Cassettes Are Back, and Booming (fastcompany.com) 564
Long time reader harrymcc writes: By now, it isn't news that vinyl albums continue to sell, even in the Spotify era. But a new report says that sales of music on cassette are up 140 percent. The antiquated format is being embraced by everyone from indie musicians to Eminem and Justin Bieber. Fast Company's John Paul Titlow took a look at tape's unexpected revival, and why it's not solely about retro hipsterism.
It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Insightful)
The antiquated format is being embraced by everyone from indie musicians to Eminem and Justin Bieber. Fast Company's John Paul Titlow took a look at tape's unexpected revival, and why it's not solely about retro hipsterism.
There is no reason to use tape aside from "retro hipsterism". (isn't that redundant?) Tape sucks on SO many levels. Anyone who thinks it doesn't isn't old enough to have had to live with tapes. I can see it being kind of novel to someone once or twice but the charm will wear off fast. Seriously, tape has some use cases but playing music shouldn't be one of them. We used it back in the day because there wasn't anything better available.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry, it's not a complete explanation.
I'm an indy musician.
I don't have a lot of cash, and I don't have a lot of sales.
Unit for unit, on small runs, cassette tape is WAY cheaper than any other medium.
Cassette audio fidelity (or lack thereof) is a fine match for my typical output.
And for people who want digital fidelity, I include a slip of paper with a download code.
But yes, from a marketing and artistic standpoint, having a physical product on offer for those who want it is important, and no, streaming and digital downloads alone don't satisfy that need.
Yes, I was around for cassettes the first time. I was around before CDs. I know all the arguments, and have lived through them. Your casual dismissal is just incorrect.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Insightful)
Now with that being said, he said he also includes a "download code", hence he recorded it to a computer and uploaded, so I have no idea why he would go the tape route unless he wanted to appear retro-cool
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Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Informative)
Oh man. Buy a cheap USB interface for your computer. Get a copy (free, full version, not limited in any way) of Cockos Reaper. You'll never look back. For $50, you can get something that has a decent mic preamp and you'll be able to multitrack like Sgt Pepper.
Go to Guitar Center when they have a sale or look on Amazon. Then, you get a free account at Soundcloud and you'll be able to distribute your music without having to use any physical media at all.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:4, Interesting)
It was only four tracks at a time. George Martin was ping-ponging from deck to deck like crazy.
With a computer and a USB interface, you don't have to go through all that, thank god. My first recording system was an old Tascam 4-track and it was hell compared to what can be done today.
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Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Funny)
You are worried that people might not be able to play a CD-RW, but you seem unconcerned that people need a find a working tape deck?
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Funny)
Cassettes are reusable
No, I break the tabs out of mine. Protected fully by the DMCA.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Funny)
3M makes a variety of copyright circumvention adhesive tapes.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Funny)
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Yes - my instructor was a 10 year old boy at school. Talk to Dale.
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Yep. And if you run out of paper towel -- plenty of already wadded up paper towels of JUST the right size to be found inside your deck! It's win-win!
Re: It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:4, Insightful)
Why, on ${deity}'s green earth, would you *ever* do something as completely insane as make your SOURCE recording on tape today?!?
Cassettes had their place back before CD-R became cheap and universal (with high-quality metal tape & dbx, you could get about 85% of cd quality), but cassette audio really, truly, has no reason to exist anymore as a format for new content. Records have some lingering value by virtue of being random-access & allowing you to see the layout visually (though modern faux-turntables have basically matched that capability with CDs & digital formats), but cassettes have LITERALLY no redeeming value today. And I say that as an audiophile who owned & used everything from a 1974 Panasonic cassette recorder and1981 walkman all the way up to Technics, Yamaha, and Denon component decks. It's hard to think of anything tape doesn't suck at more than any conceivable alternative.
Re: It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Informative)
This. Many years ago I took a relatively high end 3 head cassette deck (around 500 bucks which was a fortune back in the 70's) and hooked it up to a spectrum analyzer to get distortion and response curves. Lets just say anything above about 8KHz was a disaster. Yes relatively flat if you kept the levels at about -30db, but then the noise floor was right below. At reasonable input levels of -10 or -5 db, it was anything but flat. Wow and flutter was not good either. There was a reason why pro's used reel to reel for master tapes.
