I won't own one.
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On Oct 24, 2016, at 14:15, Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Cassette players are making a comeback
By Francis Navarro, Komando.com
Cassette players are making a comeback
Press play.
A retro tech renaissance is in full swing so please, please, please, let me
get what I want. These past few years, this revenge-of-the-nerds style
counter-culture
comeback has inundated the collective hive mind with a yearning for oldish
throwback equipment, ranging from vinyl records and players, retro game
consoles
to old CRT tube televisions and quite amusingly, even these 1980s portable
music staples - the Walkman and the boombox.
Remember the cassette tape? That portable but somewhat clunky analog
recording medium of a supposedly bygone era? Heaven knows why it is getting a
trendy
do-over but indie music scenesters are all over it. Backroom mixtape swaps,
pencil rewinds and the auto-reverse button are presumably back from a
proverbial
graveyard sale.
But who's actually buying? Like with the vinyl resurgence before it, it's a
nostalgic yearning from people who desire tangibility amidst the disposable
transient nature of digital music streaming. It's being an active part of the
music process - the placement of the record, the flipping of the cassette
tape, the mechanical unpredictability of analog equipment - it's like playing
an instrument in and of itself.
In the case of vinyl, the love is understandable - audiophiles are swearing
by the sonic warmth, range, and liveliness of analog records. Also, the lost
appreciation for intricate album art and liner notes still remains unmatched
by gawking at all those gigantic LP covers. So what does the cassette bring
back to the table?
It is certainly not audio quality. Cassette tapes are known to be hissy,
garbly, wow-and-fluttery appliances. Magnetic tape is also prone to
stretching,
warping and getting worn down by repeated use. The album art on a cassette
cover is also laughably small. Why then is it coming back with a vengeance?
First, cost - physical distribution wise, as an analog medium, cassette tapes
are still vastly cheaper to produce than vinyl records. Compared to a $30
vinyl LP, a cassette tape can still generate that same retro analog
street-cred for a fraction of the cost.
Independent music production companies can also churn out cassette tapes
faster than vinyl. For DIY outfits, instead of having a vinyl pressing shop
carve
copies of an album, the duplication process is merely a matter of pressing
the play and record buttons on a home double-decker tape machine.
Then, of course, like I mentioned in the most romantic way earlier - most of
the retro appeal stems from the unpredictability of the analog medium against
the impersonal dryness of digital. Having to depend your music appreciation
on an appliance that's teetering on malfunctioning at the drop of a hat gives
back that immediacy and living-in-the-now quality to the active listening
process.
For now, it might just be another passing fad, but if the trajectory of the
re-emergence of vinyl is an indication, the cassette tape may not go the way
of the disco dancer. For whatever its analog worth - long live the boombox,
long live the Walkman - the cassette tape is here to stay.
Stop/eject.
