Cassettes are having a comeback. Let's talk about it. 

Thanks so much for watching. Please like and subscribe. ALERT**

It's so nice to hear someone who speaks fondly of cassettes. They certainly had their place. Keeping your records in great shape and portability were huge pluses for them for sure. Ease of recording was another as you mentioned. I remember patiently waiting for my favorite song to come on and pressing record. Then listening to all of my favorite tunes on my walk-man on the bus ride to and from school. Great times for sure. When the tunes got long in the tooth, I could record over them and keep going with the same cassette. No other format (other than digital) made that possible, especially at that time. Those of us who have higher end players now, know how good cassettes can actually sound. Unless you are comparing side to side with an album or digital, they are really good. Good job on the video!

Few people out there truly have a good reason to create a RU-vid channel in relation to the value they’re going to be able to offer others. You are one of those people friend.

Buy the record, tape it, listen with your Walkman while dreaming of Dragons and GX R 99 S.....What a sensory delight it was. My best recording was 3 ep s from Depeche mode on a maxell metal vertex with a Sony TC K 970 ES. STUNNING SOUND

You described my early hi fi life precisely. Buy an album and buy a blank tape or make sure I had some blank tapes at home. Record on the first play and never touch them again. Great minds, right? LOL Tapes were perfect when I was stationed on a ship because LPs weren't very convenient.

I restore old cassette decks. Nakamichi and Pioneer and Tascam being my favorites. I bring people into my Listening Room all the time while I'm recording say a CD and I switch between source and tape and I asked them if they can tell the difference. Most of the time they cannot. The cassette medium is so underrated especially when you use quality equipment. I personally have gotten sick of the high prices of vinyl and the vinyl revolution. I have sold it all and transferred my favorite albums to cassette as well as my favorite cds. I have more storage room, I still have high quality recordings to listen to. I absolutely love cassettes. Oh and by the way I have thousands.

Within the last year I decided to get back into cassettes to record albums off of Apple Music that I couldn't find or were too expensive in the vinyl or CD format. I first bought a NOS Denon dual cassette off eBay but sent it back due to issues. Then I got a TEAC AD-850 CD/Cassette deck brand new and it's okay but a bit limited when it comes to recording. So I got back on eBay and found a seller who brings the vintage decks in from Japan and refurbs them. This time it was TEAC V-6030S 3-Head that was not inexpensive but it is like brand new and works and sounds great. I don't bother with Dolby because a little hiss doesn't really bother me if I even notice it. My issue is with the tapes themselves, as I've gotten numerous Sony, Maxell and TDK tapes that have had drop outs or didn't sound good, and even one where the leader just snapped off. I've tried new ones from ATR Magnetics here in the U.S. but have had problems with them. But I've found that the ones by RTM in France work well and sound good, so I will stick with them. I must commend you on your video as you have done an excellent job showing and explaining the subject in a clear and concise manner. Well done sir.

Love tapes. Don't even have much nostalgia for them, other than very vague memories from late 90s early 00s but thats about it. I just love the look of cassettes and the decks when they play. with the meters and tape going around, honestly the most aesthetically pleasing music format there is. Playing a file from my computer just isn't the same.

Nakamichi decks are a bit unique in that many of them don’t rely on the cassette’s felt pad in order to maintain proper tension against the head. Instead, they use a dual capstan based mechanism and surrounding the head is sort of a cage that lifts the felt pad away entirely.

I remember laughing with my friends that one day people will be talking about the sound quality of CD's because they are "warmer" and "natural". They are now closing in on their 70s. Personally, I found when I bought my first CD Player in 1986 that I preferred it over the cassettes simply because FFD was immediate and it sounded better. The only thing I liked about a tape is I could record the top 10 on FM radio.

I have 200+ cassette tapes in my collection. I used to record my favorite radio show “Music from the Hearts of Space” that was broadcast live from KPFA in Berkeley, CA. My recordings date back to 1973 and the shows were usually 3 hours long so an auto-reverse recorder was a must. Needless to say I’ve converted all of those tapes to digital files for archiving and easy access but often I’ll pop one into my TEAC multi-format deck (tape,CD, USB) and those tapes still sound fat, rich and full of great memories!

