So what does everyone think of the rise in audio cassettes?

[Unholy and Rotten]

I've seen a lot of labels and bands talking about releasing their material on cassettes. I'm certainly intrigued by this return to an old format. The rise in vinyl's popularity in the 21st century kind of makes sense to me. Large format artwork, highly collectible goods, and better sound quality are all associated with vinyl. Tapes however do not benefit from any of these factors yet people seem to be really into them. Do you think its just a nostalgia/novelty thing or is there something more behind this?

 

[Eligos]

They're cheap as fuck to press, and you can play them in your car stereo. Everybody wins.

 

[monoxide_child]

They're cheap as fuck to press, and you can play them in your car stereo. Everybody wins.

only if you're car is from the 80s

don't cars now all have CD players in them??

 

[Unholy and Rotten]

In case anyone needed an example of what I am talking about:

http://www.bravewords.com/news/205923

 

[Eligos]

only if you're car is from the 80s

don't cars now all have CD players in them??

Most cars have both now.

 

[Balls McHoolihan]

It's a novelty/collectors thing. They're old school and people like that. I buy CD's not only because I love the music, but because I like the collection aspect of it. I've started on vinyls too. I haven't come across cassette tapes though. I don't think I'd be into collecting them pretty much for the reasons you mentioned.

 

[Unholy and Rotten]

I have to agree with Balls here. But at the same time labels and bands are really jumping on this these days and I know a number of people who are really into collecting tapes. Seems to me that this came out of the underground punk and black metal scenes of recent years where limited runs of lo-fi tapes are hot shit. So what do you guys think, will the mainstream acknowledgement kill the medium or is this gonna take off the same way vinyl did?

 

[Balls McHoolihan]

I don't think they'll really take off. Vinyls have that special sound to them. Same with CD's. There was nothing very special sounding from cassettes...plus they were a pain in the ass when they would unwind! Sure, there will still be collectors, but not in the same way people collect other forms of music.

 

[monoxide_child]

Most cars have both now.

???

i remember for a while cars only had the CD players, cassette tapes making a comeback?? WTF??

 

[monoxide_child]

i know there's still people that prefer collecting CDs over getting MP3 Players, but i can't imagine people colecting cassettes

 

[Krow]

There's no real reason to believe this will take off. As a collector, I see tapes as flat out GARBAGE.

Theyre small, they're oddly shaped. They're cheap and easily destroyed... (And EASILY FAKED)

The only people that want this shit are black metallers trying to outkvlt each other and the longterm value of these is less than probable.

 

[Unholy and Rotten]

Krow makes some good points here. I also believe that it was the lo-fi black metal enthusiasts who liked having their hand-numbered, only 25 ever made, packaged with the feces of the lead singer (I actually saw this one time) cassette tapes that made this popular again. That being said, I think their cheapness is one of the benefits of the medium that has contributed to its resurgence. CDs are generally around 15 bucks and vinyl ranges the spectrum but is usually a hefty sum. Tapes, on the other hand, can be produced quickly and sold cheaply making them viable for the broke listener who still wants physical copies. Of course, the shelf-life is quite short but maybe modern transfer techniques will help extend the life of audio tapes.

 

[UltimateApathy]

I also believe that it was the lo-fi black metal enthusiasts who liked having their hand-numbered, only 25 ever made, packaged with the feces of the lead singer (I actually saw this one time) cassette tapes that made this popular again.

That sounds truly disturbing :zombie: Can you give us more information about that experience?

 

[Unholy and Rotten]

Wish I could remember the band name. It was at Hospital Productions (now closed) in NYC. They were selling some tape in a bag with the blood, hair, and feces of the band members. Blew my mind.

 

[matt schrauben]

There's no real reason to believe this will take off. As a collector, I see tapes as flat out GARBAGE.

Theyre small, they're oddly shaped. They're cheap and easily destroyed... (And EASILY FAKED)

The only people that want this shit are black metallers trying to outkvlt each other and the longterm value of these is less than probable.

I second this comment.

 

[Psychonaut]

I think I still have some tapes from the 80's lying around somewhere. No reason to buy any more or listen to them again as I have it all on CD now. Too easily damaged and warped and won't hold up nearly as long as vinyl, nor sound as good.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

They are cool and fun to collect. I don't mind purchasing band demos or EPs on cassette, but not a full-length album. Something like that warrants a CD or vinyl to showcase the full package.

 

[Krow]

Wish I could remember the band name. It was at Hospital Productions (now closed) in NYC. They were selling some tape in a bag with the blood, hair, and feces of the band members. Blew my mind.

The shit smeared on it was probably extremely indicative of the quality of the music therein.

 

[Jonnymetal]

HAHA thats sick shit! I have a good collection of cassetttes I've gotten for free, many from the 80's still play fine. A few have been mangled and don't but I do find something old school and neat about them. All great points above! I'd love to put my bands album out on cassette, would be fuckin' cool to have, and I do think it would be cool if they came back, but dont see the point unless it's for metal and rock fans who lived through the initial cassette era. But...vinyl is back, why not tapes? Aside from the short-life expectancy, like I said most of mine still work fine, my CD player died and I've been stuck on tapes for a couple months now.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

Pretty grossed out by the shit cassettes. I'm not sure why anyone would want to collect anyone else's feces....

Don't like cassettes, they always broke way too easy for me.