Do You Miss Your casettes

[pradski]

Hi all,

To those of you who grew with casettes and who still believe, their best days of music was casettes. Inspite of more sophisticated CD s and better collection and more in number, the thrill of casettes and how difficult they were to get and how attached they were to you

Could you please let us know your feelings about missing them, the pros and cons of casettes. and anything about the good old casettes.

 

[Hiten]

I dont miss cassettes, but I like them as nostalgia and old memories are attached to it. I think every media has its charm. Out of hundreds of cassettes I owned I have kept only few selected ones. Very rarely I listen to them on my deck.
I believe pure stereo audio (not mp3) and video cds are on the same path. In fact some of my senior friends have started collecting whatever audio video cds of old movies and music they find.
Thanks for bringing back the memories
Regards

 

[marsilians]

I don't believe CDs are the best media for music, also I don't listen to tapes at all. Inface I might have about 10 or so lying a box somewhere in my storage. I don't believe tapes bridged the old and new media like vinyl. Scratching (as in rap/hip hop) kept it vey much alive even in the days of CDs and DVDs

 

[Asit]

Hi,
I do not miss them because cassettes are very much a part of my music listening almost everyday. I have over 500 of them, and mostly have very very good quality recordings. I also have a few where I have recorded myself some of the maestros. Cranky and his friend, when they came a couple of weeks ago to my place, really appreciated the quality of these recordings. Most of my collections are chrome bias with doby C, I have some normal bias and metal bias too. Even the cassettes acquired in 1982 are still in fine condition are still playing wonderfully.

Regards.

 

[reju]

I don't mean to be rude but your spelling of "cassette" is wrong all over.
When we start a thread we should at least take little care to check spellings, especially the title. As I have grown up with cassettes, I can never forget the spelling

My collection in gathering dust in my drawer. Though I had thoroughly enjoyed them, I don't miss them, because I know they can be a pain to use, when compared to CD/ digital media. At times I have missed some songs from those tapes, but then I could easily get them from internet and add to my digital collection.

 

[gobble]

If cassettes is what you prefer, then chrome is a must. The normal bias ones sound a lttile dull and lifeless. But hey its still an analog medium not digital so it will have that something which is missing in CD recordings. I have a pile of them lying unused since a decade. Waiting to convert them in 24/192 flac format

Cheers

 

[alpha1]

Nah, not at all.
What I miss about them is something I would never want to experience.
Hiss, fungus, sticking, warbles, etc

The only thing good about tapes was that you are kind of compelled to listen to each and every song in the album, because there is no track changing button, like you have on CD players.

 

[psychotropic]

I wrote a blog post a long long time ago reminiscing about Cassettes. If you're interested and jobless you can read it here Revenge of Smith: Cassette Nostalgia

 

[keith_correa]

Yes, yes I miss them very much. The thrill of getting information on released music in the "Sun" [Oldies like me will know what I'm talking about] magazine and then asking relatives to get pirated "Thomsun" [again, oldies like me will know what I'm talking about] cassettes for me from the Middle East. I miss lending them to friends and seeing the thrill on their faces when they see a cassette they have not listened to and the anticipation. I miss the same thrill and anticipation when I used to borrow cassettes from them. I miss the painstaking effort of recording a cassette from one cassette recorder to another and trying to set the optimum recording level on the target cassette recorder. I remember the tremendous elation I felt when I first saw a dual cassette deck and saw part of the pain of recording taken away. I remember the Maxell, Sony and BASF normal/chrome/metal tapes I had - actually I still have around 400 of them packed with retro rock and country music. I miss giving a list of songs to the local "pirate" and he recording those numbers for me on a cassette for 1 rupee per number. I remember recording the done to death rock songs of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jim Morrison and a few more - actually those days if you asked any Indian about their favourite group it would invariably be Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple :lol:
I remember recording an album from this new [according to me at that time] group "The Eagles" and listening to Hotel California over and over. Then, long after, a jaded me watched when "Hell Freezes Over" was released and Gen X did Hotel California to death all over again. Anyone love Tequila Sunrise? I do. A lot. And I hate Hotel California now. BTW for a surreal experience - listen to The Eagles - Unplugged.
Before MTV and the first pre-Grammy and Grammys [with Michael Jackson and Billy Joel and The Police etc.] shown on TV which actually started it all in India - I remember an album on cassette that EVERYONE who listened to English music had or wanted at that time - I forget the name of the album but it was a compilation of songs of various artistes and had Lipps Inc' Funky Town on it. If anyone remembers the name of the album please refresh my memory and the other songs on that album.

