# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/21 "2009-08-17T21:32:47Z")
I still do for books on tape. The Chicago Public Library is always having sales on books on tape and a lot of times, they just will give me extra books on tape to be shed of them If anyone is interested in transfering books on tape to your computer or CDs or mp3 check out [Audacity](http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Audacity/audacity.html). This is a free sound editor and it easily transfers your cassettes to computer. You can then compress the waves into mp3 or mp4s. All you need is an line out cable (plug it into your headphones if your cassette player doesn’t have a line out. It’ll work but the line out better. Not much of a problem if it’s only audiobooks.) It does record in real time, because it’s analog but the results for my transfer of books on tape (cassettes) to mp3 were great. ---
**Author:** ![Clare\_de\_Loone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/clare_de_loone/32/3407_2.png) [@Clare\_de\_Loone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clare_de_Loone)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/22 "2009-08-17T21:35:07Z")
I did until about 6 weeks ago, when my car with a cassette player was totaled. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/23 "2009-08-17T21:54:03Z")
A few weeks ago I listened to a Dr. Dre cassette. I have a bunch of mix tapes of songs I recorded off the radio, but I haven’t listened to any of them in a few years. Now I can usually find songs I like on Youtube or on free mp3 download sites. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/24 "2009-08-17T22:50:17Z")
Not me. I never did like the things, being a random access kind of guy. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/25 "2009-08-17T22:55:53Z")
I listen to cassettes. And CDs. And vinyl. Why not? I have hundreds in each format. What’s the point of paying money and wasting the time to redo them all in whatever format today’s “self-satisfied hipsters” think is cool? Who cares about cool? The music is the only thing that matters. And I have dozens of tapes I put together of songs that represent a year or style. That’s cooler than all the iPods in the world put together. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/26 "2009-08-17T23:03:10Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Oh, you mean those Walkman things. 😉 I occasionally let my age show, by referring to my iPod as my Walkman. I still have a collection of about 600 cassettes. The only time I listen to them is when I’m doing yardwork. I have a boom box in the garage, and the flatter dynamic range of tapes is well-suited for that venue. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/27 "2009-08-17T23:25:15Z")
I still have some, but I can’t honestly say I listen to them much. I’ve been trying to replace several mix tapes with digital versions of the same content for several years now, and I have it down to just a handful of songs I either can’t find or can’t identify. I did make a tape for my girlfriend a while back, and she says she listens to it a lot in her car. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/28 "2009-08-17T23:32:38Z")
Occasionally. I have at least a few things that aren’t currently ( or weren’t, last I looked ) available in CD or are otherwise hard to find. Nothing particularly precious, just stuff I occasionally like to fire up. I don’t hold with any of that there MP3 nonsense. I own/possess not a single one :p. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/29 "2009-08-18T00:03:09Z")
I have some albums that I only have on tape. I also have a couple of sets of old time radio shows I got from Radio Spirits about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/30 "2009-08-18T00:36:36Z")
Allow me to say to anyone who is still listening to cassettes and _doesn’t want to be_, it is ridiculously easy to digitize audio. Assuming you have a computer less than 10 years old, you need [one freeware package](http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), [one inexpensive cable](http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3449316), and a little time. Audiophiles, don’t bitch about sound quality. People listening to cassettes can’t possibly care _that much_ about sound quality. 🙂 ---
**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 18, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/31 "2009-08-18T00:48:36Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Allow me to say to anyone who is still listening to cassettes and _doesn’t want to be_, it is ridiculously easy to digitize audio. Assuming you have a computer less than 10 years old, you need [one freeware package](http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), [one inexpensive cable](http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3449316), and a little time. > > Audiophiles, don’t bitch about sound quality. People listening to cassettes can’t possibly care _that much_ about sound quality. 🙂 I’ve heard from a friend it is faster to nefariously obtain the taped material in digital format than it is to digitise tapes yourself. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/32 "2009-08-18T00:49:36Z")
Faster, sure. But it don’t give you that “Today, I _done somethin’_” feelin’. ETA: And besides, it’s not like I’m talking about digitizing cassettes of commercially-released and almost-certainly copyrighted material. Where would you get that idea? I’m talking about, you know, Aunt Irma’s birthday party. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/33 "2009-08-18T00:57:40Z")
