why radio cassette tape recorders are still relevant in 2020 

Growing up in the early 90s to early 2000s, I would record mock radio shows with my brother and sister. I wish I saved those not realizing that today it would be called a "podcast."

The Audio Cassette format and the Cassette recorder were THE essential tools of my earliest childhood. In fact the old suitcase radio of my mom was my first electronic compantion that felt like a magic box to me. When you turned it on and tuned into a station and hearing the voices coming from the loudspeaker, making the radio seem like as if there's people inside it, talking to you and playing music from inside. You could not control what they did, only tuning the station and making them fade and come back in again but it felt like magic because it all came out of thin air. I spent a lot of time when i was four years old or so... listening to radio dramas and and at 5, just shy of 6, i got my own cassette recorder with radio in it. It was an Aiwa TPR-300A that my parents had gotten second hand before i was born and i loved this radio recorder sooo much. Not just for the good sound but for the possibility of playing and recording cassettes. I did not record anything on it as i did not get blank tapes till i was 7. The red recording button felt dangerous to me as if being pushed meant the ENTIRE cassette would be erased and i mostly listened audio stories for kids and the Synthesizer music tapes my dad gave me. It always made me dream and feel like i was somewhere else and i often red comics or drew pictures while listening... and when i got into school i got my first portable cassette player. A really kinda cheap one where you always heard the tape motor buzz when it ran. And it sucked batteries dry like crazy. At the same time my parents got their first CD player which was a Philips double-tapedeck radio recorder with a Toploader CD player in it as well. But i mostly used it for recording because it had a built in microphone and i was finally able to record something as i had gotten my first blank tape. A Sony HF Type1 60 minute cassette with smoke grey clear case. Being able to record something, playing it back, gave me joys like nothing else because it just felt so freaking cool and fun. From then on i recorded countless cassettes with my sister and sometimes friends, doing improvised stories and nonsense comedy and a few years later i experimented with a Casio keyboard and recorded a few things. First from speaker to mic and later with a recorder that had Line input. THAT was a whole new world for me when my dad showed me you could record something to cassette without a microphone but any sound source that had audio output jacks. Before that i could only record from Radio like that and that too always felt so fascinating. Recording what you just heard on radio and on my cheaper recorders the FM stereo pilot tone caused some weird noises and i remember at the very end of the FM band was always a weird beeping rhythm that was the so called "Euro Piep". I think it had something to do with pagers but i didn't know what it was back then. Just found that sound oddly fascinating and often listened to it for a while as if it was some kind of minimal melody loop, always randomly looping. Sadly AM was never really as big in Europe and Germany, like it is in the US... so talk radio here was usually only at night on some FM stations and even then not in every region of the country. But i do remember listening to some AM stations as a kid and always found it curious that there was a SECOND radio band that sounded a little less clear but still had quite some activity too. Nowdays it's only neighbor countries you can still hear on AM here in Germany. Stations bleeding in from England, Romania and Russia mostly. Often REALLY strong and clear too. It's pretty relaxing laying in bed or sitting in your chair, tuning in and listen through your headphones, voices speaking in languages you mostly don't understand ... so you don't really listen to much to WHAT they say but more like HOW they say it and it becomes like a vocal pad you can really nicely nod off to drift away with. Like the radio signal often drifts too.

This part about all those radio stations hit close to home. Searching for small stations at night is pleasant, I did it a lot when I was a kid, still doing it today. I really liked your video and all the atmosphere that goes with it !

I just bought a cassette/radio/MP3 converter to digitize years of aging 4-track demos and I’m getting exited about my music again. Really enjoyed your video.🙌

Such a beautiful and poetic video, ad such a glorious walkman!!!