 

[smedhavi]

Nah, not at all.
What I miss about them is something I would never want to experience.
Hiss, fungus, sticking, warbles, etc

The only thing good about tapes was that you are kind of compelled to listen to each and every song in the album, because there is no track changing button, like you have on CD players.

>>Hiss, fungus, sticking, warbles, etc

...man you need to take care of your stuff I have 700+ cassettes and all of them just work whenever I put them in (though not very often). The hiss mostly comes from the preamp in the deck. Get a good one before they vanish.

>>> ... because there is no track changing button, like you have on CD players.

I always had these buttons in my cassette decks at home, as well as in the car.

I have many cassettes that still sound better than their CD versions. This is not because of the superiority of the medium, but the simple fact that HMV messed up every time they re-mastered (same holds true for Vinyl to tape transfers). For instance, the Jagjit Singh - Lata Mangeshkar album 'Sajda' sounds better on the tape. Check it out for your self.

The 'combo-packs' released later, always used to sound worse than the original release.

An other great sounding album that comes to my mind is a collection of songs by Doris Day. I bought it for Rs150/-, when that used to be a fortune.

Thanks,
Sharad

 

[hemantwaghe]

Yes, yes I miss them very much. The thrill of getting information on released music in the "Sun" [Oldies like me will know what I'm talking about] magazine and then asking relatives to get pirated "Thomsun" [again, oldies like me will know what I'm talking about] cassettes for me from the Middle East. I miss lending them to friends and seeing the thrill on their faces when they see a cassette they have not listened to and the anticipation. I miss the same thrill and anticipation when I used to borrow cassettes from them. I miss the painstaking effort of recording a cassette from one cassette recorder to another and trying to set the optimum recording level on the target cassette recorder. I remember the tremendous elation I felt when I first saw a dual cassette deck and saw part of the pain of recording taken away. I remember the Maxell, Sony and BASF normal/chrome/metal tapes I had - actually I still have around 400 of them packed with retro rock and country music. I miss giving a list of songs to the local "pirate" and he recording those numbers for me on a cassette for 1 rupee per number. I remember recording the done to death rock songs of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jim Morrison and a few more - actually those days if you asked any Indian about their favourite group it would invariably be Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple :lol:
I remember recording an album from this new [according to me at that time] group "The Eagles" and listening to Hotel California over and over. Then, long after, a jaded me watched when "Hell Freezes Over" was released and Gen X did Hotel California to death all over again. Anyone love Tequila Sunrise? I do. A lot. And I hate Hotel California now. BTW for a surreal experience - listen to The Eagles - Unplugged.
Before MTV and the first pre-Grammy and Grammys [with Michael Jackson and Billy Joel and The Police etc.] shown on TV which actually started it all in India - I remember an album on cassette that EVERYONE who listened to English music had or wanted at that time - I forget the name of the album but it was a compilation of songs of various artistes and had Lipps Inc' Funky Town on it. If anyone remembers the name of the album please refresh my memory and the other songs on that album.

Sun -remember jetset too!
Also superiority of one type of casette over other and brands like - TDK,Maxell,Sony and sometimes BASF!

 

[keith_correa]

Sun -remember jetset too!
Also superiority of one type of casette over other and brands like - TDK,Maxell,Sony and sometimes BASF!

Yessssss!!!! I knew there was one mag that I was forgetting. Jetset it is.

