# Does anyone here still listen to cassettes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749 "2009-08-17T17:22:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/1 "2009-08-17T17:22:54Z")
I still do, mainly because I have a ton left over from when I was a kid that I’ll never got around to converting or replacing. And I’m usually not picky when it comes to sound quality. I just stick one in the boombox while I’m going about my work. Also I still like recording straight off the radio, mainly the college station here, which has some great indie and local music shows. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/2 "2009-08-17T17:25:50Z")
Self-satisfied hipsters, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/3 "2009-08-17T17:48:07Z")
I do. At the time in my life when I was most interested in music, it was the cutting edge technology. Then I married a guy who owned a CD player and a few thousand CDs, so no need for me to catch up. By the time that marriage was over, [del]music had died[/del] my interest had waned, and anyway the kids had CD players… I just this year came into possession of my very own CD player, when my husband gave me his old car. But it also has a cassette player! I’ve recently been rediscovering my old mix tapes, which is very interesting since I never labeled any of them. There’s just no telling what I might have. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/4 "2009-08-17T17:54:46Z")
Cassettes? Does anyone still listen to CDs anymore?! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/5 "2009-08-17T17:58:26Z")
They came out with something after CDs? Oh, you mean those Walkman things. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/6 "2009-08-17T17:59:26Z")
I haven’t in years. I have fond memories of listening to tapes on my walkman and boombox as a kid, but there’s no way I could put up with all the rewinding and fast-forwarding now…not to mention the tapes constantly getting eaten. There is something to the art of creating a mix tape, though. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/7 "2009-08-17T18:00:36Z")
I’m gonna fast-forward this over to Cafe Society. twickster, MPSIMS mod ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/8 "2009-08-17T18:02:34Z")
I do. I tape an LP each evening, then listen to it in the car on my commute the next day. (Today’s was “Fusion” by the Hello People. Good times!!!) ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/9 "2009-08-17T18:12:42Z")
I do on occasion; my car’s CD player quit working recently for some reason and my options (until I either fix the CD player or replace the car, which ever come first) are (1) radio, (2) cassette, or (3) my iPod, used through a Belkin cassette-deck adapter (which is not without faults related to sound quality). I still have a lot of cassettes that I like and haven’t bought on CD or mp3, so I will once in a while pop one in the car stereo. They’re cassettes I’ll listen to straight through, so no need to rewind or fast forward, which is good because that would get on my nerves very quickly. And while listening to cassettes is nice and nostalgia-y, I’m looking forward to simply plugging my iPod straight into the car stereo and using it exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![Liddle\_Lamsy\_Divey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Liddle\_Lamsy\_Divey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liddle_Lamsy_Divey)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/10 "2009-08-17T18:43:31Z")
I do. Like the OP, I’m not that picky when it comes to sound quality, and I still like recording stuff from off the radio. I guess I like them because I’m used to having them (and the CDs) around. I still listen to CDs, although my collection is substantially smaller than it was a year ago, since I gave a lot of them to charity. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/11 "2009-08-17T18:52:39Z")
Almost never. The only use that the cassette deck in my car has gotten in years has been for the iPod adapter – the car’s old enough that it doesn’t have a media jack, and those little FM transmitters for the iPod are horrible. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/12 "2009-08-17T18:55:06Z")
I still have TONS of cassettes, but mostly mixed tapes that I’ve put together myself. I really need to do the same on CD. I’m so far behind in technology that I don’t own an iPod, so I haven’t quite moved on that far yet. I own a 1997 Toyota RAV4 that has a radio w/cassette player. I get such grief from my co-workers when I drive a group out to lunch. Hey! It works, I have the media, and I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/13 "2009-08-17T18:56:42Z")
I did in July. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/14 "2009-08-17T19:14:13Z")
My car has a cassette player, and I do listen to cassettes on it—especially audiobooks, for which the cassette version is at least as good as CDs. Other than that, any cassettes I might want to listen to, I have long since either replaced with CDs or digitized. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/15 "2009-08-17T19:48:51Z")
My daughter. She’s in Namibia and plans to leave her tape player and tapes there when she leaves. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/16 "2009-08-17T20:09:13Z")
All the time. I recently drug out a big plastic tote full and have been going through them the last couple weeks. I was good at making mix tapes, not as good at labeling them. I’ve always kept a few of my favorite cassetes handy. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/17 "2009-08-17T20:13:01Z")
_raises hand_ Two things: My iPod only has a tape deck connector, so in a way I am listening to “tape” all the time, just fed through the iPod. But more correctly, Indian bands change and dissipate every three years it seems like. So I still have a handful of tapes that I can not find on iTunes, and might never. So I hang on to them and listen occasionally. Tapes are great in that they are much easier to record than CDs - you just record it quick, and don’t need a computer and don’t have to worry about write protection. Basically they have some things even CDs didn’t duplicate, and I never really got much into CDs - kind of went straight from tapes to mp3s. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/18 "2009-08-17T20:15:17Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > Self-satisfied hipsters, perhaps. Heh. I can’t think of a phrase that less describes me, but I listen to cassettes. At home, where my boom box still has a double cassette. They’re either mix tapes, tapes my father has dubbed from his CDs, or classics I have and may not buy the CD of. They’re in a basket with my VHS tapes, which, yes, I also use from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/19 "2009-08-17T20:58:53Z")
I do. I have a whole lot of tapes from when I was younger–CDs were only just coming in and I was poor, so I mostly bought tapes for a long time–not to mention all the mix tapes and stuff. No way am I going to re-buy all that on CD (not that I could anyway) or try to transfer it. I was quite happy when we bought a car last year, and it came with cassette and CD; now I can listen to tapes in the car! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/20 "2009-08-17T21:06:30Z")
Yes, but usually only home recordings of music etc. or old bought tape albums in my mam’s car. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749.md?page=2)