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Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:4, Informative)
Doesn't a CD-R cost like 50 cents? Is recording a cassette really cheaper than burning a CD?
Oh god no, they're waaaaaaaay less than that:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=n... [amazon.com]
600 discs for $83 is 0.13 per disc and there are lots of similar deals.
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This has to be a troll.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry, it's not a complete explanation.
I'm an indy musician.
I don't have a lot of cash, and I don't have a lot of sales.
Unit for unit, on small runs, cassette tape is WAY cheaper than any other medium.
Cassette audio fidelity (or lack thereof) is a fine match for my typical output.
And for people who want digital fidelity, I include a slip of paper with a download code.
But yes, from a marketing and artistic standpoint, having a physical product on offer for those who want it is important, and no, streaming and digital downloads alone don't satisfy that need.
Yes, I was around for cassettes the first time. I was around before CDs. I know all the arguments, and have lived through them. Your casual dismissal is just incorrect.
You can get 100 CD's (printed disks in jewel case) for $139 [discmakers.com] does anyone do small cassette runs for less than $1.39/piece?
Blank CD-R's are 10 - 20 cents a piece in bulk if you have a very small run and want to record your own.
And more importantly, how do you find fans that still own cassette players? I don't even own a CD player anymore, all my disks get copied digitally, then they get packed away in a big CD wallet, never to be seen again. The last time I bought music from a small indie band, they emailed me a link where I could download it.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Funny)
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The distortion on cassettes is different. It's warmer.
Wrong (Score:3)
By every possible measure, CD's accomplish everything cassettes do and they do it better. I, literally, cannot think of one feature that makes cassettes better except that maybe they archive longer because they are magnetic vs optical.
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Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't have a lot of cash, and I don't have a lot of sales.
Unit for unit, on small runs, cassette tape is WAY cheaper than any other medium.
Perhaps you'd make more money if your fans didn't need to own a cassette player.
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Unit for unit, on small runs, cassette tape is WAY cheaper than any other medium.
Checking with Newegg:
8 x normal bias 60 minute cassette tapes: $33.30, or $4.16 per tape
1 x 512 MB USB flash drive: $1.81
50 x 700 MB CD-R: $11.99, or $0.24 per CD
Never mind the cost of duplication time.
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Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh gods this is so true.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s and cassettes were my main music format at the time.
The hiss. The tape becoming damaged now and then resulting in parts of your songs being screwed up. The poor speed regulation on many tape decks. The felt pad under the tape becoming damaged or falling out and having to replace it, hoping not to damage the tape in the process. The tape getting "eaten" by the deck. The fact that almost all prerecorded tapes were made with the lowest quality tape possible (low bias, non-metal), so you didn't even get the best quality tape could provided from your music purchases.
Heck, the technology itself was a hack. Cassettes were originally meant for low fidelity voice dictation.
Cassettes have literally NOTHING to offer except the nostalgia. If you want a physical copy of your music, CDs are the way to go. If you want to be retro-hipster, vinyl is far better in audio quality and durability. Tapes are a clusterfuck and I remember RELISHING the day I got a CD player and didn't have to deal with them for my new music purchases.
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:4, Funny)
so my 60 year old dad, who tapes shit from spotify directly to tape so he can listen in his car, is a hipster, i got to tell you, i always knew those suspenders he uses are kinda weird
now it all makes sense
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I would agree, since I also lived through this horror, but the most expensive metal tapes with Dolby C processing sound almost like live audio. Seriously.
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Only to someone who can't hear high frequencies.
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There is no reason to use tape aside from "retro hipsterism". (isn't that redundant?) Tape sucks on SO many levels. Anyone who thinks it doesn't isn't old enough to have had to live with tapes. I can see it being kind of novel to someone once or twice but the charm will wear off fast. Seriously, tape has some use cases but playing music shouldn't be one of them. We used it back in the day because there wasn't anything better available.
