Because I live on a tight budget, I’m ultra-cheap. Because I’m ultra-cheap, I seldom buy new CD’s. And because I seldom buy new CD’s, I seldom go in record stores.
The other day I was hanging around the local mall when on a whim I decided to go into the record shop and see what they had. Much to my surprise, I found they were still selling pre-recorded cassettes. It did seem to me that the titles they had for sale were all old stuff, though admittedly I wouldn’t recognize the newer artists. They all seemed to sell for about $5.00, with some stuff (like the Beatles) selling for as much as $9.98. I couldn’t help wondering if most of this material was old inventory being cleared out of warehouses.
I thought the audio cassette format was pretty much dead. It’s had a long and honorable history and was certainly a much better format than its nearest rival, the 8-track tape. The audio-cassette is history now–maybe not ancient history, but still history. I know they still sell blank cassettes, and probably will for years to come. But Radio Shack has stopped selling cassette decks. They still sell combination CD-cassette players and shelf systems, and they still sell blank tapes, but no decks. Neither did Sears, and neither did any other store in the mall that dealt in any kind of electronics. I have no idea where you’d go to buy a new cassette deck. And for those reasons I was still somewhat surprised to see new pre-recorded audio cassettes still being sold in a record shop.
When I got home, I took a look at my cassettes, many of which are still played on a regular basis, including some mix tapes I made as far back as the mid '70’s. Cassettes are still very much an active part of my music collection, and probably still will be for a good many years. It’s not that I have a great love for the cassette format. It’s just that I’m not going to replace 120 cassettes at CD prices.
So I’m wondering.
Does your local record store still sell pre-recorded cassettes?
Are cassettes still an important part of your music collection?
Cassettes are definitely on the way out and have been for some time, but how long do you think it will be before cassettes have gone the way of the LP, the 8-track and the 78? How much longer will it be before you can’t buy a new blank cassette any more?
From what I see at my retailers, LPs aren’t going anywhere (though the last few prerecorded cassettes are in dump bins).
I saw a kid (17-18) pay $21.69 for a brand new copy of T Rex’s ‘Electric Warrior’ a little more than a week ago at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. I was on line (in queue) behind him and as soon as he got his change, I tapped him on the shoulder & asked if he was a turnatablist or a DJ. He said no, just that he prefers vinyl.
I realize alot of new stuff is still released on vinyl LP’s (and cost more money)…but had no idea record companies were still re-issuing 30 year old titles on vinyl.
To be quite honest, I’ve only ever bought two pre-recorded cassettes, ever. The rest were records (12,000) and CDs (3500). I’m in music stores quite often, and I hadn’t really thought about it, but the cassette departments seem to have disappeared. I’m surprised to learn that it’s getting difficult to buy a cassette deck anymore.
I’ve got about 400 tapes, but other than to take stuff off them that I hadn’t already replaced on CD, to record them on a computer and put them on a CD, I haven’t used the cassette format at home for anything in five years. At the radio station where I work, you can call up and ask for a CD or tape copy of any local programming, or alternately, if it’s small enough, we’ll e-mail you an mp3. Since we started offering CDs instead, I’ll bet I might have made 3 tapes this year.
There will still be a market for cassettes and machines to play them for quite some time, considering how many people own tapes - just think of how long 78 speed was included on turntables. But eventually, they’ll go away. I’d give it as short as 10 years before the kids don’t know what a tape is for, or how to operate a tape deck. I’m seeing young people at the station who have never seen a turntable and don’t know how to play a record. Jeez, that makes me feel old.
The local Wal-Mart carries tapes. The Record Exchange in Boise* carries tapes and LPs. Truck stops carry lots of tapes. I know this because my car has a tape deck**, and I got a lot of tapes from various road trips.
*If you’re ever in Boise, go there. It’s a hell of a store.
**And a Kenmore 10-disc CD changer in the trunk. But it doesn’t have a cartridge, I’ve never seen Kenmore 10-disc cartridges for sale anywhere, and I’m willing to bet that they’re only available through Honda dealers; who would likely charge way too much for it. Besides, I got my Neuros. Don’t need no CD changer.
Tapes are what I use in my car. I don’t have a CD player in there. Usually, the cassette section is in the back of the store, and very limited in selection, but it is still there.
Our local Borders used to sell prerecorded cassettes, but I don’t think they carry them now. And good riddance, in that case: the classical tapes I got sounded like they’d been bulk-erased over part of the reel (I suspect that it had to do with the magnetically-based “theft prevention” being on the tape case too long without the tape selling).
Our Wal-Mart still carries cassettes, last I looked, and for not a lot. Got the updated version of Johnny Cash At San Quentin and a very, very good O’Jays best-of for $4.99. We’ve also got a good (in terms of stock) locally-owned record store with new and used cassettes, though their pricing leaves something to be desired…they treat all the tapes, regardless of chaos, as if they were mint-condition vintage vinyl and price accordingly.
Much like fishbicycle, most of my use of cassette has been as source material for transfers, not as the end product anymore. I’ve transferred a lot of my old mix tapes to Hi-MD and have enjoyed re-experiencing and occasionally resequencing the contents. (A conventional blank MiniDisc reformatted to Hi-MD and recorded to Hi-MD LP speed - that is, with FM-grade/good cassette-grade audio - will hold something like ten hours of music, and a blank 1 GB Hi-MD at the same quality will hold 34 hours.) The format has really spoiled me in that regard, because (unlike tape ) I don’t have to work up a sequence and then record, I can sequence the songs after the fact. My ability to make mix tapes, and my mindset about them, has taken a pretty good turn.