Here from reddit, you should buy a refurbished Walkman and review it. Better sound quality and battery life msot likely

I love this. So calming, honest and relevant. I’m a late 80’s baby, I grew up with tapes and like many people ditched them for CD’s and eventually Digital. I’m exploring the world of cassettes again too after all this time and I’d love to start recording analogue tapes of all my Apple Music playlists. Keep up the great work. Respect from the UK

This is really lovely. Well done

The magnus archives podcast got me into learning about cassettes/tape recorders. I'd grown up around them due to my parents being older, but seeing them used in a medium/show I love makes me so much more interested in them and how they work

I'm a gen X'er and have recently gotten back into taping. I bought a 70s tapedeck and am doing some voice overs for various projects using a wide variety of blank cassettes. I bought myself a Walkman from the 80s and have various music tapes. It has a radio but can't record. I find Spotify uses up too much data and want to keep space on my phone for photos and video, so the Walkman helps when I have to travel and keeps my anxiety at bay. I'm glad there is another generation making their own use of these things and getting enjoyment out of the gear.

This cassette player really means a lot to you, thumbs up!

This video has such good vibes that it convinced me to buy this exact model of cassette player (even though i already got a few cassette players lol). really great video.

Wow ! The vibes I got from this video was insane ! I was thinking about getting a tape reader/recorder and this video convince to just go ahead and buy it

This a really lovely commentary and the vibes were immaculate. Thank you

its all about escapism and nostalgia no 1 wants to be alive now and the cassette sounds like a world long gone i have just found my old Sony Walkman from 1989 still working however i don't use it as it was ment to i connected it to a UE Boom via the headphone jack it sounds great and the radio runs for days and days on 2 AA batteries

🤠 The walkmans will make a comeback, eventually just like the cassette tapes well. Also I was at a store the one day and seen them had a lot of records and record players so why not cassette tapes and walkmans. The one thing I didn't like about the Walkman is the fact that he had to keep a lot of batteries on you. But they were good back in the '80s and '90s plus you had to carry like a five or six cassette tapes on you in your pocket, while you're walking or riding your skateboard. Eventually down the road sooner or later everything comes back into style then it goes back out again.

Artfully done video, Travis. Recently, an indie artist I support released a bundle of her vinyl, CD, digital, cassette, and T-shirt of the latest album. I didn't have anything to play the cassette with so I ordered a recorder Walkman from Amazon. My husband hung onto his 1980's cassettes from hair bands and heavy metal. We've been playing his old tapes on there. My 3 year old enjoys recording his voice. So he will chat a little, then I will record a vinyl song on my tape. More talking from my son, then another recorded song. I'm sure I will cherish this more so than some random file on my iPhone. It seems more permanent b/c it's a hard copy.

Nice video and commentary. Very soothing and ethereal. I like how some of the younger generation is embracing the nostalgia of tape.

This Cassette player is beautiful, what model is it? This video is so soothing and just really cool. I've been enjoying my tape player cuz like you I'm a 20 something who was a kid when CDs were more prevalent. With the walkman I got a few weeks ago I am still so enamored with how the devise is only made to play music and does it so well, without any distraction. Great video sir.

My girlfriend bought an old Volvo estate which came with a tape deck. I've started recording mixtapes for her. Such fun. :)

Whoa. This is awesome. Next level down the rabbit hole. I have all this tape gear like micro cassettes, tascam 388, 424, yamaha mt44. I'm into this stuff right now.

It looks like the cassette even out survived other record-able formats like CDR's and solid state digital recorders if they are still in use today. You have to give some credit there for the format for it's simple and ready ease of use in a tangible form. No wires, syncing, or menu folders needed . Just having the player and tape ready to go on the go from the portable to the car and then the home stereo on the fly with something YOU created. It can be fun like taking Polaroid photos other than a digital one that just sits on your phone.

It was so awesome to hear your thoughts on cassette tapes. I’m a huge fan of cassette tapes too, trying to get back into making more videos possibly some about cassette tapes. Keep up the great work! 😊🤟

Growing up Christian, I wasn't allowed to listen to 'worldly music', but I found a tape player radio like this and used it to record songs on the radio late at night under the covers in my bed (rip 95.5 wbru). I bought a 4-track recorder as an adult and recorded my own music over a bunch of bloodhound gang, bon jovi, and other albums on tape. But the cool thing was that I could still turn the track up for the song on the tape, so I could mix my song in with the music already there. And you could get it to play backwards too. I'll upload some of it if I can find it. Also happly big 3-0!