Yep. Back in the days before CDs, I only bought tapes if I had no choice - something went out of print on vinyl and was only available on tape. I've got a small number of old commercial cassettes sold by various music companies. These are real legitimate releases, not bootlegs. Some have long been completely unplayable. I've got a somewhat larger number of cassette tapes I made myself in that era. They all still work, although I rarely do anything with them. Commercial cassette quality was known to be
Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) (Score:5, Insightful)
"It's nice to only be able to listen to what's in front of you, instead of having the entirety of music at your fingertips with Spotify and all that"
Right, and when I go to lunch I prefer to go to the convenience store where I only have the pre-made sandwiches in the cooler to choose from. That's also "nice". When I can pick from anything I want I just get confused. I prefer it when my choices are today's ham and swiss or yesterday's ham and swiss. Sometimes I pick yesterday's ham and swiss because I appreciate the retro taste of it, I like that the bread just feels warm and fuzzy (where it isn't soggy). I also avoid online dating, when I want a date I go to the closest cheap bar and think it's nice that I'm only able to pick from the selection of women at the bar, I appreciate their retro ages. Sometimes I pick the one without a disease, but I always appreciate a retro penicillin shot.
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That's why you keep a cassette adapter around, not an actual cassette.
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I used them in various automobiles from probably 1994 (with a Discman) till 2014 (using a smartphone). I also still use on in my garage radio. The reason I stopped using it in 2014 was that the cassette player I was using it did die -- but that's likely more a result of 12 years of use of the cassette deck, not the fault of the adapter. Sound quality can be described as "good enough".
I found cassette adapters far more reliable than alternatives like a FM transmitter (which, incidentally would also be a vali
minidisc is where its happening! (Score:2)
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Totally, but Minidisc did get a bad rap, claims that ATRAC was inferior to MP3 which is lie.
I love my MD player/recorder, it rand on batteries as well as the portable CD player I had, better than the cassettes I had.
SCMS was a problem. Since cassettes have none of that, let's see how that goes. But copy protection for cassettes was actually inherent. Each generational copy got worse and worse, so digital media actually CAUSED the DRM revolution... Sort of.
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Full ack.
Plus the form factor about the size of your palm, could handle it with one hand better than a CD (without bending it) not tiny as current usb sticks being lost forever if you dropped them in your car once.
They could have made a zip-disc killer if they made a combined data/music drive at that time.. Company policies killing a product.
Analogue revival (Score:2)
Vinyl recordings, magnetic tape, photo film. All are on the slow uptick since a few years ago.
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Vinyl recordings, magnetic tape, photo film. All are on the slow uptick since a few years ago.
Buggy whips soon to follow!
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I hear wax cylinders are making a comeback!
Re:Analogue revival (Score:5, Insightful)
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Baby boomers retiring and trying to get their youth back.
No, they are not (Score:2)
Cassetes have died long time ago and were totally pushed out by CD's.
CD's, at the same time, have been conquered by mp3/digital audios.
Now if you are talking about a bunch of retro aficionados, who collect vinyl, collect tapes, collect 35mm cameras. I am glad I do not hear that VHS tapes provide a more reliable image and have a soul.
Realistically, 140% increase is not enough to sustain increased interest in retro technology.
Re:No, they are not (Score:5, Insightful)
I am glad I do not hear that VHS tapes provide a more reliable image and have a soul
Don't worry I am sure you will soon.
Now this is just getting stupid (Score:2)
Compact Cassettes are nothing but entirely obsolete. Unlike vinyl which might in some cases have desirable audio characteristics compared with an compresses digital audio file, or even a CD. Cassettes just SUCK period full stop.
They are less seekable than even vinyl (which is quite seekable if you have good turn table) They are all sorts of problems with streching and temperature variation. They don't really have all that great a bandwidth, frequency response. They are fragile. All in all nobody should
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Tapes had portability going for them back in the day. You could take a lot more cassette tapes with you than you could vinyl records. Plus, a cassette player fit into your car easier than a record player would. They weren't a great solution, but they were the best we had with the technology of the day. However, their portability edge was surpassed by CDs and then shattered by MP3s.
The last time I touched a cassette tape was when I found one in my old room at my parents' house and decided to show my kids how
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Apparently those are all plusses for certain 'noise artists' (no, I'm not looking that up).
