Defining a generation: The audio cassette has turned 50

[Katzenfreund]

The audio cassette is now officially “over the hill” as it was 50 years ago when the format launched at Philips' headquarters in Amsterdam. Originally designed to replace reel-to-reel tape for dictation, the audio cassette ultimately became a household staple for those that grew up in the 80s.

As predecessor to the compact disc, the audio cassette helped to define a generation. Outstanding audio quality was never attributed to cassettes – in fact, they degraded in quality the more you listened to them and it wasn’t uncommon for a cassette player to “eat” your tape.

A number of advancements like Dolby noise reduction, better magnetic oxides and higher-quality tape players did help to make matters better but it still wasn’t enough by most standards. So then, what was so great about cassettes? One word – versatility.

Back in the 80s, you couldn’t just hop online and craft a playlist of your favorite songs. Instead, you’d have to sit by your stereo system and manually record songs from the radio. This required a bit of precision, patience and a lot of free time but as someone that did it countless times, I can attest that it was well worth it.

Cassettes have long since given way to digital media and those remaining are gathering dust in old collectors’ cupboards.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

i'm not that old but i do remember those things ^^

 

[xxnatedoggxx]

i'm not that old but i do remember those things ^^

yeah, I used audio cassette's, and I am 22.

 

[kirk1701®]

I used to take those things and wrap them around friends cars when I didn't want them anymore or they got wore out and didn't work. :claps:

Same with 8 track

Back in the 80s, you couldn’t just hop online and craft a playlist of your favorite songs. Instead, you’d have to sit by your stereo system and manually record songs from the radio. This required a bit of precision, patience and a lot of free time but as someone that did it countless times, I can attest that it was well worth it.

I had a dual cassette deck so in one I just let it record the radio
When I got the song I wanted I used that recording to put it on another cassette therefore bypassing the time consuming hassle

That was piracy way back when :lotpot:

 

[RandomWalker]

I remember back in the 80's (when I was growing up), when teenagers used cassetes a lot. Any person with a double deck player was everybodys best friend (because he could make copies). They were probably rich too.
Most people had a simple one deck radio-cassete player. I remember they also had built in microphones. Once I took part in a copying from one such player to another. One would play the song and the other would record via
microphone. Sound quality was not a concern back then. Pirates were people making copies and selling them in the streets.

 

[Katzenfreund]

I got a taste of old age when I tried to buy a portable cassette recorder 5 or 6 years ago and couldn't find one. Then I realized that my huge collection of cassettes created after countless hours of selective recording, was thereafter destined to lifetime confinement in a cupboard shelf...along with my equally valued vinyl record collection, which suffered similar fate about a decade earlier.

 

[Oldone3pp]

I can still remember using an 8 track for a long time before upgrading to audio cassette.

We can still buy cassette players over here in oz Katz

 

[EMS]

whats an audio cassette :shrug: :lol:

 

[kirk1701®]

I can still remember using an 8 track for a long time before upgrading to audio cassette.

We can still buy cassette players over here in oz Katz

Walkman's too?

Boy iPods really done those things in :lotpot:

 

[EMS]

what about ghettoblasters LOL...anyway, getting back to the cassette tape for a brief but important moment.......when we made copies of stuff and stuck it on a blank tape, for example tape to tape recordings, radio recordings, vinyl to tape recordings, even cd to tape recordings....none of us were ever accused of pirating then. Nothing has changed just the recording format and the source that it comes from. Ah history has a weird way of NOT repeating itself lol

 

[kirk1701®]

what about ghettoblasters LOL...anyway, getting back to the cassette tape for a brief but important moment.......when we made copies of stuff and stuck it on a blank tape, for example tape to tape recordings, radio recordings, vinyl to tape recordings, even cd to tape recordings....none of us were ever accused of pirating then. Nothing has changed just the recording format and the source that it comes from. Ah history has a weird way of NOT repeating itself lol

And you shared with your friends and they shared with their friends so what changed?

Internet :hmmm:
The source of the sharing has changed

 

[Katzenfreund]

Something else worth mentioning is that the cassette provided a convenient, low cost form of present. When I was invited at a friend's house for a drink or snack and didn't want to go empty handed, I'd record music of his liking on a cassette from my vinyl records. I'd then stamp it with the impressive sounding:
"HiFi, DOLBY STEREO"
and could see the glow in his eyes as he received it. And all at the cost of a blank cassette.

 

[EMS]

hahaha right there katz....so even way back when we were pirates of one kind or another.....making copies of games on floppy disc, or tape depending on what computer was around at the time. Greed has changed everything......its no longer enough to have multi million pound empires....they want to make it multi billion empires

 

[kirk1701®]

hahaha right there katz....so even way back when we were pirates of one kind or another.....making copies of games on floppy disc, or tape depending on what computer was around at the time. Greed has changed everything......its no longer enough to have multi million pound empires....they want to make it multi billion empires

Exactly :clap:

 

[Katzenfreund]

 

[Oldone3pp]

I don't know......but I used to use a biro to rewind the tapes :mrgreen:

 

[Katzenfreund]

I don't know either, because I was using a pencil for the purpose instead.

 

[EMS]

due to the nature of the tape...one could guarantee it would become loose if not handled with kid gloves or sometimes the tape deck used...hated tapes and would pull on them...thus needing a pencil, biro, even a screwdriver orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr thumb and index finger to wind the tape up..occasionally you would find that the tape had flipped over because you hadn't watched what you was doing, and that would result in pulling it all back out again LOL

 

[Katzenfreund]

A vivid description EMS that brings back memories.

Nowadays, the task with modern digital media is much easier. Here’s a DVD rewinder. :roll:

 

[kirk1701®]

A vivid description EMS that brings back memories.

Nowadays, the task with modern digital media is much easier. Here’s a DVD rewinder. :roll:

Oh I used to love getting my dad with that one

Dad, the video store charges $1 extra because the DVD was not rewound :thumbsup:

 

[EMS]

ah but wait...if you chip away that bit in the middle you could make it into a cassette winder

 

[Dr Pickles]