September 16, 2007
Why am I screwing with cassette tapes?
Just a few years ago, I still knew a few people who listened to cassettes– but no more. Once the last car cassette player broke, that was that. About 15 years ago, I decided I’d more or less skip the CD phase of audio consumerism and wait for whenever I could put my whole record collection on a credit card size format. With these new devices—“Pods”– we are close, but they are still too thick. (The difference between the building security card in my wallet and the thickness of a credit card is profound enough to keep me from comfortably keeping my wallet in my back pocket.)
Anyway, it’s all beside the point, still, because of the superiority of analogue sound. The cassette tape is still an amazing device, in that its sound is so much closer to a phonograph record than a digital file. Also, the durability of cassettes is significant. Most of my tapes will outlive me. For these reasons, I’m not only keeping my cassette tapes, I’m cataloging them for future reference, future generations, and also, and most significantly, for my own pleasure and interest.