Wow, what a great overview for someone who wants to get into tapes or it's just been 30 years. I would go in early to the local college radio station (which was always open) and copy rare / hard to find punk and alternative LPs and 7"'s to tape and listen on my walkman knock-off. I also miss my Onkyo dual tape deck with the Dolby B / C switch. Your tutorial with the meter reading to set levels really hit me with flashbacks of making sure that was just right. Fantastic video, again.

My pleasure! Thank YOU for talking about this still viable medium.

Still have 3 working cassette decks and more than 300 tapes -- Maxell and TDK -- on which I dubbed vinyl albums from the mid 70s till the mid 80s and CDs from then till the late 90s when we had CD players in both cars.

I was from a poor family and lusted after the JVC range of boomboxes in the eighties, but was never able to get one. Even though I never owned a cassette player, they still fascinate me and my unfullfilled childhood desires is probably the reason for that!

In 1977 and 1978 , the golden era of cassettes. Cassette music was the new medial of the time. My last, under dash, 8 track player went out the window of my truck when it ate Areosmith Toys in the Attic. Like you said, we would buy an album and a blank cassette, make a recording, and put that album away. I have over 100 albums that have only been played once or twice, thanks to the cassette recorder. I have a small vintage audio store in the Trading Post (junk mall) in Pueblo Colorado. Please lets stay in touch.

My favorite deck of my 3 is the Sony TC-K555 which I bought new in late 1982. Still great sound quality and absolutely reliable.

sure brought back lots of memories. Still remember when I bought home my first 3 head deck; a Kenwood KX-1030. I really felt like I had moved up. The Kenwood was later was replaced by a Tandberg 3014. A really nice deck for the time period. And you are right about buying cases of tapes. I used to get 3-4 cases at a time if I had planned on doing lots of recording. My friends and I would look to see who (what store) had the best price on TDK SA or Maxell UDXL II C-60 or C-90 cassettes and off we would go to load up.

Really, really enjoyed this video. Thanks for making it.

This was great, Ed. God I loved cassette decks. I had so many of them. Was always looking for cassette deck nirvana. I bought a DBX 224 and put it in front of my cassette deck. I also had a 10” Akai GX630d and used the DBX on that too.

Here is an update on my JVC KD-V6 3 head cassette deck. It has a dead channel and needs a belt replacement. I can’t find anyone locally to repair it so for now bought a JVC TD-R441 which lets me play my 80’s & 90’s cassette. At the time, most of the blank cassettes I bought were type II. I did find a recording I made on a metal type IV of guitar music by Badem Powell and wow! It sounds so good after so many years. So glad to see the channel growing. Congratulations! Well deserved.

I TOTALLY agree. Late 80's to mid 90's decks are the ones to get!

Nice overview. Kenwood decks from this vintage are truly great decks. I have a KX-5010 and a KX-9010. Both are direct drive and have a Sankyo cassette mechanism that can also be found in various Nakamichi decks. I have another opinion on some of the advice you offer. Autoreverse decks should be avoided, as the flipping of the playback head will sooner or later result in misalignment. A double deck is mostly considered inferior because it generally has just one mechanism to drive both wells. And as for Dolby C: this really only works well if your playback and recording deck are the same. It is very fiddly and sensitive to mismatches and therefore does not transplant well between decks. Dolby B is far more forgiving in this regard.

Nakamichi nostalgia: I bought a used 580 in 1990 and loved it. They set the bias and Dolby level for TDK tapes. Maxell XL-II's needed a lot more bias vs. TDK SA-X.

I like getting ready to go out while listening to cassettes because you can play both sides of an album without having to change sides.

I never saw That's cassette tapes where I used to buy my blank cassettes. Also bought Fuji tape as well as the other major brands (i.e. TDK, Maxell, Memorex, Sony). Also bought some other brands 3M (a.k.a. Scotch), Denon, and a small batch of a brand, SKC. Also used a bunch of cheap, probably tape that had many different brands attached to them as well. Found that the chrome cassette tape sold at Radio Shack branded as Supertape was decent tape as I used a few of those. The Supertape was even made and sold in a 76 minute length for recording a full CD. Used a lot of normal bias tape and in 60 a d 120 minute length as I did a lot of recordings from broadcast FM radio with Dolby C noise reduction. I would also buy cassettes that were sold specifically with odd lengths (i.e. 54, 74 and 94 minutes) designed for recording CD's. May have to go out and eventually buy another cassette deck, one that has been refurbished as the one I have is getting a little worn out from a lot of constant use. One that auto biases for different cassettes to achieve quality recordings, auto reverse for playback, and at least Dolby B, C and possible S noise reduction. Had a Sony back in the mid 1990's that I bought new that failed on me and it ended up going to the electronics graveyard. Would like to find another Sony, similar to what I had as I liked its features and how it performed.

