OK when I was 10 and taping stuff off the radio but I like a tad more quality these days.
     
    Pieter Kozak, Marzz, Jarleboy and 7 others like this.
  8. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I had a couple of phases on them, but it always ended badly. Mine either got chewed up or 'went muffled' on me. I looked after them too! Plus, they were always slightly more expensive than LPs, despite having hardly any artwork and zero collectability.
     
    The Killer likes this.
  9. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I used to buy them because I couldn't wait until I got home to hear a new album...out of the shop, straight into the walkman!

    With the benefit of hindsight, they sounded like ****, particularly side 2 on auto-reverse!
     
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  10. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    Gonna open a store that only sells rotary telephones. After all, they were analog.

    Hey guys I hear rotary phones are making a comeback.
     
  11. *Zod*

    *Zod* Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
  12. The Killer

    The Killer Dung Heap Rooster

    Location:
    The Cotswolds
    Ditched mine years ago although still got two copies of Steve Young's Long Time Rider and one of Bow Wow Wow C30 C60 C90 Go, your cassette pet!
     
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  13. As a prerecorded medium... I never bothered. I was into buying decent blank tapes and making my own mixed comps.
    Recording from vinyl and later CD, they sounded excellent.
    Nothing wrong in people discovering it...much in the same way some of the younger generation getting into vinyl.

    Me????
    Mp3 has replaced the cassettes in my car...... :)
     
    Marzz, sherrill50 and hi_watt like this.
  14. sgtpppr84

    sgtpppr84 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midland, TX
    I still have all my Beatles cassettes, including the British albums and most of the American albums. They were my main format for music until switching to CD in 2000.
     
    Shak Cohen likes this.
  15. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Are they actually putting new albums onto cassette, or is it just old ones that have begun selling again?
     
  16. Shak Cohen

    Shak Cohen Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Another cassette thread with some news, another load of whinging cassette bashers...
     
    Engelsstaub, Imagine70, intv7 and 6 others like this.
  17. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Surely the OP had to know this was coming...yet he still posted it...LOL!!

    Ed
     
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  18. Shak Cohen

    Shak Cohen Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    The capability of short run tapes is quite good. For example, Cassette tape duplication and production | Band Cassettes ยป can record from 1/4" analogue or high res digital in real time onto quality Chrome tape using Nakamichi and Revox recorders. If you then play the cassette on a good hi-fi deck that is functioning properly, the potential is there for fine sound:righton:
     
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  19. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    They make a "good" article in the press/media, that's all. Then some trend-seekers think that there's something cool about them.
     
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  20. Nah, just people who moved on from a substandard format to something better and don't need nostalgia for an emotional crutch.
     
    MultiMan and Nostaljack like this.
  21. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    Until you try to use one. I gave up the video cassette tapes once TV went digital. No point recording TV programs if you have to watch them at the same time.
     
  22. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    There is actually a genre, a kind of noisy experimental ambient music, that thrives on cassettes. It's small-scale stuff, but that's kind of the point.
     
  23. I am assuming this is prerecorded only, if it is at Disk Union (great store!) and short run. Seems like a promo thing.

    When I was in the Akiharbara electric district, the number of blank cassettes formulae and brands were quite limited even in Japan, just like the US/Canada and Europe are now. Most were just low priced and lower-f1 low noise versions like Maxell UR, Sony HF, but with unique Japan market labels and some alternate versions, but generally the same tape. High bias and metal tape were gone, other than the rare find of old stock.

    This was the opposite of the CD-R, DVD-R, BD-R, blank discs that were sold by many brands (Panasonic, Sony, Victor-JVC, Mitsubishi Chem/Verbatim, Fujifilm/Axia, Maxell, TDK, That's, etc.)with many types of labels/colors, packaging (cakes, slim cases, full jewel cases), multipacks, etc. Even that is category is declining in variety and shelf space.

    Sort of the way blank cassettes were sold in Japan in the 70s-90s, many different formulae, colors, even often sold under hardware brands too OEM'd by the big tape makers. Seems like blank cassettes are long past even there. Really didn't see a lot of new hardware to play or record them either, other than the occasional cheapo 90s legacy design boombox from Victor-JVC.

    In less developed countries, cassettes are still common, because they are cheap and people have the devices to record/trade. Even that is declining due to CD-R or internet.
     
    fastskillfulinjured likes this.
  24. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    What kind of VCR were you using?
     
    Grant likes this.
  25. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    I wonder if Technics will build a new deck and sell it for $20K?? :eek:
     
    Ghostworld, WhoDaresWins and Grant like this.
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