The cassettes revival gets a mention on Bloomberg

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/tech...its-not-about-the-music/ar-AAFeNlM?ocid=ientp

A shame we can't comment there on it. Personally I think the revivals are just a reaction against streaming.
I think that in the past most fans were happy to pay for their music. In fact a true fan would buy the 7", the 12", and maybe a picture disc. I don't know if other countries had them but record tokens (which could be used on pre-recorded cassttes) were a typical gift from a Grandma who knew she couldn't go wrong with one as a gift for a teenager.

 

That article had nothing nice to say about cassette, it just perpetuates the miss informed statement that cassettes are bad. I would rather they never publish anything about cassettes, if that is all they say about cassettes.
At the end of the day I kind of don’t care, I know better those other people can carry on in their ignorance.

 

Yet another article mentioning the cassette revival, but with the same ignorance of sound quality

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-49906336

I wonder when the BBC will finally admit how bad DAB is, especially when the station is 64 KBit/s MP2 ?

The bit at the end about the Japanese Cybersecurity minister having never used a computer is amusing.
I thought my late Father who retired in the 1980s was one of the last people who managed to get through his career without doing so.

 

Long post ahead.

Thanks for linking @Longman , interesting read in a way. But my feelings about it are pretty ambivalent to be honest. There are points I agree with but also such I disagree with.
For example:
"Cassettes are particularly potent because they signify death and decay more forcefully even than vinyl,", quite honestly, part of what makes the charme for me is exactly this "fleeting experience" that if you use your favourite mixtape day in day out for extended periods carrying it outdoor in the cold and hot weather it will cease to work properly from wear at some point. But even that takes its sweet time. Though it's the same thing that makes DAT very special to me. It's far more fragile than analogue tapes (especially the devices I have are) so every single time I listen to it, this makes it even more so conscious. Next use they could break on me if I'm out of luck. They're old. Every time is like a last time.
As for the hiss. It's like the crackling sound of the dust on the grooves of a vinyl record. It has its own charme too. I don't get why that's frowned upon this much. So yes, psychology is in play too, but same with vinyl.

But what that article is downplaying is indeed the sound aspect, which is what I mostly disagree with. I remember everyone telling me constantly "tapes tapes tapes, bad sound, nah" kind of statements, until I listened to a home recorded type 2 tape (if I recall correctly it was recorded on a good deck) on my Walkman for the first time in years. I expected so much worse sound because of what everyone made such a fuzz about, it sounded beautiful. And mind you, the only working tape Walkman I have isn't even an expensive one... The sound is in my opinion comparable to vinyl, yet still different.
At least there's this quote:
"The sound tape gives is warm. Saturated. It promotes a degree of imperfection, and creates an underflow of infamous tape hiss that leaves the format feeling nakedly honest, which is gold dust for the sincere-inclined musician."
Though admittedly, the way it is used in this article sounds more like a way of stating "there are oddballs out there who even think like this" (that's a harsh way of saying it, I know ).

Besides all of that I also find this statement questionable: "It can’t be described in terms of dynamic range."
Also what's with the overemphasis on jammed tapes? Ever since I'm back to tapes I didn't even have to do that a single time (maybe just lucky?). I figured it all depends on the devices and tapes... which might bring us back to the "proper gear and recording" debate.
Also while they touched up on mp3 and bluetooth (good thing!), I get the feeling they could have also dived into streaming as it can also have a pretty nyeh-quality, especially depending on your connection. After all streaming from services is more popular than listening to mp3's and streaming your digital music collection to some bluetooth devices and headgear.

Overall I think from an outsider's perspective this is actually not a bad article, gives some insight, but once you're someone who's passionate about it and who dived back into all of this like I did, it makes me feel "yes but no" kind of feelings. I do actually know someone who wants to get into tapes despite never having even heard music on a single tape in their entire life yet, so it can't just be "nostalgia and past experiences" that gets people back to it. It could as well be curiosity, a fascination with the way this tech works, music you can actually grip firmly, basically music with weight, and a small box with rolls that you can calmly watch spin, which is pretty meditative.
On a last note: I think media truly exaggerates with the cassette comeback. I'll only admit to them being right about it when I actually get to see a shelf full of blank tapes and prerecorded brand new records next to the vinyl shelf in some popular, big store around here. At most I see two 5 packs of Maxell UR 90 tapes in some hidden shelf in a small electronics shop around here. It's still very niché (unfortunately) and the big store chains over here even got rid of their tape stocks rather than stock up on them... So there you have the reasons for my skepticism.

