Cassettes….why ?

[kuruvilajacob]

Is this debate any different from the vinyl vs CD debate, especially because the OP is focusing only on the sound quality and not on nostalgia or user experience factors? Isn’t it then simply the classic analogue vs digital medium/source debate? My two pennies on that: analogue recordings sound better on analogue medium/source and digital recordings sound better on digital medium/source. Exceptions could be proficiently digitally remastered (analogue) recordings, but that’s rare in the Indian context.

Not surprisingly most the TT/vinyl favouring users I know are mostly into the music from 50’s-70’s. The question to ask is why would some (if any) of them prefer the SQ of cassette over the vinyl? Another question I’d like to add to the mix: why most cassette vintage users today are South Indians (even if residing in other parts of the world today). Did the music labels there continue making cassettes well after they went out of vogue elsewhere in India? Or that South Indian Music world was relatively late to get into digital recordings?

I do have a lot of vinyl but some of my favourite music of the 80's are only available on cassettes. So, that's one reason I have restarted my cassette listening of late

 

[Ashenden]

Though this is a tiny blip in the overall industry, people are still buying cassettes (and labels are making them)

The unlikely cassette comeback isn't over yet: sales are up in 2019

UK cassette sales are at their highest levels for more than a decade. By the end of 2019 it's predicted 75,000 tapes will be sold. But tapeheads don’t care if the redux stays small scale – that’s part of the charm

www.wired.co.uk

 

[aventhusiast]

Tharangini Rs.75/- CDs are good quality transfer from original master. So are most of the Crescendo editions like Yathra. The only problem with Tharangini CDs they have used cheap CDs (flimsy ones) to punch and hence many doesn't play properly.

Attached are a few titles released in Tharangini which are still available in some shops and one can buy to listen.

Dear Khan,

Could you please let me know if I can still buy a few Tharangini Audio Cds in Bangalore. Especially, His Highness Abdulla, Yatra, and any other films which have Karnatic based songs.

Also, I am looking for Audio Cds by Sangeetha or Anand which have Ilaiyaraja Films in Bangalore. Kindly let me know.

Long back I had purchased Tamil Dubbed movie Chandrodhaya I think; Kamal and Ambika starer movie. (In Tamil Nannum Oru Thozhilaali)
Further, I am interested in Kannada LPs of Ilaiyaraja.

Eagerly awaiting your reply.

 

[Hassan Khani]

In Bangalore there is a shop in the 2nd floor of SP road entrance (left side, first building) which used to sell Kannada CDs. They had some old stocks if possible check. For Malayalam CDs there is no shops to visit in Bangalore but you can try to call VITA in cochin and check whether they have. Also check blossoms book store (3rd floor, church street) who has few old stocks of LPs/EPs of various language.

Nowadays the only way to buy CDs are from re-sellers and being part of few whatsApp / facebook groups. If you are interested to be part of those groups please send me a PM with your phone no, I can request them to add.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned here. Cassettes (and other physical media like Vinyl) limits the choices one has including switching albums, tracks at their whim. This simplicity attracts many people to it. As it has been referenced to by eminent psychologists like Barry Schwartz, having more choices can lead to less appreciation of what we have as we tend to regret the choice we made, later on. So this lesser degree of freedom can be one of the reasons as to why analog sounds better (and in a broader sense why a rich person is not exactly jumping with joy always, he/she might more likely be overwhelmed with the choices they need to make)

Sandeep, I wonder if it’s ‘avoiding the regret of choice’ (negative reason) or ‘the holistic experience of listening to an entire album’ (positive reason). Or both!

I for one find it unappealing to listen to the plethora of ‘singles’ on iTunes or Spotify these days (the resurgence after decades enabled by online media). I only hope the album doesn’t die in this post physical media era. That’d be a tragedy.

 

[Ashenden]

Sandeep, I wonder if it’s ‘avoiding the regret of choice’ (negative reason) or ‘the holistic experience of listening to an entire album’ (positive reason). Or both!

I for one find it unappealing to listen to the plethora of ‘singles’ on iTunes or Spotify these days (the resurgence after decades enabled by online media). I only hope the album doesn’t die in this post physical media era. That’d be a tragedy.

Hi Sachin, I too think it's both. There is an added sense of enjoyment in the continuity offered by listening to a full album as against a playlist of songs. Don't we do the same while reading books? Rather than reading bits and pieces from different chapters strewn across books, we go from cover to cover. Since I started listening to music through cassettes, I still follow that same routine while listening to those albums via streaming, entire album, with very less skipping. It could also be a case of "Old habits die hard" (or laziness )
On your observation about "singles", I think this could become the norm going forward as I feel the song-writer/composers would've run out of good ideas by now. So rather than release an album with a few good songs and many bad "filler" tracks, this can do better business for the label