Does Anyone Still Own Cassette Tapes

Just curious if anyone still owns cassette tapes and plays them?

 

Yes

 

I still have most of my mix tapes.
Used to play them every so often but stopped after a few got eaten by the deck.

 

do they still play after years and years or does the tape get dried out and breaks?

 

I just played one not an hour ago. Admittedly, it's been sitting on a shelf for 27 years, and I had to try two different decks to find one that worked...

 

Oh, that's good to know. Wasn't sure if they still played. I found one that I never opened and it must be 15 years old.

 

I listen to cassettes in the car all the time. My wife has a tape of French Christmas carols that was a copy her brother made for her about 25 years ago, which still works fine.

 

This was a Denon brand cassette that we used to record the concert. I guess, in hindsight, that we made an excellent choice.

 

Actually, I lie.

I tried both sides of two different dual well dubbing cassette decks. So I actually checked four different cassette mechanisms.

I'm sure I could fix the other. The main thing that kills cassette decks is old drive belts. The rubber dries out and sticks to the rollers. It's cheap enough to replace them if you're handy with tools.

 

You have a cassette player in the car? Newer cars don't even make any CD players now. How do you play cassettes in the car? Do you have to have a blue tooth or IPod? I'm not too familiar with this newer technology.

 

Thanks Chris....I always liked cassette tapes, I'm glad I'm not the only one who still has them.

 

all the time. one local store has em for .25 up to $2 for a "desirable" release. way cheaper than CDs, which are already cheap...

 

Why throw away media? Here is the Wall'o'Cassettes (the left hand shelf).



The right hand shelf is other obscure formats. The very top of the shelf is BetaCam SP. The one below that is 3/4" U-Matic. Below that is mostly PAL VHS.

 

I still have around 150 or so. I haven't listened to many in a long time, but as of recent I have started to play them again. They still sound pretty good.

 

I have a few hundred. All nicely shelved and filed. I listen to the odd one occasionally. Still really enjoy owning them.

 

Loads. Up until 2011, I didn't own a car with a CD player, so cassettes were my go-to for in-car listening. I have loads of TDK D-60 and D-90s taped directly from the LPs. I finally upgraded my car and can use CDs or even an iPhone (heavens!) but I hung on to my tapes. I love the way they look, and I put a lot of care into making good copies of the records. In some cases it's a "safer" way to listen to rare LPs (collections of Greek folk music that I have no idea how I'd replace if anything happened to the record) on my main system without hassling with connecting an iPhone.

 

Wow Chris - great photo. Looks like you have quite a collection. Remember 8-track tapes?

 

Used to have a gazillion of ‘em, most of ‘em Maxell gold tapes. Those suckers sounded AWESOME!!!

Btw., making a mix-cd-r just isn’t the same as making a mixtape.

 

No 8-tracks?

 

Lol, we have a couple of 'classic' (as in old) cars that both have factory cassette players. One of them has a CD player that crapped out this year. The other has just cassette, (but it also has a weather band radio!)

We plan on getting every last mile out of both (knock on wood,) I don't know what we will do when it's time for a new car, I don't want any of that touchscreen bluetooth GPS nonsense.

 

I have a lot of my original music on cassette as well as a choice selection of the best sounding prerecorded albums on cassette. I also have several of the best top of the line cassette decks, most have Dolby S and sound very, very good. My cassette decks get regular use, as do my turntables, CD players, not so much so.

 

I only have one - the US 8 track release of Kate Bush's The Kick Inside.

On the other hand, I never throw away a media player. Here is the shelf above my desk here in Chicago:



From right to left

JVC 3/4" U-Matic deck (with Time Base Corrector above it)

Sharp Multistandard VHS deck
Sony SL-2710 HiFi Betamax deck
Mitsubishi HS413UR VHS deck
Pioneer CLD-3070 Laserdisc player

...and last and least, a thing called a "turn table".

 

I have hundreds and all my favorite Beatles vinyl needledrops that I transferred to HQ cassette years ago...

 

Sure I remember them. Every time I get in my Chevelle I stare at the player.

 

Yep. I'm currently listening to a cassette recording I made this morning. The Party Boys Rage LP recorded to TDK SA90 and played back on my Denon DRS-810G.