 

Fair enough @Mister X , maybe I'm just unfortunate that stores are ditching tapes around here. I did indeed see some (cheap?) portable tape radios and "sort-of mini-stereos" show up in said stores, but ironically the recordable tapes went nearly completely missing and prerecorded tapes are a rarity at best. Maybe it's too niché for them to offer it so they just start to sell multifunctional playback devices they know people might buy that don't limit themselves completely to the tape hobby rather than keeping shelf-dustcatchers taking up space where it's not certain that just that someone with a recording hobby happens to pop up to buy them (aka me). At least, if I were a store owner, it sounds like a safer bet to me.
I'm not on the roll with trendy shops around here, so I admit I wouldn't know where to buy prerecorded tapes in person, heh.

On second thought about the "death and decay" vinyl sentence from the article, vinyl is actually extremely durable, so that comparison seemed strange to me when I read it again. CDs however... if properly kept they're fine, but they'll also corrode, especially CD-R(W)s. But I guess they were just comparing two "dated" formats. Although to be fair, by now you can start counting CDs to those as well, there's a strong decline in sales due to streaming and purely digital purchases. A pity, as it's also a section in stores I like to frequent from time to time.

 

I think the appeal of physical media is it's longtivity. Vinyl certainly wins that. If sensibly kept and used I would put money on any 60 year old record playing without problems. In my experience CDs with "Perfect Sound Forever" can be disappointing in in the long term. I have Shop bought CDs that at 20 years old that have crazed or rotted and now won't play. Not many but it is annoying when you find one, especially when it is part of a Double CD with a price label of £18 on it.

As for streaming, or MP3 files they don't have a track record yet. Will companies like Spotify still be around in 50 years? Will they delete all of their Michael Jackson tracks because of rumours he can't defend himself against? If you have MP3 files will you still be able to play them? I recently found I have loads of Microsoft Works files on my computer and no means of opening them.

 

Thank you for sharing @walkman archive !
A well written article I couldn't disagree with.

 

A nice article. I particularly noticed this bit

"Then we have up and coming artists who use the medium as a nice little souvenir for their fans to purchase, be it online or from a case at the front of the stage. The format is novel, allows for creativity with the cassettes and packaging and is relatively cheap to produce and to buy...and they always sell out fast!"

In 1999 I went to see Blondie just as their released their "comeback" single Maria. I actually rang the venue before to check it really was Debbie Harry and Co. When we got there each person who bought a ticket got given a cassette (in a cardboard sleeve) with a preview of Maria on it. A nice bonus. The fact that it was on cassette didn't seem at all unusual back then. After all my wifes 2005 Ford Ka came with a factory fitted Radio Cassette.

 

@Mister X solid point... or it might be the opposite: zillion folks bragging about their hi-priced gizmos as we see at audiogon.com or my fav Naim Audio forums...
The price of admission here is/are the few who bite the pain of restoring/fixing the players!

 

Both myself and Techmoan disagree with your comments on Vinyl, To quote Techmoan "Turntable Manufacturers seem to have lost the magic sauce". I suspect that it is because it it easier to copy an early 1970s turntable than a 1980s one.

Check out the masterpiece that is the Technics SL10 https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_reviews.php?make=Technics&model=SL-10
Maybe one day I will get one. I already have a Technics SL5.

Of course today's vinyl enthusiasts want the ritual of lifting the tonearm etc. I was just trying to think of an analogy and thought of the cyclists who insist on riding fixed gear bikes without any modern conveniences like gears or brakes.

I completely agree with Cassette Comeback's comment on longevity. On my Birthday I was playing a tape I got 43 years ago.