please bring back 8-track and cassette players into production

bob. · 09-13-2012, 08:24 AM

i cannot tell you how many "i love you" tapes ended with a Charles Bronson or Spazz song....just because i can't leave 38 seconds!

lots of "i really loved the tape you made me....but...."

honestly one liners from Airplane! where my savior

Howard the Duck · 09-13-2012, 08:42 AM

i like cassettes

i like the flutter, the clicking noises as the tape runs

i also like the flat EQ

call me another cassette freak as well

Duraddict · 09-13-2012, 09:50 AM

Cassettes are having their day again (finally). I've been waiting for this forever. I still make lots of mixtapes and listen to them daily in my car. So much safer than flipping through my phone for different music.

That said, why wouldn't want to see 40k worth of equipment.

Trollheart · 09-13-2012, 02:02 PM

I too used to make selection tapes, hundreds of 'em. In fact, once I got into an artist I'd make a best of or even series of best of their music. Used to use different coloured pens, make up little covers and everything. Very therapeutic.

However...

LOTS of cons. If you ****ed up a tape you were either going to have to do it all over again, or hope that the original mix didn't peek out at the end once you'd recorded over it. Who remembers hearing the last few milliseconds of a guitar fadeout or a drumroll, or a snatch of fading vocal when the tape was supposed to be over?

Plus, you had that little bit at the beginning, the leader tape, that you had to spool on with your finger to get past, and if you didn't then your carefully-planned opening track just jumped into life, like a record when you dropped the needle in the wrong place? Man that was annoying, though you got used to it.

Then of course there were dropouts (for anyone not understanding any of these terms, or born after 1980, here's a guide http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1087614), tape tangling, tapes getting stood on, accidental erasure, the many blank and caseless tapes which we all had and wondered what was on them but were too lazy to find out, having to turn the tape over at the end of side A, and if you didn't have an auto-reverse deck, having to spool forward or back to get to the music on the second side, and the eternal ritual of "holding down the play and record key with the pause key ready to let the pause key up as SOON as the music starts OH **** I MISSED IT TRY AGAIN!"

Other than that, cassettes were fine. Oh yeah, and the crappy sound reproduction, no matter how good your deck was. Unless you used metal tapes, and man were they expensive!

Never used an eight-track though, I have to say...

Plankton · 09-13-2012, 02:12 PM

I still have my 8-Track player. It's a record player/radio/8-Track player/recorder all in one from the 70's. I used to make mix 8-Tracks for my player in my car. Then when casettes got popular, I had to use one of those casette to 8-Track plug-in dealies until I could afford a car stero with one built in.

Kinda reminds me of those "Kids got it good these days" commercials.

Howard the Duck · 09-13-2012, 09:12 PM

i used to do a lot of illegal taping back in the day

my best friend was a pretty rich bastard and he has a large collection of imported vinyl, which weren't available here

i taped a lot of Japan, OMD, New Order

also another friend was trying to get me into thrash (I was only into Megadeth then) so he taped for me the first four Metallica and some Anthrax

Metallica I dug, but Anthrax was so so

to show my appreciation, I gave him my Pearl Jam's Ten - which in retrospect wasn't a very good trade, he lost

LoathsomePete · 09-13-2012, 09:15 PM

Why don't we bring back lead based paint while we're at it.

~~[MERIT]~~ · 09-13-2012, 09:19 PM

If one were so inclined, I'm sure they could record their music library onto cassette tapes and drag a backpack full of them around with you, whist shouldering a boombox, but an iPod is just more convenient for most.

Howard the Duck · 09-13-2012, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [DONNIE -X- DUKES]

If one were so inclined, I'm sure they could record their music library onto cassette tapes and drag a backpack full of them around with you, whist shouldering a boombox, but an iPod is just more convenient for most.

that's what I used to do in the late 80s/early 90s

only I used a Walkman

**Janszoon** · 09-13-2012, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

Why don't we bring back lead based paint while we're at it.

Ah, my favorite snack.

09-13-2012, 08:24 AM	#11 (permalink)
bob. Still sends his reguards. Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Trying to get out of the cat town.... Posts: 5,039	i cannot tell you how many "i love you" tapes ended with a Charles Bronson or Spazz song....just because i can't leave 38 seconds! lots of "i really loved the tape you made me....but...." honestly one liners from Airplane! where my savior __________________ A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism. Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.

09-13-2012, 02:02 PM	#14 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	I too used to make selection tapes, hundreds of 'em. In fact, once I got into an artist I'd make a best of or even series of best of their music. Used to use different coloured pens, make up little covers and everything. Very therapeutic. However... LOTS of cons. If you **ed up a tape you were either going to have to do it all over again, or hope that the original mix didn't peek out at the end once you'd recorded over it. Who remembers hearing the last few milliseconds of a guitar fadeout or a drumroll, or a snatch of fading vocal when the tape was supposed to be over? Plus, you had that little bit at the beginning, the leader tape, that you had to spool on with your finger to get past, and if you didn't then your carefully-planned opening track just jumped into life, like a record when you dropped the needle in the wrong place? Man that was annoying, though you got used to it. Then of course there were dropouts (for anyone not understanding any of these terms, or born after 1980, here's a guide http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1087614), tape tangling, tapes getting stood on, accidental erasure, the many blank and caseless tapes which we all had and wondered what was on them but were too lazy to find out, having to turn the tape over at the end of side A, and if you didn't have an auto-reverse deck, having to spool forward or back to get to the music on the second side, and the eternal ritual of "holding down the play and record key with the pause key ready to let the pause key up as SOON as the music starts OH ** I MISSED IT TRY AGAIN!" Other than that, cassettes were fine. Oh yeah, and the crappy sound reproduction, no matter how good your deck was. Unless you used metal tapes, and man were they expensive! Never used an eight-track though, I have to say... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-13-2012, 02:12 PM	#15 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,765	I still have my 8-Track player. It's a record player/radio/8-Track player/recorder all in one from the 70's. I used to make mix 8-Tracks for my player in my car. Then when casettes got popular, I had to use one of those casette to 8-Track plug-in dealies until I could afford a car stero with one built in. Kinda reminds me of those "Kids got it good these days" commercials. __________________ See location...

09-13-2012, 09:15 PM	#17 (permalink)
LoathsomePete Cardboard Box Realtor Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Hobb's End Posts: 7,648	Why don't we bring back lead based paint while we're at it. __________________ Last.FM 101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too

09-13-2012, 09:19 PM	#18 (permalink)
~~[MERIT]~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Missouri, USA Posts: 4,814	If one were so inclined, I'm sure they could record their music library onto cassette tapes and drag a backpack full of them around with you, whist shouldering a boombox, but an iPod is just more convenient for most.