Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Audio Cassettes: The End Of An Era

Its sad to see it going this way, but hey its 44 years old now, its outlived VHS, seen off DAT, Minidisc, DCC, Stereo8 and formed the basis for many video technologies like Hi8 and data storage solutions like the the 3M DC.

Personally, although standard Ferric Oxide tapes give decent sound, I have always used Chrome or on rare occasions full metal tapes. The sound quality out of metal is near-CD quality, and Chrome is a good in-between.

Im pretty sure one will still be able to buy cssettes in many places for the next few years, it willd probably hit 50 before its gone completely. Lets see if MP3's and their players are still around in their current form in 40 years time...



BBC News Report

It's a good move, we need to progress more into the digital age and stop focusing on old ways.

A few record labels still sell cassettes as part of a tape pack with a CD or DVD bundled in.

It's a good idea to buy old cassette players cheap now, cas they'll probably be worth loads in the future! lol

I only use tapes at Christmas haha! I have had "The Best Christmas Album In The World Ever" in my Technics deck for about 3 years now lmao! Not doing any good for the tape heads for sure, but its the only thing it gets used for now.

That said, I wouldnt want to get rid of my cassette deck, they do come in handy on rare occassion, especially when looking back at your old collections. A LOT of stuff simply cannot be bought on MP3 due to the sheer crapiness of MP3 sellers and record labels (The Beatles for instance).

Im probably a bit like older people with Vinyls... the sound quality out of tapes is something that CD and MP3 cant match, its a bit hissy, but add Dolby noise reduction (preferably C, B is a bit relaxed and S is a bit too clean), and it sounds quality and very distinctive.

Something we will never say about MP3's is ooooo doesnt the sound loss sound quality haha!