Cassettes

[Jules Gray]

Bloke in Italy I sold this to, told me he spent £90 on a cassette single the other week  

Where's the "screwy" emoji?

Jules

[blagden]

The collective thought is just how much did it cost me when I took all that **** to the tip ten years ago?

[blagden]

The collective thought is just how much did it cost me when I took all that **** to the tip ten years ago?

C'mon is cr@p a naughty word in this day and age?

[Gouty (Gary)]

A letter on the subject in an old issue of Word magazine:

‘Sort of enjoyed your cassette feature until I remembered how s**t the
things actually were.

When they weren't snapping, stretching or spooling into the machinery,
these wretched tapes either reversed at the speed of light or ground away
- in 'Fast Forward' mode - like Geoff Capes delivering another truck
across another FINISH line using only his forehead.

As for the audio quality, who cared about a little 'wow and flutter' when
the overall experience was akin to listening to the Flumps sliding down a
velvet lined woollen chute while your ears were intermittently plugged
with cotton wool.

Aaah - the old days...’

[davidmjs]

Because something is mechanically/practically rubbish, doesn't alter its desirability as a material object (why else are Trabants collectible, for instance).  These things can connect me to my (musical) past in a way which vinyl (which I collect now, but didn't really go for in a big way first time around) doesn't.  With vinyl the object itself is more desirable but the connection isn't quite the same.  Most of my formative listening experiences were on tape (buying The Attic Tapes, for instance at the first Fairport gig I attended - Wimbledon Theatre Jan '82)....

[Albie]

Because something is mechanically/practically rubbish, doesn't alter its desirability as a material object (why else are Trabants collectible, for instance).  These things can connect me to my (musical) past in a way which vinyl (which I collect now, but didn't really go for in a big way first time around) doesn't.  With vinyl the object itself is more desirable but the connection isn't quite the same.  Most of my formative listening experiences were on tape (buying The Attic Tapes, for instance at the first Fairport gig I attended - Wimbledon Theatre Jan '82)....

I don't have the collecting gene and have no idea why anybody would want cassettes. They were useful for time because they were more convenient than vinyl but have long outlived their usefulness.

My formative experiences involved sleeping on nylon sheets, watching tele on on a tiny black and white screen, drinking Nesquik, and listening to DLT, Paul Burnett and Saville on R1 (in analogue). I don't want to do any of those things again, any more than I want to listen to cassettes. CDs are better. Ditto iPods, Youtube, Spotify and other ways of listening.

But like I say, I have never understood why people collect things (one of many reasons I will probably never be rich) and would only buy things for their usefulness. Paintings to look at, CDs to listen to, books to read, clothes to wear (or at least, to intend to wear   ).

Another thing I don't understand, why does a signature increase a things value? I've occasionally bought CDs at a gig and have been asked if I want them signed. I always say no. I want the music not a bit of scribble.

I think I have used the words useful/usefulness too often in this post. I obviously should have collected a bigger vocabulary along the way.  

On the other hand if you still have some cassettes then sell them and fill yer boots. And then spend the money on something more, er, useful.

[bassline (Mike)]

Banana Nesquik.

Drink of the Gods.

[Albie]

Banana Nesquik.

And there you surely have the name of your next band.  

[John From Austin]

Banana Nesquik.

And there you surely have the name of your next band.  

I was going to go with "Wow and Flutter" from a couple posts above.

[davidmjs]

Another thing I don't understand, why does a signature increase a things value?

I'm assuming this is a tongue in cheek rhetorical question?  If not, then you need a Ladybird book of basic economics (focusing on supply and demand), plus a session with a psychologist who can help you with an understanding of why different "things" are important to different people...

[RobertD]

I still possess and occasionally play cassettes on occasion. The ones I held on to are ones that in general are no longer in print, such as Whippersnapper 'These Foolish Strings'. Well that was  out of print last I looked anyway. The clear ones had and still have better sound as opposed to the non-see through ones. Just the other week I sat back and listened to Ashley Hutchings' A Word In Your Ear on cassette. So happy I held on to it in fact.

[Albie]

Another thing I don't understand, why does a signature increase a things value?

I'm assuming this is a tongue in cheek rhetorical question?  If not, then you need a Ladybird book of basic economics (focusing on supply and demand), plus a session with a psychologist who can help you with an understanding of why different "things" are important to different people...

Gosh.
I understand the economics, and that people can make money, just not why someone would want to own it, and pay a premium for it. A signature won't make the music sound better, or a book more interesting.

[davidmjs]

Another thing I don't understand, why does a signature increase a things value?

