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When Was The Last Time You Saw Or Played An Audio Cassette?

April 21st, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

A headline on The Register caught my eye earlier this week “Imation buys TDK’s Recording Media Biz“. I haven’t heard TDK’s name mentioned for such a long time. For those of you who aren’t old enough to remember, TDK were the leading brand in audio cassettes.

Seeing the headline made me realise that I don’t think I’ve seen or played an audio cassette for around 7 years. When was the last time you saw an audio cassette? Is there anyone out there who still uses cassettes?

I remember fondly growing up and putting two separate tape decks (no tape-2-tape decks back then) on pillows to minimise vibrations to try and make better recordings. It never worked though, and halfway through most recordings you’d always hear my Dad singing or my Mum telling me or my brother off.

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About the Author

Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 10 Responses So Far. »

#1

Comment by Brown Baron on 21 April 2007:

TDK was the best for me. Audio cassettes .. now that is truly retro and brings back a lot of memories for me. Like the times when I’d create my own remixes using a 2 player tapedeck. Fun times.
#2

Comment by Andy on 21 April 2007:

I have the grand total of one audio tape in my collection, which came all the way from Mongolia.

When I was out there on vacation a couple of years ago, our small group enjoyed a private performance by a Throat Singer (those guys who manage to sing from both the front and back of their throat at the same time).

He had copies of his music for sale on both tape and CD, but only had tapes with him for some reason. Hence the solitary tape in my collection (which, one day, I really must get around to putting onto MP3…).

Last time I listened to it? Can’t remember.

Next time I’m going to listen to it? In about five minutes, when I’ve found my tape player
#3

Comment by Dennis BjÃ¸rn Petersen on 21 April 2007:

We recently bought a new car (Toyota Avensis 2004) and they still come with cassette player and a CD player. The car is made for all of Europe and in some southern countries they still use tapes a lot, so Toyota aren’t interested in removing it. However in the newst model 2007 it is removed.

I haven’t used tape since I bought a CD player in 1997, its actually 10 years ago right now.

I still remember the good old days. I remember my little sister bought a clever walkman that recognised every track on the tape. That made it a lot easier finding the right tracks.
#4

Comment by zane on 21 April 2007:

I bought pansonic RX-EX 1 stereo player 4 years ago, it came with both cassette and cd player, and thanks to which, i can still play the old cassettes of mine should i wish to
#5

Comment by Mr.Byte on 21 April 2007:

Taps! as in audio cassettes I have not used for years. But as I am a mainframe Engineer, we use them daily…..They are still the powerful long term storage device
#6

Comment by Everton on 22 April 2007:

Like the times when Iâ€™d create my own remixes using a 2 player tapedeck. Fun times.

making someone a mix tape used to be really mean something back then!

I remember my little sister bought a clever walkman that recognised every track on the tape. That made it a lot easier finding the right tracks.

Lol Music search - I remember that.
#7

Comment by Mike on 22 April 2007:

Blimey. I remember taping the Top 40 on a Sunday night when Tony Blackburn was still presenting it and storing all of those audio tapes in a big box. I found them recently when I was clearing out my parents loft but I didn’t have the heart to throw them away.

I didn’t even realise TDK were still in business…
#8

Comment by alasdair on 23 April 2007:

TDK still make masses of media - check out your CD-Rs and DVD-Rs.

I discovered a box full of tapes at the weekend when clearing our loft - they all went to the tip - you should have seen the tip gannets pouring over them

my sis and I used to exchange compliation tapes when at Uni in the early 90s so I kept those with the intention of remastering them in mp3 on CD - oh and I hid a couple in the insulation of the loft for future generations
#9

Comment by Old Timer on 23 April 2007:

I have kids and the public library has a lot of book on tapes for kids. The work great for long trips in the mini-van. (Yeah laugh now, you will be old some day too.)
#10

Comment by Everton on 23 April 2007:

Nothing wrong with minivans…..when I lived in the States I tried to hire a car once with one of my roommates and all they had left was a mini-van. She thought it was hilarious, and we ended up picking up a few mates and playing Mum and Dad to them for a day which was funny.