Compact cassettes. Can they have a second life?

[sish101]

As part of my retirement declutter, I've turned my attention to a large collection of compact cassettes, which haven't seen the light of day since I had a cassette player in the car (so well over 10 years ago). Just looking at them brings back the excitement of the TDK90 (I even had the occasional Chrome and Metal versions when I was feeling flush with birthday money). I admit that I don't miss the worrying scrunching sound which heralded the rapid unspooling of the tape inside the mechanism of the player and which usually resulted in the requirement for drastic scissor intervention.

So despite them invoking a variety of nostalgic memories (ie recordings of Radio 1's Top 40 program on a Sunday night, mixtapes from friends and the like), I've decided they need to go. I have every song on either CD or MP3 (remember them) and the really old and obscure ones are on a chunk of vinyl in the loft (which is a job for another day). Or they are available on Spotify or YouTube.

So TK-UK, is there any use for old compact cassettes? Or are they just destined for black bag heaven at the tip (sorry, Borough Recycling Centre)?

Answers, as they say, on a postcard.


Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

[Arcam]

As part of my retirement declutter, I've turned my attention to a large collection of compact cassettes, which haven't seen the light of day since I had a cassette player in the car (so well over 10 years ago). Just looking at them brings back the excitement of the TDK90 (I even had the occasional Chrome and Metal versions when I was feeling flush with birthday money). I admit that I don't miss the worrying scrunching sound which heralded the rapid unspooling of the tape inside the mechanism of the player and which usually resulted in the requirement for drastic scissor intervention.

So despite them invoking a variety of nostalgic memories (ie recordings of Radio 1's Top 40 program on a Sunday night, mixtapes from friends and the like), I've decided they need to go. I have every song on either CD or MP3 (remember them) and the really old and obscure ones are on a chunk of vinyl in the loft (which is a job for another day). Or they are available on Spotify or YouTube.

So TK-UK, is there any use for old compact cassettes? Or are they just destined for black bag heaven at the tip (sorry, Borough Recycling Centre)?

Answers, as they say, on a postcard.


Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

Sell them on eBay, I sold nearly all mine over the last 12 months, the TDK metal tapes sell well.

[sish101]

Thanks for the tip

Had a quick look but the standard D90 tapes (even brand new and unopened) attract little or no interest. I have two metal tapes but they are out of a collection of around 90 tapes so may not be worth the trouble of selling.

Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

[Arcam]

Ah sorry, I did well out of my MA90s, even the used ones. I guess the D90s are not as sort after.

[stooo]

Alas I still have my Sony Tape deck but no longer my tapes. Maybe I’ll see if I can pipe some flac onto it for the nostalgia feels.

[JasonM]

If you want to part with them I would love to have them, my kids recently found a bunch of my old tapes and I recently got a double tape deck and had great fun seeing them try to figure out how they work, this is after last years retro trip with them with my old vinyl, my youngest wants to make his own mix tape from the records.
Obviously happy to make a contribution and postage.

[sish101]

If you want to part with them I would love to have them, my kids recently found a bunch of my old tapes and I recently got a double tape deck and had great fun seeing them try to figure out how they work, this is after last years retro trip with them with my old vinyl, my youngest wants to make his own mix tape from the records.
Obviously happy to make a contribution and postage.

Sounds good. PM me your address. Would rather they went to a useful home.

Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

[JasonM]

Nice one,, I’ll pm in the morning. Thanks.

[walkerwek1958]

Cassettes were very much a compromise back in their heyday, recordable CD made them obsolete overnight and I really can`t get any enthusiasm up for them. Pre-recorded cassettes usually gave very mediocre sound quality, better results could be obtained by recording your own from a good quality vinyl source. Cassettes were good for playing in cars, but once CD players came along they were confined to history and rightly so.

Been there, done that (many years ago), really no urge to go back. I`m a big fan of vinyl and CD, but I draw the line at cassettes.

[Arcam]

Cassettes were very much a compromise back in their heyday, recordable CD made them obsolete overnight and I really can`t get any enthusiasm up for them. Pre-recorded cassettes usually gave very mediocre sound quality, better results could be obtained by recording your own from a good quality vinyl source. Cassettes were good for playing in cars, but once CD players came along they were confined to history and rightly so.

Been there, done that (many years ago), really no urge to go back. I`m a big fan of vinyl and CD, but I draw the line at cassettes.

With the right tape deck, tapes and Dolby C the quality was excellent. I would challenge most people to tell the difference between the original source and a well recorded cassette.

Defo agree on prerecorded tapes, totally rubbish even when played back on a Nakomichi CR7.

[oldoakknives]

I remember having an 8 track and thought it was great at the time! Also had one of those old in-car 45 players for a while, as a curiosity back in the 70s.
The Sharp cassette players with APSS were great, fast forward to the next track!
Halogen days.

[vagabond]

..... when played back on a Nakomichi CR7.

Now that brought back memories!

[mitch1956]

at 67 i too have numerous pre recorded cassette tapes sat in the loft together with a good model nakamichi tape deck, all virtually worthless so know exactly how op feels, with the advent of hi res streaming which i am into now they are just taking up space, but i am loathed just to tip them( but i am a bit of a hoarder and still have my epos speakers from 1996 up there too !)