I'm assuming this is a tongue in cheek rhetorical question?  If not, then you need a Ladybird book of basic economics (focusing on supply and demand), plus a session with a psychologist who can help you with an understanding of why different "things" are important to different people...

Gosh.
I understand the economics, and that people can make money, just not why someone would want to own it, and pay a premium for it. A signature won't make the music sound better, or a book more interesting.

I needed a smiley in there...it wasn't meant how it sounds.  Sorry.  I guess I'm just trying to suggest there are two aspects of value affected by having the artist festishise their work with their signature, and obviously the only one that really matters is not the financial one... You can tell someone who values the signature because they ask the artist to dedicate it to them.  Someone who wants it as an investment doesn't.

[ColinB]

Then there was the whole bootleg thing which of course some bands like the Grateful Dead actively encouraged fans to do. I only remember ever buying a couple of those tapes, one of which I still have - ZZ Top at Donington in 85. But you'd see people selling them at record fairs with live recordings of all the rock bands of the day. The quality could be pretty poor and I think that's what put me off buying any more.

I still have quite a lot of cassettes, both ones I bought and ones that friends gave me. Remember how home taping killed music back in the 80s?  
But it's nice having those with people's handwriting on them, especially the ones from a close friend who is no longer around.

[davidmjs]

Then there was the whole bootleg thing which of course some bands like the Grateful Dead actively encouraged fans to do. I only remember ever buying a couple of those tapes, one of which I still have - ZZ Top at Donington in 85. But you'd see people selling them at record fairs with live recordings of all the rock bands of the day. The quality could be pretty poor and I think that's what put me off buying any more.

I still have quite a lot of cassettes, both ones I bought and ones that friends gave me. Remember how home taping killed music back in the 80s?  
But it's nice having those with people's handwriting on them, especially the ones from a close friend who is no longer around.

You can get excellent quality audience recording of just about every Dead show online legally for nowt.  And yet people pay good cash for a 12(0)th generation 35 year old cassette copies of the same things with a few nice home made drawings on the front.  Two responses 1) You see?  2) Go figure...  Yin and yang.

[Pat Helms]

I'm still buying cassettes regularly. I need them for my district managers to keep updated recordings of newspaper motor routes.  Nothing has come along that's proven a better media for it.  

Yes - cassettes, newspapers and over 50........my future is looking bright indeed!  

[davidmjs]

Very Rare!  Original!  Hmmmmm.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Very-Rare-Original-Album-Cassette-The-History-Of-Fairport-Convention-1972/273801552518?hash=item3fbfd82286:g:5yYAAOSwm-Zav51A

Even worse: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fairport-Convention-Leige-And-Lief-ICM9115-Cassette-Tape/142531430070?hash=item212f8906b6:g:1m0AAOSww1dZ2RpZ  Idiots.

[John From Austin]

Very Rare!  Original!  Hmmmmm.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Very-Rare-Original-Album-Cassette-The-History-Of-Fairport-Convention-1972/273801552518?hash=item3fbfd82286:g:5yYAAOSwm-Zav51A

Even worse: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fairport-Convention-Leige-And-Lief-ICM9115-Cassette-Tape/142531430070?hash=item212f8906b6:g:1m0AAOSww1dZ2RpZ  Idiots.

Obscene...

[GubGub (Al)]

Very Rare!  Original!  Hmmmmm.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Very-Rare-Original-Album-Cassette-The-History-Of-Fairport-Convention-1972/273801552518?hash=item3fbfd82286:g:5yYAAOSwm-Zav51A

Even worse: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fairport-Convention-Leige-And-Lief-ICM9115-Cassette-Tape/142531430070?hash=item212f8906b6:g:1m0AAOSww1dZ2RpZ  Idiots.

I have that exact History cassette. That is a late 80s/early 90s copy. One of my first Fairport purchases after seeing the band for the first time in, I think, 1989.

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

Very Rare!  Original!  Hmmmmm.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Very-Rare-Original-Album-Cassette-The-History-Of-Fairport-Convention-1972/273801552518?hash=item3fbfd82286:g:5yYAAOSwm-Zav51A

Even worse: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fairport-Convention-Leige-And-Lief-ICM9115-Cassette-Tape/142531430070?hash=item212f8906b6:g:1m0AAOSww1dZ2RpZ  Idiots.

I have that exact History cassette. That is a late 80s/early 90s copy. One of my first Fairport purchases after seeing the band for the first time in, I think, 1989.

Gub, me too, got it in about ‘91 after my mate first introduced me, then my sis and I went to see the guys live.