please bring back 8-track and cassette players into production
 

HI,

My name Is Chris. I am a new member of this forum I Like 8 track and cassette players. In the future, I would like to see new consumer and professional 8 track recorders, 8 track players, portable 8 track players, and recorders come back into production, priced between $20 to more than than $30,000 brand new. Also, I would like to see consumer and professional cassette players and recorders, portable cassette players and huge cassette boomboxes 1980s style, and come back into production priced between $5 to $30,000 or more brand new. Also In the future I would like to see professional exotic cassette players, and 8 track players and recorders prices at $40,000 and up brand new.

Thanks for taking your time to read this,

Your friend

Chris :yeah:

Prices aside, I can respect the homage you pay to the mediums long gone. It would be cool to see it here and there, a sort of retro flashback. But current and future endeavors into media should be of the digital variety.

But...why?

I used to have tons of cassettes; I won't say they were too impractical for me (because I maintain a lovely vinyl collection) but there's nothing special about them. I've used 8-track tapes before; depending on the maintenance of your player, they sometimes switch channels on you (and scare the living **** out of you). They're quite bulky and an 8-track unit is difficult to find these days.

Cassettes and 8-tracks don't need to go back into production. They can be found used just about anywhere (but buyer beware, they warp like crazy).

Why would you like to see audio equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars? Wouldn't in be preferable if it were less expensive?

^wow....my thoughts exactly

as for 8 track...eh

cassettes are coming back in underground music...last year at least two bands i can think of released their albums on cassette....both The Cosmic Dead and Hepa/Titus released their stuff only on cassette and download....so far this year i have seen at least 6 bands offer their new albums early on cassette

I don't completely hate tape labels and a number of local bands use them and issue some of their releases on cassette. It can be pretty cool, as you don't usually find this anymore. I also still have a tape deck on my stereo and so its nice to occasionally get some use out of it.

However, that being said, I don't share the same desire to see cassette players come back into production. If you really want one it is still possible to get one and despite what I have just said about tape labels...you really think I'm gonna choose cassette over LP or CD should I be given the option?

Cassettes are outdated, weak, have a shorter lifespan compared to other formats should you actually take care of your CDs and LPs and given that its easier to rewind and fast forward even on vinyl, I cant see much of a practical argument for tapes going forward. What I would miss, if the facility was to be taken from me completely is the ability to use tapes to make mixes for people. This is, in my opinion, by far the best and most personal way to make a mixtape. That is one big advantage of a tape, but I struggle to find any others.

I say let cassettes rot on the scrap heap of null, void, out dated and unnecessary audio formats alongside the gramophone, Betamax, Laser Disc and MiniDisc.

i agree 100% man

the only thing i miss about cassettes is making people mix tapes.....there is just something much more personal about mix tapes....

Absolutely. I made a mix very recently. Nothing special, just odd tracks from a bands albums filed into a specific order. I made it on Spotify and even though it was easy, quick and got the job done its just not the same as when I used to use cassettes.

Making a mix with a cassette was something very special and personal. For example I once made one for a girl, for her 18th birthday. I chose one track released in each year of her life, in chronological order, and also managed to make the mix play with some degree of fluidity from track to track. For various reasons I was never able to give it to her, but it took a long, long time to select tracks and make it and to get it right. When you put effort into the track selection, order and the fact that you have to play each one while simultaneously recording it, stopping the tape at just the right moment and leaving small gaps in between each song, it is blatantly obvious to the recipient that you have invested a lot of time and effort and put a lot of thought into it to personalise it to the individual.

Making a playlist is so much easier but it just lacks a real connection and seems so much more impersonal.

exactly

and what a great idea! i may have to steal that in the future :)

i used to plug my stereo system into my tv and add blips of shit i found on tv or specific movie quotes in between songs....and i loved having a real time limit....45 minutes with as little silence at the end

Thats a really cool idea, putting quotes and things on it too.

The silence at the end was always important to me. It bugged me too much if I had too much of it. Looking back I dont know how I had the patience because that moment when you had filled most of one side and then were either left with too much tape at the end or just not enough for that final track of Side A, the track you absolutely didn't want to cut....so you had to cut a different track and start all over again.