[walkerwek1958]

I had a decent quality Marantz cassette deck that cost £200 back in 1989, from memory TDK SA cassettes gave the best results recording with Dolby B. I had a big collection of stuff I’d recorded, played mostly in the car. When I got into recordable CDs I gave up with cassettes, eventually I lent my cassette deck to a friend and never got it back. All my cassettes ended up getting thrown away at some point in the distant past, possibly during a house move.

The vinyl revival surprised me, but after initial scepticism I embraced it and recommissioned my old Thorens turntable, with a Goldring 1022 cartridge and a good quality pre- amp the sound quality is excellent and generally sounds nicer than CD. I’m still surprised how successful the vinyl revival has been, but I can understand some of the reasons.

I just can’t see similar logic for the revival of cassettes, but that’s not to say it won’t happen to some extent. Maybe 8 track cartridges or even reel to reel will make a comeback!

[stooo]

at 67 i too have numerous pre recorded cassette tapes sat in the loft together with a good model nakamichi tape deck, all virtually worthless so know exactly how op feels, with the advent of hi res streaming which i am into now they are just taking up space, but i am loathed just to tip them( but i am a bit of a hoarder and still have my epos speakers from 1996 up there too !)

I’m still using my 1999 Cyrus amp, and an even older set of Tannoys.

The RDS tuner is somewhat unused though.

[blackal]

I had a huge box full of cassettes (mostly TDK Chrome) I made from albums - can't remember ever throwing them out, so they may be up in the loft still.

Had all the usual mixes for the car too.

[wildheart]

I've at least 500 cassettes, play them in my car usually. My 2007 Lexus has a cassette player. I've still got my Sony Walkman as well. Many of my recordings are irreplaceable. I have some live recordings that were never released on CD

[Mj2k]

I recall the wow and flutter of piano music on tape decks. Awful on cheap equipment which is all I had as a teen.

Amazing to think self made CDs replaced them, but you could record off the radio like the good old days.

Now some cars don’t even come with a CD player, my last Mini didn’t as everything was from the phone. Only mildly annoying as no CD player = nowhere for a CD slot phone holder which I prefer to the air vent solutions.

[Filterlab]

I recently digitised audio from some cassettes for friends of mine. They were recordings of their band in the 80s and they only had a single copy. I played them on a Technics deck which I procured from eBay into an ADC and then into my MacBook.

I'd forgotten how abysmal the sounds quality was. It took a LOT of post production to get a decent playback quality. Sounded ok-ish after many hours.

OP, if the content isn't unique, then eBay them. They're not worth hanging on to.

[Wolfie]

I recall the wow and flutter of piano music on tape decks. Awful on cheap equipment which is all I had as a teen.

Amazing to think self made CDs replaced them, but you could record off the radio like the good old days.

Now some cars don’t even come with a CD player, my last Mini didn’t as everything was from the phone. Only mildly annoying as no CD player = nowhere for a CD slot phone holder which I prefer to the air vent solutions.

I was really confused for a moment, I thought you were talking about Stereolab!!!!!

[Jimmcb]

I still have my Phillips EL3302 Portable cassette player from early 70s that I used to set up on a Sunday to cspture Top 20/30/40 radio show.

I even used to try and record from TV but that never worked well.

We worked out how to play the cassette players from the Phillips through the gramophone in the living room. First single played was I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmunds I think.

Wow. Memories flooding back here!!

Jim

PS still have the tapes: TDK, Sony and Memorex(?)

[hogthrob]

New blank cassettes are plentiful and cheap on Amazon.

[TheTigerUK]

I still play cassettes in my 2002 MR2 :) I bought 20 at the car boot for £1 total.

[DONGinsler]

My previous car had a player along with CD. Really didn't use the player, but first cassette I popped in ripped. Lot of mine were old. Never really tried again.

Still have the cassettes and tape decks downstairs (not hooked up), so just sitting

[bambam]

I have an old Realistic double tape player as part of a separates hifi set-up and boxes of cassettes somewhere. Some are commercial releases of whatever was popular at the time, but some are recordings of concerts I went to.
Also have an old B&O receiver with a built in tape player.
Keep meaning to hook it all up and try it out again - even if it’s just to then realise why I didn’t bother before.
I seem to remember that the B&O tape system is quite good with the right type of cassette.
No cassette facility in any of the cars now - just CD, radio and then aux or Bluetooth.
My old BMW E39 had a cassette player but I don’t think I ever used it - used to select it every now and then just to see the screen flip out of the way to reveal the cassette system.

[mitch1956]

further to this, i said i had a nakamichi cassette deck, i do but its faulty keeps sticking, after his thread came up i looked into getting it fixed, and lo and behold a guy on e bay advertised for full referb, new belts , rollers re calibration etc for £ 200 !,
the only trouble is as far as i can see is it would only be worth that at max if i waned to resell it and then i might have trouble as there are plenty out there, also as i said i can get all my old pre recorded tapes and any other music via my streamer subs at a far superior quality, so it looks like my tape days are gone shame as i remember buying the nakamichi and it was a lot of money for me at that time and still remember the excitement of unboxing and playing tapes.

[The Doc]

I transferred all my Pete Tong Friday night radio tape recordings onto minidisc mp3, then later uploaded to my cloud music account a while ago. The hiss and crackle, now encoded in is brilliant.

Last time I was at my parents, I found an old box of my legit music tapes and albums from the 90s and 80s and I swiped 6 of them, which have now all been sold on Ebay netting me £75 total !