Comments on: Next Big Retro Thing: The Cassette Revival

By: wired.com presents: The 10 Weirdest Ways to Distribute Music « Memphis Means Music Blog

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:59:33 +0000

[...] now available in MP3 form,” and cassette culture is generally on the rise everywhere we looked. (Photo: Marc Arsenault) 9. Blatant [...]

By: saru

saru — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:26:13 +0000

Doubtful – vinyl is visual and tangible, sounds great, and allows random access (i.e. pick up the needle) – cassettes are hissy, prone to damage, tedious and linear. I think it’s misguided to think that simply because they are “old” like records they will be as deeply loved. A generation raised on MP3 players with direct, random access to tracks will find a kindred spirit in vinyl. Time and again vinyl has resurged after a honeymoon with a new format, whereas cassettes will not enjoy a lasting comeback.

I think the deal with cassettes is the same with hipsters – the 80s are cool right now. Vinyl, on the other hand, is timeless (a gold version was the format of choice for the NASA Voyager mission after all).

I also began the process of digitizing my cassette collection, only to drop it due to the fact that the high level of hiss in cassette recordings makes MP3s of those recordings sound terrible. Some serious tweaking in SoundSoap is required after the fact, and hardly worth it except for the really rare stuff.

By: 10 Weird Ways to Distribute Music « mischief & impermanent bliss

10 Weird Ways to Distribute Music « mischief & impermanent bliss — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:05:36 +0000

[...] now available in MP3 form,” and cassette culture is generally on the rise everywhere we looked. (Photo: Marc [...]

By: 10 Weird Ways to Distribute Music « The Intern

10 Weird Ways to Distribute Music « The Intern — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:05:26 +0000

[...] Now that all the cool kids are listening to vinyl, even cooler kids are moving on to another analog format that has the advantage of portability: the audio cassette, which stores music magnetically on a thin strip of tape. We’ve heard lots of anecdotal evidence that the cassette is making a comeback, and sure enough, SXSW “it” band The Dirty Projectors are selling cassettes that come with download codes. Lucky Dragons‘ website contains the offer “cassettes now available in MP3 form,” and cassette culture is generally on the rise everywhere we looked. [...]

By: Bobbi

Bobbi — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:16:10 +0000

Hi: I found a great Sony Walkman cassette player down at the thrift store for less than $2.00 and the sound from my cassettes is pretty spectacular. I have also bought a huge amount of cassettes (some of them still wrapped like Marvin Gaye: Live In Concert) from the same thrift store for a pittance. I even replace damage or missing pressure pads on some of them with the parts of other cassettes.

Digitizing cassettes has not been that hard either and the sound, as you have said, on many of them can beat a poorly encoded MP3. People keep on saying, “Go to iTunes & simply download the music from there”, but I cannot find the many original artists doing the songs that I already have on tape. If I can encode the songs from a cassette to MP3s, why should I pay twice for music I already have?

In conclusion, maybe you’re right & there will be a nostalgic resurgence of the cassette tape and people will stop ragging on this kind of music media. BTW, I have read that cassette tapes are still in use by the blind and those in Third World countries.

By: infobong.com » linkdump for 2007.02.11

infobong.com » linkdump for 2007.02.11 — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:17:23 +0000

[...] mediageek: Next Big Retro Thing: The Cassette Revival I’m not sure tapes will re-emerge as a trend, but Paul has another great essay about old media. (del.icio.us tags: music oldmedia) [...]