Another great video Ed. Thanks for bringing back some good memories!

About 20 years ago, just around the time the blank tape companies stopped making chrome type II tape, my local dollar store had a bunch of TDK SA-X tapes. I bought every tape they had, well over 100 tapes. My friends though I was nuts. Now they are as rare as hen's teeth.

kereping the pinch rollers and those other parts clean is important too! If they get gunked up that's why tapes get eaten

May I just had that any tape deck you, from any vintage, will need service, new rubber parts and calibration. Thanks for the video.

Really enjoyed your video and subscribed to your channel. Thanks! I had my 1988 JVC TD-R611 digifine deck serviced (new rollers, belts, etc) at George Meyers audio in LA 2 years ago, and its now in a rack next to two laser disc players (Pioneer CLD79 & DVL91), an Oppo 203 (for bluerays & CDs), and a Rega P10 turntable. Using a Marantz 8802 pre/pro, which feeds Aragon 8008 + 8002X3 amps that power Energy Veritas speakers (2.8's, 2.& 1.8's for front, center & rear channels). Sounds very nice.

What was wrong with early 80s decks? In 82 or no later than 83, I bought a fantastic deck: the Akai GX-F71. It had three heads (I consider that an essential feature), great frequency response and S/N ratio, Dolby B & C, HX Pro, an auto bias feature, and it supported type IV tapes. The front cover at the tape well also could be easily removed to provide better access for cleaning the heads, rollers, and capstans (yes, plural for rollers and capstans, because it had dual capstans -- it was not an auto-reversing deck, the dual capstans were both used when playing or recording). Obviously it was produced too early to have Dolby S, which indeed was an improvement over Dolby B/C.

My wife said you forgot to mention “The Make Out Tape”! Typically containing a lot of tracks from “The Best of Bread” album. “Baby I’m a want you . . Baby I’m a need you . . “ A lot of back seat memories there.

Just had my Nakamichi ZX-9 repaired, recapped and tuned. The repair cost was $600. Sounds great now.

Great video - thank you 😊👍

I used to buy new or used records, tape them on cassette and play them in my car, it was a good way of "breaking in" a new album.

Howdy! I heard you mention Norther Michigan near the end. I'm a Michigander as well. Thanks for explaining all the functions/buttons on the deck. I have and used decks in the 80s & 90s, then fell away. Just got back into the vintage stereo equipment again since Oct and loving it. Got into vinyl and finding great deals at thrift stores, and have recently pulled out my cassettes as well. Having fun and thanks for the info. Sad how they eliminated the cassette and cd players in cars these days.

You are so right about Nakamichi. I decided to use them as milestone videos for my own channel, and that worked out well for my first one which was a BX-150, but then I tried to do it again with an old 480 from the early 80s. I got it going, but it cost an absolute fortune to buy and now that I'm done I'm stuck with a high hours machine that likely needs all three motors replaced. It's easy to get in over your head with that brand.

I like tapes for the nostalgia and the tactile sensation of opening the case and seeing how they are built. I was born in the 70 and bought vinyl if I could afford it over albums on cassette. And I would also make a tape copy and make mix tapes which was the real great thing about cassettes back before recordable CDs and mp3. It a shame that swapping mix tapes with friends isn’t a thing anymore. It was always special if you had a couple good friends to do that with because you would try to create a mix that had music that you liked that you might want to turn them on to if they weren’t also a fan. If they were in another state even better to get that tape in the mail. It’s almost like getting to hang out with them even though they are far away. One thing my friends and I liked to do was insert clips or samples of non-music audio in between tracks. You couldn’t do it every track because it was to gimmick-y that way because the music is still the focus and over doing it took away from that. You also didn’t want to make them too long for the same reason. But if you and your friend saw a particular movie together and then got the vhs and watched that at the others house a bunch of times ( which is 😮what we did before you could binge watch like now) until you knew certain line by heart you would record that short clip of Chong saying “Dave’s not here” right before a track of “Why Can’t This Be Love” of 5150 by Van Halen, the first album without David Lee Roth in the band. If you were good and wanted to spend extra time your would get it so the end of one track could blend really well into the interstitial clip and then that into the next track so it was a smooth transition from end of one track to the funny clip into the next track. We did this with or one more techniques like timing and cross fading. It was always so satisfying to get one of those transition to sound so smooth perfectly timed with a clip that thematically matched the music where it added so much to the experience of listen to music your heard a 100” times before. And if you played those mix tapes to death you would eventually associate those clips with the tracks that if you heard the same song today would be expecting to hear the clip afterward.

