The compact cassette was revolutionary. Its size and packaging made it ideal for on-the-go listening, but the convenience of cassettes didn’t stop there. Cassette recorders empowered artists to record and duplicate their own work, eliminating the need for expensive recording sessions and record label support. Introduced in 1963, the compact cassette was originally designed for […]
There are few things more iconic than the boombox. The boombox bridged the gap between the home stereo and the walkman and it did it with style. You could bring one with you everywhere you went and blast your music through a set of powerful speakers instead of being limited to a pair of headphones. […]
It’s been over 40 years since the first Sony Walkman was available to consumers in Japan. Finally, there was a way to listen to music on the go! (Although carrying a stack of cassettes and spare batteries was still a bit of a hassle.) Cassettes have not experienced the same resurgence in popularity that vinyl […]
There are now more than 14 million releases cataloged in the Discogs Database. Over 1 million of them are cassettes. The classic tape is not as sought-after as vinyl, but the format is experiencing a resurgence in popularity recently thanks to reissues, new releases, and legendary originals. The following list of the most collected cassettes […]
The cassette never went away. According to National Audio Company (the largest audio cassette manufacturer in the US), the need for cassettes continued throughout the ‘90s and 2000s as there was still a demand for spoken word tapes. As cassettes were originally produced for dictation, this is where we began to see the tape come […]
Long before the streaming playlist rose to power, the mixtape reigned supreme. Curating the right songs, recording them to cassette, and lining them up just right was a true labor of love. For the more ambitious mixtape maker, the job was not complete until each cassette had cover art that matched the sonic brilliance within. […]
Cassette Week is an annual celebration of all things cassettes organized by Tapehead City, an online shop based out of New York. This well-loved and important format was a pivotal piece of music technology in the 1970s and ’80s but has also experienced a resurgence in recent years. Cassette culture is powered by a community […]
Lou Ottens enjoyed a life that saw him turn a short temper into a major cultural milestone. Ottens was the Dutch engineer who spearheaded the 1963 invention of the cassette tape and the introduction of a portable cassette recorder/player. The moment of creation came when he got angry at his reel-to-reel recorder for shooting tape […]
Cassettes are making a comeback. No, really. Vinyl as a way of collecting and sharing music is beyond novelty in 2021. Now, the very tangible return of cassettes to the mainstream is fueled by one-part nostalgia and one-part affordability. Unlike their waxy counterparts, cassettes are pretty cheap to produce (as an artist) and purchase (as a […]
My parents had the coolest stereo set up in our living room when I was growing up. Two huge hi-fi speakers, an amp, a receiver, a turntable with an arm that allowed you to stack about five records so a new LP could drop down as the one before another ended. The pièce de resistance […]
