Cassette death
Ah well. It has been doomed for a long time but it finally looks like it is the end of the road for the cassette tape following the announcement that Curry’s in Ireland is to stop stocking the format which defined the 1980s and 90s. The first cassette I bought was Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants a long long time ago. It cost a fairly hefty £4.99 and lasted just three months before being swallowed by a knackered old cassette player. Good times. Experts have predicted that tape decks will also be history within 18 months. The Independent has a nice piece about its passing.
long live the compact cassette (CC). while curry’s may not stock it. the glut of journalist interviews recorded via CC over the decades are still on those treasured tapes in bank vaults. think of the student (Jim Duffy) that taped Brian Lenihan Snr. that led to his fall from grace over calls to the Áras on the night a Govt. fell. Bugging scandals, radio airchecks, family sing songs, or taping Top of the Pops in a not so quite living room, all on CC somewhere. I have boxes & bag of tapes.
Alternatively I have struggled to hold archive MP3 files from hard disk to CD to website from job to job. Just because its digital does not make it all so easy. And while I do have early 1997 MP3s I can still say what is contained on a knackerd C60 AGFA from ‘83 by looking at the defacement of the cover of side B with total recall.
Its sad to see them go out of general use. But they will live on far longer than the 5.25 inch floppy disk.
Comment by Brian Greene | May 10, 2007 at 8:55 am