TDK? How could I forget that brand? Shame on me! Along with Sony, it was a staple.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi Guys,
Dont miss it at all as i still very much use my tape deck and most of my tapes too.
In fact i bought blank 50 tapes last year in the UK and the store keeper was extremely happy to get rid of them and even offered me a super deal. IMO the TDK SA-X90 is one of the best chromes and i got them at RS 65/- per tape. Another great tape was the Maxell XL ll.
I still record from my own cds and am always happy with the recordings. That way the machine gets a good work out too.
Rgds

 

[alpha1]

>>Hiss, fungus, sticking, warbles, etc

...man you need to take care of your stuff I have 700+ cassettes and all of them just work whenever I put them in (though not very often). The hiss mostly comes from the preamp in the deck. Get a good one before they vanish.

>>> ... because there is no track changing button, like you have on CD players.

I always had these buttons in my cassette decks at home, as well as in the car.

I have many cassettes that still sound better than their CD versions. This is not because of the superiority of the medium, but the simple fact that HMV messed up every time they re-mastered (same holds true for Vinyl to tape transfers). For instance, the Jagjit Singh - Lata Mangeshkar album 'Sajda' sounds better on the tape. Check it out for your self.

The 'combo-packs' released later, always used to sound worse than the original release.

An other great sounding album that comes to my mind is a collection of songs by Doris Day. I bought it for Rs150/-, when that used to be a fortune.

Thanks,
Sharad

But can you actually change tracks with that?
or just fast forward.

Besides, how will your analog player know where on the analog tape the track has ended, and the next track has started?

 

[psychotropic]

many boom-boxes at least had something called AMSS or APSS (auto music search system or auto play search system) or something like that, which could detect silences, and could therefore move forward song by song, by rewinding or forwarding to the next gap. of course because it was an imperfect system it would sometimes get things wrong, but it worked most of the time.

But can you actually change tracks with that?
or just fast forward.

Besides, how will your analog player know where on the analog tape the track has ended, and the next track has started?

 

[smedhavi]

Psychotropic is right. That is exactly how it works. You cannot dial the track number, but jump to the next or previous tracks as many times as you want. It achieved the same result in a different way.
This is the cassette player I own:

• Denon USA | DRW-585

In addition to track skip (called music search function here), it also has individual counters and "Memory Stop" for each of the decks.
...and of course, no audible hiss other problems you listed.

Thanks,
Sharad

 

[pradski]

hi all.

Thank you reju for the spelling, I will not forget for life now.

I grew up with cassettes. The first cas I bought in 85, billboard for Rs 14 each. (billboard i think they were fake, white stickers and transparent case and next with blue stickers and black case) One of them is still with me, my all time favourite.

I bought cas before I could own a player. Had so many cas before I bought a player. Sun, yes I bought all of them. little of jetset. samantha fox poster was there.
My hostel room was filled with posters of sun, until my rogue seniors raided my room and pulled out all the posters.

CD s I listen to good ones and skip the other.
My cassette music used to start from where I last left it.
Albums mattered at that time. i listened to the album all the time not just good numbers cause I could not.
Automatic song selection was the privilege my NRI friends used to have.
Cas were easy, no scratches, you didn't have to be very careful.
You could carry them with walkman with ease, not like discman (a cumbersome affair)

copying was difficult, had to run behind those NRI s with dual decks and had to please them and buy them booze to get recordings of all the collections they used to have.

All these and more like many mentioned already, was so difficult to acquire and then you know the value of those cassettes.

It is so easy now to buy music now and you can just lootload them from net.

Now I can listen to them in good sound quality and in a easy way.
Hissing, noisy and a tin box playing it, did not affect my music, I really listened to music at that time.

Whereas now I listen to the sound of music more than the music itself, I pity myself for this.

 

[moshel]

I don't miss my cassettes, Although, I do have some wonderful collections which I can listen to this day as well....

but all the things like rolling the cassettes, rewind, fwd was a deterrent....

 

[vinaygat]

i will not miss the cassettes....

Reason : i listen to it every day !

I have a sansui d-75cw cassette deck in which songs can be searched with one touch button... i really love listening to it.... cassettes always rox and also vinyls....

 

[Staxxx]

No ! LOL .... my god to go through the problem of spooling the loose tape with my fat fingers when it sticks, or dealing with warbles and drop outs etc. Happy that I moved on to CDs and now prefer digital files.