Death of the iPod (Everyone's buying vinyl)

[sidewinder]

I used to record from vinyl and FM radio onto TDK metal tape with a JVC noise reduction thing called 'Super - ANRS' I think. The results were fairly good - but nothing near reel-to-reel.

Edited May 9, 2017 by sidewinder

[Scott Dolan]

The problem with cassettes is they degraded as quickly as you could play them. You could buy studio releases on cassette and they sounded wonderful at first. But things went downhill quickly from there. Especially if you were like me and didn't feel like cleaning your heads on a daily basis. 

Portability was the primary driving force behind the popularity of cassettes. 

And like Art said, audiophiles were initially in love with four track cassettes. Just like they were initially in love with CDs. Then when it wasn't cool to be in love with them (i.e., everybody was playing them), they quickly disavowed their usefulness and proclaimed the LP the ultimate audiophile medium. 

[sidewinder]

Well - I for one will say (and as a big user of cassettes) that I never for one moment considered them a valid substitute for LPs. They were convenient - for use in the car or walkman or at work - and that is all.

[Scott Dolan]

Right, but that was what it was all about back then. Nobody complained about the sound. That was my point. 

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, sidewinder said:

Well - I for one will say (and as a big user of cassettes) that I never for one moment considered them a valid substitute for LPs. They were convenient - for use in the car or walkman or at work - and that is all.

Or for dubbing LPs that your friends had that you didn't (and probably couldn't).

I can't begin to mention how much of my exposure to Black Saint/Soul Note, Horo, Moers Music, Fluid, Hat, etc. was from dubbing LPs from somebody who had been to Europe and brought them back. Imports, when they were available, were cost-prohibitive, but a box of K-Mart cassettes was not. And then TDK, etc. and finally the real things themselves. But I needed that entry-level access, the cheapass cassette dub.

Same thing with OOP BNs and lots of other things. I wasn't looking to have an object in the best sound possible, I was just hungry to hear the shit by any way possible.

[Scott Dolan]

I was a Maxell guy. 

[JSngry]

Come to think of it, I might have been...which product was on the general market longer?

I found that K-Mart tapes could and would vary wildly. One lot would be more than adequate, another one borderline unlistenable. But at that price, hey, you borrow 20 LPs from somebody at one time to tape, you can't hold on to them until you find good tape. At lease I couldn't.

Hell, I kept files on them, spiral note card binders with hand written discographical info copied from the LP jackets, detailed like a mofo, front & back of card if needed, relevant liner notes when applicable.

Truthfully, I never knew all that many people who wanted to hear that much music that badly. But I've known a few, and believe me, both them and I made dubs of each other's dubs.

Whatever else digital is or isn't, it's definitely made it easier to scratch that particular itch.

[ArtSalt]

1 hour ago, Scott Dolan said:

Right, but that was what it was all about back then. Nobody complained about the sound. That was my point. 

Exactly, by the specifications and standards of the early to mid even late 80s, the humble cassette was delivering on a number of perceived critical and desirable criteria were vinyl wasn't. I don't remember anyone complaining on how awful cassettes sounded.

 

 

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Come to think of it, I might have been...which product was on the general market longer?

I'm not sure, but if I had to take a guess I'd say TDK. 

[sonnymax]

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I remember getting cassette dupes of rare Blue Note LPs in the years before CD-Rs became more affordable. I probably had almost 100 of them. Some I got from posters here.

[sidewinder]

I remember that Ella Memorex ad on TV !

[Scott Dolan]

You know, I'm not sure I ever saw the Ella commercial. The only one I recall was the guy sitting in a chair being blown backwards by his stereo speakers. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

1 hour ago, Scott Dolan said:

You know, I'm not sure I ever saw the Ella commercial. The only one I recall was the guy sitting in a chair being blown backwards by his stereo speakers. 

[JSngry]

 

 

Check this first one out - Nelson Riddle, Tommy Flanagan, Al McKibbon(?), and who's the drummer?

And last but not least, here's one for Arlen:

 

[Scott Dolan]

The Touch certainly can't be far behind. 

[BFrank]

I still use my Nano. It works great, holds LOTS of tunes and takes up practically NO space. Also, it saves me from draining my phone battery.

[Scott Dolan]

I listen to podcasts all day and have to say I've never had a battery issue. Does playing audio on your phone really use up that much juice? 

[mjzee]

There's an amusing article in today's WSJ about cassette tapes.  It's protected behind a paywall, but try searching for the following bad pun: "A Global Shortage of Magnetic Tape Leaves Cassette Fans Reeling."

[Scott Dolan]

Here is a free version. https://www.wsj.com/articles/cassettes-are-making-a-comeback-but-there-s-a-kink-nobody-makes-tape-1509723435

Pretty ridiculous, BTW.