Cassette tapes, really?

[vvv]

Are cassette tapes making an unexpected comeback?

[A.David.MacKinnon]

It's been happening in Toronto for a while now. With the expense and impossibly long and unpredictable wait times for vinyl it's not surprising that some artists and indie labels are looking for alternatives. CD are terminally uncool at the moment so cassette it is. They're cheap and if you can find a duplication machine you can run them off at home as you need them.
I fully expect it to swing back around to CDRs in a few years.

[kslight]

Yeah the vinyl waits are ridiculous, even if you use a sketchy company that outsources overseas. 6 months+?

[markjazzbassist]

Yeah the vinyl waits are ridiculous, even if you use a sketchy company that outsources overseas. 6 months+?

not sure who you guys use but i used gottagroove records out of cleveland oh my hometown. 3 months.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Good to know. My last vinyl order took 10 months to deliver and shorted the order by 150 copies (on a run of 500). The original wait time was supposed to be 4 months. It was extended a few times and after the revised dates came and went the supplier wouldn't even give an estimated delivery date.

It's pretty sad that the last Canadian plant closed up shop. The exchange rate is making vinyl almost impossible now.

[kslight]

Yeah the vinyl waits are ridiculous, even if you use a sketchy company that outsources overseas. 6 months+?

not sure who you guys use but i used gottagroove records out of cleveland oh my hometown. 3 months.

One company endlessly delayed and then delivered the wrong color, went and repressed the correct color but sound bad and received a week ago. Took almost a year. Outsourced to Czech Republic, impossible customer service. Ended up shipping wrong color to preorders because they sound better.


Next record with a different company that is US based quoted 6 months plus.

[markjazzbassist]

damn!! jack white just got that new plant in detroit maybe they'll help.

[mjt335]

not sure who you guys use but i used gottagroove records out of cleveland oh my hometown. 3 months.

I've heard good things about Gotta Groove.

I've currently got a 45 being pressed by A to Z media. The manufacturing is happening in the Czech Republic, but they've been great so far. They got test pressings done really fast. We'll see how the final product goes...

Cassette tapes... jeez. I guess I like the idea, but I don't even have a tape player any more!!

[kslight]

damn!! jack white just got that new plant in detroit maybe they'll help.

I hope so. Jack Whites a pretty cool guy.

[vvv]

Was a time I had at least 4 cassette decks, of which 2 (JVC and Tascam, I think) were double decks, to dupe demos.

And at least 1 good HK for my stereo.

I do believe the decks are still in my garage ...

... where they'll stay for now.

[Snarl 12/8]

I bought a cassette deck a while back, for dumping my huge collection of cassettes into my computer. It's a lot of stuff that I won't be able to ever find again, including hours of old jams and 8-track stuff I did.

I used it to dump one side of a cassette into my computer, on the second side it started making a horrendous squeeling noise. Like, not out of the speakers, but the unit itself was physically screaming. I haven't even tried to use it since, nor did I return it. Analog recording really is a pain in the ass, but I still really love it and honor it, in a lot of ways.

[Magnetic Services]

In my first coupla years working with the DIY punk crowd (not too long ago), just about everything was released on cassette (and online, not usually just on tape).

Not exactly sure why, but it seemed normal. I wanna say it's because they're cheap, but CDs are cheaper, easier, and more accessible...

I think many bands enjoyed the ritual of duping and packaging their own tapes before tours, and maybe felt more justified in the punk ethos asking for money for something they made, rather than a download.

[E-money]

What do people find appealing about vinyl?

No offense, but is this just another silly hipster think like hair buns and bad beards that we're all going to laugh at years from now?

[joninc]

No offense, but is this just another silly hipster think like hair buns and bad beards that we're all going to laugh at years from now?

I doubt that - it's been around a long time and is back in vogue for a reason. Sure there are those just jumping on the bandwagon - as with anything.

Virtual music has very little value in the era of streaming so I think this is a really positive trend where people value the real thing, the art, the tactile experience of choosing and putting on a record, flipping it, most likely in an environment more conducive to really listening - and paying more for it.

I get the whole DL card too and I love getting that with the record so I can listen in the car or on a bike ride as well... but when I am at home, it's 99% vinyl.

IMO anyone who makes a living in the industry of recording music (many of us) should be happy to see a trend of people paying for music at a rate that isn't unsustainably devalued.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

What do people find appealing about vinyl?

I'd also add that from an artistic perspective, short of choosing between side 1 & 2, it makes people listen to the songs in the order you intended them to be heard. No shuffling within the record or shuffling with other records. They'll also spend more time with it (usually listening to a whole side at least). Both of those things mean that the record doesn't have to be louder then every other stupidly loud record.
I did a record last year where every song crossfades into the next. The best way to hear it is on vinyl.