I miss those days. I had a couple Technics Tape decks with dbx NR and it was awesome as long as the tape encoded with dbx was played back on dbx. I had to turn the treble way down on my car stereo when I played those in my car. I almost bought a player with dbx for the car, but they were a little too expensive for me at the time. In '97, I wandered away from cassettes, replacing them with MiniDisc.

Tape ist just the very best analog way for audio content. Had a collection of several hundreds of records back then, was always very careful with those and as well just recorded them on tape and stored them away. For a long time i was convinced, records were the ultimate audio source, because of the high dynamic range and all that .. until one day when i learned, that the source of ALL those so dynamic sounding records in my collection was actually... TAPE! 😅

I started with cassette in the 80 and recorded records and then CD. My CD player had a peak search so would find the loud peak in the CD and loop it so setting the level was easy. Then once Minidisc come along I switched away from tape. Now I’m back with it again and wished I kept my deck from back in the day. But I luckily kept my high end Sony Walkmans so I still have them. I found a ES Sony deck at a thrift store but turned out to be bad so I’m still looking for something that’s not stupid eBay expensive so I can record. I also have a unopened box is Sony Ceramic Metal Master blanks. That I learned are super expensive now. Nice video

I only had double deck tape recorders and would share tapes with friends the early early days of Napster. The other issue with recording on auto was that most tapes had a blank leader, you normally had to cue the tape before starting to record.

I used to do the same thing with albums, but with a reel-to-reel tape. Preserved the albums and listened on tape. I no longer have reel-to-reel. I still have a box full of cassette tapes that I also recorded. 👍🏼🎶😎

Good video. Yeah, that's what we did in our youth. Either we copied the vinyl or CDs. Today kids have no idea what they're getting into. They see it as something cool from the past and 'Analog'. In reality prerecorded tapes sound just OK and Dolby is a must to avoid hiss. I have a few cheap dual cassette decks and they're just very average when it comes to audio quality reproduction. They require constant maintenance: rollers, head cleaning, demagnetization, etc. I would like to fix my Nak, 3 header, no DD. But getting parts for our machines is royal pain..., almost impossible. In my opinion it's one of the best Dolby C sounding machines I have had, w/o the usual breathing of compressor/expander.

Recording the first play of an LP is what I used to do too. Meanwhile my Teac cassette deck has been gathering dust and spiders in the basement for decades. I have absolutely no desire to return to those days but I can see how it might be interesting to cassette noobs.

New subscriber, just saw you and Kevin discussing on the sky lab video, A lot of takeaways, thank you and I enjoyed this video also❤

As an 80's kid I have a soft spot for cassettes. I didn't know shit about equipment or recording back then, but anyhow cassettes were _the_ way to share music among friends - just maybe a year or two before CD's came and everything changed! Thanks for your video!

You might consider doing a 2nd part or intermediate cassette comeback talk, Aside from Dolby B/C and even S, there was dbx and Digital NR. There's 3 head recording so you can listen to your recording in real time. There's bias control. There's prerecorded Dolby C, Digilog, and CrOs tapes out there. So what I do is mix new technology with old. I mix my favorite songs using a DJ Controller, software like DJay AI and record to my Sony with Dolby S enabled (mostly). The software allows you to record a digital MP3 recording IF you own the music,. If you use a streaming service, you can't record- except to a tape deck of course! So now I have virtually unlimited songs- mixed- with the help of AI to beat match - on several cassette tapes. The quality of the sound is great with virtually no difference from a streaming service.

Hi Ed. This is awesome material. I have my share of cassettes. Mint condition. Like I mentioned to you having a Nad repaired. Will report back the results.

I never stopped playing them in my home audio! I have a Sony duel cassette that plays very good never needed belts yet knock on wood! I like the sound of cassette!

I have loads of cassette tapes in the house, blank sealed ones as well as recorded ones from all the top brands...my tape deck I'm using is a Yahama...