Sure. I’ve got five shoeboxes full of them, mostly from my teenage years. It would be silly to throw them all away, at least as long as I’ve got the means of playing them (and I do). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/34 "2009-08-18T01:50:53Z")
Why exactly would I want to digitize my cassettes for? I can play the cassettes in my car, which is what Og designed them for, or in the two cassette decks that I have in the house. Where would I play the digitized music? On my non-existent iPod? On the computer that I use for work, not for listening to music? And if you think cassettes don’t have good sound quality, you simply don’t know what you’re talking about. Is anybody here saying that they have cassettes they don’t want to still listen to? No. Why? Cassettes are great. Digitized music isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/35 "2009-08-18T01:59:35Z")
Any hip hiop head worth their salt has a cassette tape somewhere. I will part with my purple tape (Ghostface and Chef) when it is pried from my cold dead hands. I also still have the first tape that turned me on to True Underground Raw hip hop, which was given to me by a neighborhood boy who told me it would change my life. It did. It was a dub of a dub of a damn dub, I’m sure, with sound quality choppy, at best. KRS ONE on one side Just Ice on the other. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/36 "2009-08-18T02:04:55Z")
Wow. Despite not being mentioned by name, **Exapno** ’s post seems to be aimed directly at me. Reply part one: Lighten up, Frances. > [@](#): > > Why exactly would I want to digitize my cassettes for? Reply part two: Cassette tapes are fragile. Having a backup isn’t a bad idea. > [@](#): > > Is anybody here saying that they have cassettes they don’t want to still listen to? No. Reply part three: Sometimes threads like this go on beyond 30 posts. Hey look, this one already has! What’s wrong with posting a little information for those who might come in later and want it? > [@](#): > > Cassettes are great. Reply part four: Where did I say otherwise? > [@](#): > > Digitized music isn’t. Reply part five: They both have their strengths. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/37 "2009-08-18T02:26:12Z")
I dragged mine from house to house with me as I moved over the years because I was still so attached to them, but after I got my first CD player (18 years ago) I gradually stopped listening to them. Finally, three years ago I faced up to the fact that I wasn’t ever going to use them again and I donated them to the op shop. They were like old friends so it was hard to let them go, but once I got used to CD’s instant fast-forward, rewind, shuffle play and the absence of that muffled sound, they were just clutter. Now that I’ve cleared the shelf they were taking up, I have room for my box full of CDs that I just can’t get rid of even though I have digitised all my music and never listen to them. They’re like old friends… ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/38 "2009-08-18T06:27:58Z")
I haven’t listened to a cassette in years. Probably since about 1994 (really). I began listening to CD’s exclusively, then got a computer, burned CD’s at first, then switched to an MP3 player. The last couple of years, I’ve bypassed CD’s almost completely and buy downloads off Amazon. I take my iPhone everywhere I go. I love carrying the equivalent of 300 tapes all in my front pocket in an apparatus no bigger than a cassette. I have a tape deck in my car that I plug the iPhone into. I have several speakers and amplifiers throughout the house I can plug the iPhone into, including my home theater setup. I even have a pair of Bluetooth earbuds for wireless listening. I’ve pretty much dumped the analog technology and gone whole-hog for digital. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/39 "2009-08-18T07:46:18Z")
Not only do I _listen to_ cassettes, I _record CDs_ that I borrow from the public library onto them. _AND_ mp3s that I find online. \*AND \* the odd radio program. Whatchoo gonna do about it? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749/40 "2009-08-18T08:31:10Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Audiophiles, don’t bitch about sound quality. People listening to cassettes can’t possibly care _that much_ about sound quality. 🙂 Or people listening to MP3s, arguably… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-still-listen-to-cassettes/506749.md?page=3)