What a mood, lovely 😊 thanks mate

Cassette's to me are beautiful peace of art.

Living in a city, all I would want is to go to my favorite place in the mountains, sit there and write a whole cassette with the ambient sounds there, and have it at reach when at home or away to listen and imagine...

my dad recorded himself on a cassette tape yesterday lmao I used to record myself on cassettes back when I was 10/11 :D

amazing video i still have all my tape recorders that have a warmer feel to them

Magnificent video, thank you very much for this!

Think I'm gonna head over to the thrift store. :) Enjoyed the video.

cool video. my band tracks our instruments onto FL studio then bounces to a tascam 4 track to mix and master, tape has a unique way of wrapping everything into a little sonic bundle thats really hard to recreate digitally. we pull those masters back onto the computer and release it from there. highly recommend this process if you’re going for that sound.

For me, cassettes are an interesting and possibly efficient way to quickly record the music I'm listening to and create a physical, tangible version of the music I love so much. Also the "analogue loophole" is pretty sweet, even if I _do_ mostly download music by paying for it.

This video was beautiful…Man you have talent

Beautiful - great job Travis

This is art.

very interesting, thank you!

the vibes wow. Do you make your background score?

great stuff! love the feel to it

this is so vibey

I absolutely loved this

Scratchy voices in the dark, like ghosts. Captured as imprints on an obsolete medium..

I have an old walkman, cassette recorder/players and an old Sony cassette radio.

Just bought a brand new WeAreRewind tape cassette player/recorder.

I know I'm late but I did watched the video long enough to notice that they named a hurricane after me.

5:54 radio du quebec wow c'est cool.

Can I put digital audio into micro cassette recorders?

Where can I get a similar device for a reasonable price?

Great video!

Great video! I love cassette tapes! :)

great video! can you suggest me a very cheap cassette players and recorders but the voice quality is good and is portable? this 2020

Did you work as a videographer in the past? There's something about your videos that make me suspect you'll have 20K subscribers before the end of 2022. Keep it up!

hey do you know where i could buy one of these?

what microphone do you use/recommend for this model?

Wow what an awesome video. Where did you snag that thing? Sorry if you mentioned it in the video. And did it say Long Island or RHODE island?

this was awesome! keep it up

I really think that they need to bring back a high quality 4 tracker. Also a new listening medium. Where we have a place or thing that emits music like it used to. People have got lazy with listening to music on there phone speaker. No artwork to hold. A virtual Rhodes sounds good through an amp miced up. I often wonder if digital recording 0 + 1s would sound bad to an Alien compared to magnetic tape recordings of analogue and acoustic sources.

I bought a Sony from 2002 I think it’s a tc-we475 back a year a so such a nearly format

nice :D

Wow those days. Huge stereo radio cum cassette players from National/Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi, Akai, Aiwa, JVC, Toshiba etc. Super sound super quality. But they are no longer made. How sad!!!. I am desperately looking for these super machines. But servicing is a problem because spares are not available in the company itself. But, I believe that one day they will be back.

Whats the song in the background?

1980's are coming back

upload more about cassette tape please,hahaha.

Do you know what time it is?

My sony walkmans and tape collections keep me sane. And they are a whole vibe. 💖 And i'm 26 years old, growing up all i used were cassettes. Takes me back to a better time in my life, when life was simple and full of love.

Cassette Sound Better Than WAV.Even Cassette Has Annoying White Hiss.

First contradiction of the vid... "out of date novelty/". .0:29"

I'm really thinking of buying one of these but these shit are expensive as heck haha, someone can give me a hand and indicate me a cheap one of these?

Damn bro why do you sound so dead?

tapes are lovely

Thank god I never sold my Ipod classic