Nice vid Ed! I own four decks (Nak BX-150, Dual C939, Pioneer CT F950 and a Luxman K-351). The Luxman is similar to your Sony. I’ve had all four serviced and restored. I have a lot of used and NOS tapes, my favorite is the Sony UX-Pro 90 (several cases of NOS). After getting the Luxman back a few weeks ago I have been recording some albums via ROON. No gapless so my deck will find the gaps. I use a 300B SET tube amp and the sound is very good. Collecting new and vintage gear after retirement has been a terrific hobby.

Fantastic video! Very clear explanation of how everything works and all the features. I recently got a Nakamichi BX300 for a little over 500 Canadian, and I agree with the repair comment. Those are very unique machines, with very specific components. Cheers!

a few years ago i bought a new belt for my JVC KD 85. i figured it was 40 years old and could use a new one. i took the belt and machine down to my local electronics repair shop. got a call a couple days later. the guy would not put the new belt in. too complex for him. in fairness it did require a lot of parts removal. just a story that fits the discussion.

This all is excellent advice. You didn’t mention Yamaha. I have my original 1984-85 Yamaha. Just replaced the belt. Two motor, 1 Belt system. Ran test tones after. And it still sounds incredible for such an old machine. Metal tapes are the best. So expensive. I just am using Type 1. Not much for Dolby. Mine has B and C. Very little tape hiss on mine without Dolby. Debatable topic. I know. Anyway, really glad I found your channel. Liked and Subscribed. Michael

Just subscribed and love the content..I use two cassette decks in my system quite frequently a Yamaha KX-393 & Nakamichi CR2E and absolutely love recording to chrome & metal tapes of TDK, Maxell, Sony & that's to see how they stack up and it all sounds superb..keep up the good work..👍

The issue with Dolby NR is that everything has to be top notch for it to work properly, or else you do end up with the slightly muted highs. Tape has to be decent quality, and also head azimuth has to be dead-on. Unfortunately, in practice, not very many decks are aligned exactly the same way. That even goes for dual well dubbing decks, and even auto reverse decks sometimes vary a bit between the A and B sides. I’ve always had to realign all my home decks and the one I used to have in the car, in order to minimize any variances. Once I did that, Dolby worked just fine between the different decks.

Thank you so much for another great video, Ed. Regarding the timer feature you talk about around the 3:50 mark, this switch simply detetmines what happens as soon as the machine gets connected with electricity. One does not necessarily need a certain timer unit for it to work. This way you can wake up with your favourite tape being played automatically. Or it will record your favourite radio show while you're away. It also can erase your own tape, in case it gets activated accidentally.

I run two Optmimus, dual well units SCT’s 55 & 56, and Tascam’s 112 for playback, and a Bang& Olufsen Beocord 1900 for recording only. Occasionally I’ll power-up a Tascam Mini-Disc (MD) unit, the MD-350 to record CDs and use a portable Sony MD unit for playback. These are all tethered to a large Soundcraft Pro Mixer. And so lots of Vinyl, FM, and CD archive recordings are done with what (I affectionately call my audio hodgepodge).

I just want a decent quality reliable cassette player that I can use to play back old cassette recordings of music I've made years ago so I can record them into a computer or other digital device to remaster them and preserve them in a digital format before my tapes degrade to a point the music would become lost forever!!!! That deck you have is very nice!!! I would like to have a fully restored and serviced deck similar to yours, or any high-end late 80's-mid 90's deck. ---‐---------------------- UPDATE: I typed my above post right after I just started watching your video and before I finished watching the whole video. Now that I've seen it in it's entirety, you hit directly on many of the points I just mentioned above with tips on what to look out for when shopping for a used deck and what decks and brands of decks you recommend!!!! Thank you so much for making this very helpful and informative video.

Thanks for the upload. The best dual well cassette deck was apparently the Yamaha KX- W900U (1987-91). Of which I found and bought one and really like. Also should mention in the hall of fame the mighty Tascam 122 MKII (1987) or MKIII (1993).

Just found you today and subscribed. Cool show, thanks for sharing

LOL 😆, I never gave up on cassettes, nor did I part with my albums when cds arrived either!

5 years ago I got a vintage CD+Cassette deck Denon DN-T620 with rack ears for my studio, only to find out a few years later that I'd need Dolby C on it which it seems to be lacking. Other than that, it seems to be a decent deck.