OTOH, you don't need iTunes for it, so there is an upside.
percentage games (Score:2, Informative)
Remember, if you sold 1 last and you sold 2 this year, you increased sales by 100%.
I've seen this game far more than I'd care to count on the sales side.
Hipsters filling landfills. (Score:2)
Ironically, the resurgence of new retro hipster media (cassettes) that no one owns a player for is only explained by resurgence of yet another form of retro hipster media (vinyl) that has now become rather obscenely priced.
Of course, the only thing even more obscene than paying $30 for a piece of vinyl is paying five times that amount for a concert ticket.
I'm all for supporting artists, but perhaps we could figure out another way of doing it instead of creating another fucking AOL-era of worthless plastic m
Fake news? (Score:5, Funny)
Is this what they mean by fake news?
140% (Score:5, Insightful)
Haha, I kid, I kid.
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You'll have to try harder if you want parody, because you're more or less describing what is happening. :
I followed the links and deep down I found this http://www.buzzanglemusic.com/... [buzzanglemusic.com]
Holiday season is one month , from end november to end of the year.
Also
Re:140% (Score:4, Informative)
TFS says the sales are up 140%. What if they were up by "only" 40%? Wouldn't they raise from 10 to 14?
10 to 24 is a 140% increase, or 240% of the original value.
100% wrong (Score:4, Funny)
No, that would be from 10-14. Your numbers are a 240% increase.
Sorry but you are quite literally 100% wrong.
Bill the Cat is back and high on Life (Score:2)
8-Track Tape is next (Score:3)
What could be more "retro" than 8-track tape. Imagine pulling few of these out at your next hipster party! Yeah they play continuously and have a hearty form factor to hold the curiosity and make a case for art.
If this takes off, with my 8-Track horde I will be rich!
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I suppose it was Guardian of the Galaxy that .... (Score:5, Insightful)
Physical Nostelgia / Not Quality (Score:2)
Personally for sound quality I would stick with CD or FLAC format digital file. They are both digital, zero compression and sound great assuming they were mastered properly and you're playing them on good quality speakers. If your speakers are of poor quality or you've lost your high frequency hearing with age, good luck telling the difference.
I can understand the attraction to tape or vinyl formats however. They have a physical aspect which folks also like. It is neat to see a tape load and play or to
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Except analog magnetic tape is one of those "intermediate shitty formats" that provided convenience in its day and bridged the time gap between the older "good" formats and the newer "good" formats.
My art is shit (Score:4, Insightful)
"Tapes were biggest mostly in noise and hardcore, where the fact that they were degraded was almost kind of an asset," says Keyes. "Because it made it sound muddier and screwed with the dynamics and the sound in an interesting way."
Translation the artistic works are so poor and of so little value its better if you don't look or listen to closely.
i always hated tape (Score:2)
tapes can stretch, sooner or later something is going to hang up and you will have stretched tape, with the exception of computer files CD/DVD is the only way to go, just keep them clean & dry and always keep them in their jackets when not in use so they dont get scratched
I don't buy it. (Score:2)
Hipsterism sure, but I don't buy it that tapes are popular for any kind of economic reasons. Seriously you can create your own CD's for no more and maybe less then tapes.
Perspective from someone who buys cassettes... (Score:4, Interesting)
Actual Numbers (Score:5, Informative)
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who has disposable income?
You can buy a used cassette player at a garage sale for like 25 cents. The seller will throw in a pile of cassettes for free. Those of us old enough to remember the 1970s look at cassettes as garbage to be disposed of. There is no rational reason to use them, and the only reasons listed in TFA are BS like being "tangible", as if having physical clutter in your life is a good thing. Also, stupid metrics like "up 140%" are meaningless without giving the base number, which TFA doesn't.
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Informative)
>They are selling for as much used as I paid for them new 25 years ago.
So, considerably less than half-price in inflation adjusted dollars? That sounds reasonable for used products in good working condition.
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Insightful)
For a machine that will likely have had no maintenance and many consumable parts? If you don't mind paying half price adjusted for inflation for a used machine I've got 2000 Toyota Camry for sale right right now. Adjusted for inflation from what I paid new 2000 ($24,000) at half price (adjusted) that comes to $16,000. Current blue book is about $3000. I've probably got a washer/dryer set in a similar vintage I'm willing to make that same sweetheart deal on.
