Cassette Tape RIP

One of our largest highstreet electrical chain stores in the UK has decided to stop selling the blank cassette tape. The technology has long been out of date, no albums I know of are sold on cassette tape these days, and the cheapness of MP3 players that can store many more songs has made the poor old cassette tape obsolete. I have had several cassette tape recorders and tape players over the years, it has been a format that has been a great success.

The cassette tape epoch was not always a pleasant experience: I remember the problems taping songs from radio and waiting with fingers poised on Record and Play buttons, hoping the DJ would leave a little gap long enough for me to avoid his voice. The height of sophistication was using the Pause button.

I had experiences with bedroom recordings - either me playing my own songs or doing comedy sketches (that only I would find funny) and the novelty of hearing my own voice coming through the speaker - or at least something that could have been me - it was hard to tell through all of the tape hiss.

I remember too, my experiences with my first home computer (Sinclair ZX Spectrum) and the frustration of waiting for games to load from my cassette recorder - waiting five minutes only to have the load crash at the last moment.

My first personal portable cassette player with headphones was a Sanyo. A huge heavy reddish coloured brick with chunky white buttons and shoulder strap. The innovation was a tape counter that allowed me to fast forward and rewind to the songs I liked - great (except I never used it, the only way this would have worked was if I wrote down all of the numbers for all of the songs on a tape and ensured I started from the beginning of the tape each time: far too tedious ).

I only ever bought ready-made music tapes when they were on sale or were much cheaper than the vinyl or CD (later) equivalents. This accounts for a rather strange collection of audio tapes. The idea for this post came about because while clearing our shed I have come across my cassette tape collection and am now engaged on a project to transfer them to MP3 format. This is probably a project that will never get finished, already I am disappointed by the sound quality but I'd hate to lose some of this music.

The equipment for playing tapes can still be bought, so the death of the cassette tape will be a long and slow one. Many of us still have favourite mix tapes made by friends or by us for friends or lovers. I have several made for me by various girlfriends of the past, I don't have the heart to throw them away just yet.

Here is an example of one of my cassettes. I bought many of my commercial tapes in the 1980s (the height of highstreet gadgetry was a Sony Walkman), so this is probably why my collection is a bit odd. Debbie Bonham was the daughter of now deceased Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. This was possibly her first album and is classic 80s rock with guitar riffs, emotionally charged songs and the overuse of synthesizers (because you could do that back then). It's pity I can't play the songs to you, I don't think it was ever released in the US - it was published by Carrerre Records. You can find Debbie Bonham on My Space now, going under her name Deborah Bonham. While you can enjoy her songs on My Space, I'll be re-living the 80s with this album, For You and The Moon. Have a good Sunday!