Even back in the day I only used tapes to record vinyl albums so I could play them in the car. No surprises that the players were designed to eat tape and I sure as hell couldn't afford anything more expensive. I *get* vinyl, even if it's a money pit, and I get reel-to-reel for the serious collectors, but cassettes went the way of the dodo for a reason. The humble CD is the only physical media for me but horses for courses - enjoy cleaning those heads !

Great summary. I finally got hold of a serviced, mint Sony WMD6c professional recording Walkman. I have restarted my cassette love affair! ( I am a child of the 80s) Thanks for the content.

I like making Mixtapes. It just feels cooler than making someone a playlist.

I have a good collection of high quality cassette decks, and love them! The main issue is that type II and IV tapes have not been made in quite a few years, and will never be again. Fortunately I have a good stock of both. Good recordings can still be made with type I tapes if you know what you're doing. Cheers, Paul!

Just sold an excellent sony deck. Before selling, I went through all my old mix tapes about 37 years old , about 50 of them only 2 or 3 played good the rest were just no good. But all my pre recorded ones were perfect, very nice sound.

Some people are getting back to cassettes, but there’s no tape industry (at least here in Brazil, where I live). I pay a lot of money for new old stock tapes, even Type I. New fabricated tapes are low quality. So I’m dealing with used tapes. It’s not the same thing, it doesn’t sound good as new tapes, but anyway, I’m really enjoying my tapes with today’s music. It just sound different, and this is amazing.

I used to record my college classes and other stuff like that one a lot of tapes and still have a great deal of them.

Good stuff. You’re a natural at this. I probably through my little “briefcase” of tapes away a year ago. Mostly home recorded. I’ll live.

: First-time viewer. Cool vid. Has anyone ever told you that you sound exactly like David Letterman? If I closed my eyes, I wouldn't know the difference.

Nice video Ed...I still listen to store bought cassettes that sound very good on my system. However, I will say this...I've been disappointed many times with defective cassettes that slow down or drag, which makes them unplayable. At first, I put the blame on the cassette deck being used but when the tape slows down on each cassette deck (I have about six different decks), I put the fault on the tape rather than the deck. Anyway, that being the case, I no longer purchase cassettes on Ebay or even in used record stores because they might be lemons!! But I have enough store boughts in my collection that sound good and play well that warrants an occasional investment at the electronics shop to make sure that they continue operate at their best...I still have a good quantity of new cassette tape by Scotch, Fugi, Maxell and BASF that I'll eventually use for recording my favorite artists...cheers!

They said "Oh my God you NEED to transfer those cassettes. They will shed and fall apart"!!!!!!! 5 cd players later my Technics RS M-63 still plays the same tapes with obvious sonic issues.

Thanks for the article, I got a little nostalgic there. I Had a few ES Sony including TC-K909ES a beautiful and excellent piece Also an Aiwa ADF990 which was capable of some astonishing recordings. Its Autobias was god tier good. I always felt certain Nakamichi were briliant, but others a bit meh!. I used mostly Maxell's TDK and Sony. Latterly, the Sony Super Metal Master was a lovely thing with its ceramic case. I think I'd like a good tape deck again, but recording media prices and scarcity are very off putting

Great video! It makes sense that tapes,Cds and vinyl records are coming back because streaming services are getting worst and worst

Not the greatest technology but i am pleased the amount of respect you;re giving it (-:

I've had good luck with JVC auto-reverse decks. Azimuth is bang-on both sides no matter what. I won't do it by standard practice, but even recording done on reverse, plays back perfectly fine on other decks for both sides. I never even thought this was possible until I lucked out with a JVC auto-reverse deck from 1985 that just does it. I even fine adjusted the Azimuth using several test tapes. It's my old reliable workhorse daily player. When I wanna just listen...and not have my audio fucked up on the b-side, wrecking the experience. 😏

Thanks for the video. I still play cassettes through a tube amp. They sounds good to me!