The internet is full of comments like yours so I'll pretend to take you seriously for a second. I think the reason the price is so high right now (whereas they were pennies on the dollar a few years ago) is obviously the market is hot but more importantly there is a scarcity problem. My very high end Sony ES apparently died without me realizing it despite being kept in a production setting, though never used. So many of the rubber and plastic parts have degraded on these machines in 20 or more years that many of them didn't make it into the new century. That of course and many probably went into the dust bin long ago.
Re:In this economy? (Score:4)
>For a machine that will likely have had no maintenance and many consumable parts?
In that case it's probably not in good condition - in which case I agree completely. There's no accounting for what collectors deem worthy of spending obscene amounts of money on. Heck, some idiot in Victorian England(?) supposedly traded an entire mansion for a handful of tulip bulbs.
Though I would also point out that anything still in good working condition after 25 years of use is probably one of the statistical outliers in the quality control spectrum and may well continue operating well indefinitely. Parts - that's a whole different issue, but a surprising number can be replaced without much effort from modern parts intended for other things, often with better performance.
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I've got 2000 Toyota Camry for sale right right now. Adjusted for inflation from what I paid new 2000 ($24,000) at half price (adjusted) that comes to $16,000. Current blue book is about $3000.
Does it have a functioning tape deck?
Re: In this economy? (Score:3)
A headphone jack? How retro!
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Informative)
But, back then, you didn't BUY pre-recorded cassettes...those just sucked.
To get the best quality out of them back in the day, you recorded your vinyl album onto them....I used to get the Maxell high bias tapes...can't remember the exact model, but those sure sounded good for the day.
Now.....if they brought back Reel-To-Reel tape and tape decks again, I might be interested in that.
I never got one back in the day, but I sure wanted one...
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I used to get the Maxell high bias tapes...can't remember the exact model, but those sure sounded good for the day
Maxell XL-II / XL-IIS?
I mostly used TDK SA-90. Very good sound for the price.
Still have two Nakamichi decks that I haven't used in years, but I still have tapes with music that I cannot find anywhere else, so I will play them again one day...
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To add some context to that price you could buy a VW bug in 1968 for just shy of 2k.
http://www.adclassix.com/ads/6... [adclassix.com]
The compact cassette became popular for automobiles in the early 60's.
You could buy a high end tape deck for more than the cost of a brand new car.
Imagine spending 25k or more on a tape deck today, and you see what the value really looks like.
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Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Informative)
I do a lot of work with indie bands anything from musical arrangements to graphic art I don't know any that are selling cassettes. They like to go with CDs because they are cheaper and ship faster, digital download cards are really popular too.
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree about the physical clutter bit; I actually like having the real CDs for my music. I buy stuff on CD, then rip it to Ogg to be used on my various devices. However, there's some giant differences from cassettes:
1) CDs actually have excellent sound quality, better even than the MP3 digital downloads sold at places like Amazon.
2) CDs don't degrade when you play them.
3) CDs come with booklets that frequently have the lyrics, artwork, etc. Of course, cassettes do too, but theirs suck because the format is different. CD booklets are a nice format that's about 1/4 the size of an old LP booklet, and has a nice square aspect ratio. Cassette inserts have a terrible aspect ratio and (at least back in the 80s/90s when I used to see stuff sold both ways and was able to compare) is usually missing a lot of stuff compared to the CD version.
But you're absolutely right that there's no rational reason to use cassettes. There's absolutely nothing better about them compared to other formats. They're awful; the size is terrible, the sound quality is terrible (it was terrible even when they were current; I remember well the tape hiss problem), they wear out, you can't skip tracks, you have to rewind them, etc. This truly is a case of simple retro hipsterism, nothing more.
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I mostly agree, but back in the day both my (high-end admittedly) home and car cassette players had a "skip track" function.
They searched for the silences between tracks, (so useless for some classical music pr jazz etc. arrangements), but otherwise worked, albeit slowly.
