Audio Tapes and Compact Cassettes: Cruisin' Down Memory Lane

Before the revolution brought about by MP3s swapped and lent over file-sharing programs in the Net; before this revolution that spread like wildfire at the hands of MP3-player yielding masses; before the rise of college drop-out and dorm intellectuals out to conquer music plus the Net… There was the wildly successful guerilla warfare staged by a sedate-looking plastic square called a cassette tape.

For anybody who gripped one of these nonetheless potent devices sometime in the 70s, 80’s and up to its waning days in the early 90s, the sound that streamed from these devices had the smell of a, er… revolution, what else! Whether it was British rock or punk or the latest Top 40, fun from cassette tapes and recorders cannot be exhausted. And in these post-modern days, where sleek mobile tech is in, cassettes still has a faithful following in some developing countries when it comes to purchasing and listening to music.

It may be helpful now to go over how CDs literally drowned and swamped out most of the cassette tapes we used to own in our heydays. In many Western countries, demand for cassettes has fallen dramatically since its rule in the late 1980s. As early as the start of the 90s, CDs have already surpassed pre-recorded cassettes sales. By 2001, cassettes made up only 4% of all music sold in the United States. However, as of mid-2007, manufacturers still produce blank cassettes, and devices for cassette recording remain within reach.

Despite common knowledge of lower fidelity, cassette users did not hesitate using them inside the usually raucous automobile interior of the time. With the release to the public of "shock proof" buffering innovation in CD players, however, and other key causes like the toning down of in-car noise levels and improved understanding of consumer expectations, as of late 1990s, the CD had unseated the cassette as the audio component of choice among most Western vehicles.

So what makes compact cassette recorders and cassettes stay on? The recorders usually costs less than most media and is of enough quality to serve as adjuncts or substitutes for note taking. Audiobooks, church services, and other spoken word material still frequently appear inside tapes on shelves, again since fidelity is generally not a drawback for such content.

Now, if cassettes and its complementary equipment are in the twilight of commercial music sales, recording on analog tape has gone against this trend for being a positive option. In 2002, just some of the reasons why magnetic tapes are still in is artistic reasons on the part of some musicians, and perceived richness of analog sound on the part of some audiophiles.

Who could ever forget how invincible these audio compact tapes seemed as they got recorded and re-recorded and re-recorded again, all in the name of the perfect combination of songs that’s a soundtrack to our lives? If you can recall, the tab that can be broken off was the key to it all. If ever the songs get a bit too boring, it was a matter of slapping a bit of scotch tape on the indentation and hitting the RECORD button.

How about using a pen or a pencil to rewind or fast forward a tape in just a few twists if the arm? Simply make the polygon sidings of the pen fit into the teeth of the spools, and spin it as fast as you can, provided you spin it in the correct direction. And how about if there’s jamming or breakage of the magnetic tape itself? Try extracting the tape from the shell of its cartridge and transplanting it into a new cartridge. Worst case scenario: a portion of the tape cut in half! Oh, rock and roll! Just plaster some tape on it, and continue!

One of these days, maybe I’ll lay aside all the tunes that I got right after graduating from high school. I’ll hunt for those dust covered tapes and play them, looking specifically for the songs that made me older and wiser, just by listening to them.