After having learned the practice with cassettes, some people went through a phase of dubbing LPs onto CD when optical drives were ubiquitous. While I understand the concept of buying an bum and sparing it plays, I never saw the point of making copies of my own LPs; I just play them, infrequently, on decent equipment and after cleaning them. But I have dubbed a few recordings that were not already in my library. We all did, right? One issue with playing and making cassettes is the lack of any decent new machines. Everything is used, without warranty, and somewhat prone to various expensive and/or tricky-to-fix failures. I have a Denon DR-M10HR, a pretty decent machine, with a faulty capstan motor. It won't start on its own and runs very slowly but can be persuaded, by poking it in the speed pot, to run at chipmunk speed. I suspect the motor is available, but getting it out will be a PITA. Meantime I have no backup and will have to rely on my Nak CD 1. It sure would be nice if a few manufacturers would return to making decent cassette decks so we wouldn't be at the mercy of the used market. I don't see that happening.

Took a lot of CD's and recorded them cassette as my car at the time only had a cassette player and did not own any portable CD players.

20:24 lol crazy what metal tapes sell for now

Dolby NR most certainly does remove high frequencies by nature. Hiss is an audio frequency of white noise. You can verify this with spectral analysis and your ears alone. The biggest problem with Dolby NR is, a tape deck can't just remove the hiss. It has to dampen a wide range in the analog domain. However, other non-Dolby systems allow you to do it digitally now in real time. It can analyze the 2-3 seconds of hiss before the music plays, calculate what it needs to remove and just removes that... leaving the majority in tact. Of course, It still removes frequencies, but it's much less perceivable unlike when you turn Dolby NR on. It doesn't matter if it's Dolby A, B, C, or even S, you hear it instantly. To my ears, Dolby NR sounds like you've put a muffler on your speakers.

Cool, have subscribed.

That TDK tape you showed on your picture was a TDK D60 from 1979 and I still have a few of them

I used to love cassettes , espacially maxell metal , but I'm not going back , no way.

When TDK restarts chrome and metal cassette tape manufacturing and Sony decks are back on sale... _then_ there's a cassette comeback.

I have a Sony TC WE 435 that still performs well. In the 70s and 80s I used my dad’s Hitachi cassette deck to record. I mainly used them to make miscellaneous tapes, not to preserve albums :)

These 3M Black Watch tapes are brutally expensive. I´ve just checked the prices. This is insane. I´ll stick to my Type I and II from Sony, Maxell and TDK.

Wonder if they’ll start making decent tape decks again lol The highest end deck you can buy new today is pretty much equal to a much lower end deck of the 80s-90s. And of course, no Dolby NR - not that many people back in the day seemed to know how to use it properly lol

Was a tape user from 1980 - 2000. Used and handled just about every brand of recordable cassette. I absolutely HATE cassettes now. They make me puke. Cassette wow and flutter, hiss, sometimes they get caught or tangled up, they wear out, player belt failure......all garbage. I take pleasure in stomping these annoyances into pieces nowadays. I also enjoy tossing them straight in the garbage.

Don't see cassette decks making a comeback but would still love a Nakamichi Dragon as a display piece.

Before each step, you have to "go ahead."

I have to disagree about early 80s decks. I recently sold the Technics deck that our family used that was a 1982-83 model. Still ran as well as it did when new. Belt was still in perfect condition. Still sounded great. In the other hand decks I have acquired from 1990 or later have had belts disintegrate or other mechanical problems since much of the mechanics were plastic. Only deck that I’ve had that’s been decent from that timeframe was a Denon DN-790R, a semi-pro deck with Dolby S.

If cassettes are desired again, how about using a rotating head as in VCR’s. You just can’t expect a linear 1 7/8 ips to reliably provide a decent frequency response! That’s why video needed the rotating head system.

Nah, I'm good, I've enjoyed taping from the radio in the 90s, these days - just no, digital is king - easy to store, seek, catalogue, sort, none of that noise reduction, bias, metal, chrome nonsense. Watching about it on YT for a nostalgia trip - sure.

I used to enjoy using my tape decks only to make tapes for the cars, especially for long trips. After digital files became popular (iPods et al), it became unnecessary. I didn't make "safe" copies of my LPs on tapes because my decks weren't good enough to sound as good as the turntable. The only form of "recording" I do these days is backing up my digital files on another HD🤭

hi if i get cassette's i go to tapeline in the uk the thing is alot now have the make of tape all over the cassette and you can't see the tape moving i was lucky i got hold of a tascam 238 that was in a bad way i can service all my gear yes you are right them high end decks are right pain to fix up i gone in to to pro side gear like betacam decks there is a liner audio track on the tapes wow the betacam tape sound very good the cost of new cassette's is now got silly