I listened to stuff recorded from records using high-quality tapes and Dolby B. In a noisy environment like a car, was fine.
In the home studio, not so much...
Re:In this economy? (Score:4, Informative)
"... meaningless without giving the base number ..."
From the report the article was based on:
"There were 11,489 cassettes purchased during the Holiday Season (an increase of 140% over 2015)".
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That's why thumb drives exist.. They don't skip at all.
Re:In this economy? (Score:4, Insightful)
Neither do MP3s. And the quality's better. But, I guess they're not "tangible."
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Neither do MP3s. And the quality's better. But, I guess they're not "tangible."
Well...let's see an uncompressed, unfiltered, band-unlimited, DRM-less analog audio stream from a cassette, or a compressed, filtered, band-limited CD or MP3?
Yeah...LPs and Cassettes are coming back b/c of how the CDs and MP3s are getting cut.
- Frequency bands deemed to high or low are cut off - removing high pitches and low pitches that while you may not be able to *hear* you can feel in some senses.
- Filters take this to another level and can often degrade it; sometimes these are used to keep people
Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Informative)
Well...let's see an uncompressed, unfiltered, band-unlimited, DRM-less analog audio stream from a cassette, ...
Clearly you've never mastered audio for cassette output. Typical compact cassette tape will start rolling-off around 12-14kHz; chrome tape will get you 16kHz; metal will get you close to 20kHz. Tape ain't the holy grail, as limitations of the medium impose compression, filtering, and band limitation (just in the analog domain.)
I just checked, and I can get 100 CD-Rs for $12 retail all day long. So my band can release a single on CD in an audio-CD format, or as a data disc with a raw uncompressed bit file. I can master this from the kitchen of my apartment, just like the article says.
In spite of the article claiming "this isn't another display of analog hipsterism," oh yes it is.
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Well...let's see an uncompressed, unfiltered, band-unlimited, DRM-less analog audio stream from a cassette, or a compressed, filtered, band-limited CD or MP3?
I don't think any recording medium offers unlimited frequency bands, but CDs and MP3s do a pretty good job of covering the audible range. Most cassettes don't even come close.
I have a CD that way - no matter how good I rip it it sill has pops, etc b/c of the watermarks
Methinks the problem isn't with magic watermarks.
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It probably has a shitty DRM track to prevent your PC from "seeing" the music tracks. If you see a data track, look carefully at the disc under various lights and if you can identify the data track, black it out with a permanent marker (if clone cd, etc. fail) and then try ripping it. See: http://club.myce.com/f3/anothe... [myce.com]
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Re:In this economy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if you want your music to pass through a "make it sound like shit" filter that is an analog cassette player, you should just run it through once and record the output onto your computer. (Bonus points if you just hold your phone up and use Voice Memo recording for extra shit sound.)
Then you can play it on your digital music player or phone without worrying about skips, while enjoying your godawful tastes in music.
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whereas mod and stm files played just fine on 486 33mhz
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Speaking as one who lived through the period you are talking about, 8 track never really took off, except in cars. Cassettes were already big deal when I was in high school, and I graduated in '79. They just hadn't peaked yet.
In the 70s Chromium Dioxide tapes and Dolby started to appear on home stereo cassette decks, and by the end of the decade 8 tracks were largely displaced in cars by cassettes.
The thing that really made cassettes take off, however, was the Sony Walkman. That made it possible for the f
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Cassette was popular because it was small and because the physical media was reasonably durable compared to 8-track and its propensity to come apart at the glued seam. You could store at least half-again as many cassettes in the car for road trips. The audio quality w
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Vinyl ruled most of the 80's. Cassettes allowed you to make your own mix tape for home, walkman or car. Prerecorded cassettes never came close to vinyl sales, except maybe with truck drivers, and I bet most of those were 'best of" mix tapes.
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Cassettes offer no advantage
Media form factor. Smaller than CDs. Smaller than vinyl as well, although that has other issues with being a mobile media.
MP3 and FLAC assume some sort of digital storage media.
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We skipped over 8 track. When is that going to be cool again?
I'm waiting. I still have a Marantz 8-track recorder in mothballs waiting for its comeback...
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That and they don't tend to blow-up quite as often....