what's with folk releasing stuff on cassette? (4 Viewers)

[nlgbbbblth]

I really like that point, but i would say cassette was the first practical portable format that broke the market - although the first one thats actually worth buying I think is flash drive based stuff with upgradable software. Vynil never addressed portability.

They couldn't address it though. Not physically possible. That's where blank cassettes came in. Or should have.

CDs didn't outsell cassettes until 1993.
From about 1985 onwards (some sources say 1983) albums sold more on cassette than vinyl.
I could never get my head around that.

In the dark days of the early 1990s all the major labels did their damnest to phase out vinyl by
- Squeezing 55 / 60 minute albums onto one platter, thereby reducing fidelity.
- Refusing to accept vinyl returns from shops. [Common practice in US - not sure about here]
- Actively promoting albums as being available on "CD / Cassette" even when there was a vinyl equivalent. Posters, NME reviews often had this erroneous information - supplied to them by rogues.

As a consequence some of the most collectable LPs are those released on major labels from around 1990 - 1999 'cos those sold so poorly at the time.

8 TRACKS - no. I did buy a DVD about people who collected them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQnw2g4JpTo

 

[ann post]

I could never get my head around that.

Possibly shipping??? I mean shipping a few thousand vinyl's from manufacturing to wholesale to storefront + returns (which you mentioned!) as opposed to the same number cassettes. Also i suppose there was a nice marked for sony and thier mates in fitting out everyone with tape decks and walkmen. but yeah in logical reasonable terms, blank tapes would have done nicely at the time. specially ye- olde 90min ones with a record on each side.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Yeah, shipping the same number of cassettes would have been easier.

What I meant about "getting my head around that" was not being able to comprehend why so many people went for the crappy cassette format. I accept all the reasons about portability, convenience etc but the things didn't bloody last, the covers were shit and it was a pain accessing tracks [unlike LPs or CDs].

 

[Scientician 0.8]

8 TRACKS - no. I did buy a DVD about people who collected them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQnw2g4JpTo

Must blag a copy of this off ya sometime. I've been wanting to see it for years.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Possibly shipping???/QUOTE]

Funnily enough the transfer from shellac 78s to 33s/45s made independent labels possible. Before that it was so hard to ship the fragile discs only so many companies were involved. Vinyl was so much sturdier.

 

[The septic]

I used to love tapes. I refused to buy into CD's for years, hence most of my music collection from the early 90's is in my folks house in America and will never make it over here. That of course doesn't matter because I can now download the entire collection and put it on an mp3 player the size of those chocolates they give you when you buy a nice cup of coffee.

Tapes were great because in America, we all drove everywhere, all the time. Their portability changed how and where we listened to music. Now that the change has been made, I see no reason to re-visit the technology. Tape releases are a bit of fun, but little more.



*I do absolutely love listening to mix tapes found in the attic, old suitcases, old ghetto blasters, etc. Especially the ones with hand written liner notes and cut and paste collage covers.

 

[Brush]

Yeah, shipping the same number of cassettes would have been easier.

What I meant about "getting my head around that" was not being able to comprehend why so many people went for the crappy cassette format. I accept all the reasons about portability, convenience etc but the things didn't bloody last, the covers were shit and it was a pain accessing tracks [unlike LPs or CDs].

I think you will find this picture might provide hints to the possible reason for the horrible cassette format being popular for a good portion of the Mid 80's

 

[pete]

Possibly shipping???/QUOTE]

Funnily enough the transfer from shellac 78s to 33s/45s made independent labels possible. Before that it was so hard to ship the fragile discs only so many companies were involved. Vinyl was so much sturdier.

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[nlgbbbblth]

I think you will find this picture might provide hints to the possible reason for the horrible cassette format being popular for a good portion of the Mid 80's

I had one of those too. I used to buy an LP, record it on to a blank tape and listen to it in the walkman.

 

[Kermit McDermott]

Rewinding with a bic pen is now a lost art. Kids are missing out.

 

[HMD]

Rewinding with a bic pen is now a lost art. Kids are missing out.

That used to pass time in the last class of the day in school.

Also about nghghghhh's point about labels putting 45-50 min on one record in the early 90's. I have ministry's psalm 69 album on 10", a single 10". The sound quality is gash.

 

[The septic]

There was a very short lived vinyl rental business back home when I was very young. It was well ahead of it's time as far as stealing music goes. Didn't stay in business long. First thing I rented there was the first Asia record, 'burnt' it straight to TDK90.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

That used to pass time in the last class of the day in school.

Also about nghghghhh's point about labels putting 45-50 min on one record in the early 90's. I have ministry's psalm 69 album on 10", a single 10". The sound quality is gash.

I used to own that 10" - got it in Borderline. Abysmal sound quality. Got the normal sized Ministry LP at a later stage.

In the 1990s some bright spark decided to reissue The Smiths back catalogue on 10". Admittedly some were double 10"s but still - it just didn't look right.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

there's a whole load of bad sounding LPs from the early 1990s

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
Ice T - Original Gangster
Bodycount - Bodycount
Neil Young - Unplugged
Cure - Disintegration
Anthrax - State of Euphoria
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell II [don't own this but I believe it's 70+ minutes on one LP]

 

[The septic]

there's a whole load of bad sounding LPs from the early 1990s

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
Ice T - Original Gangster
Bodycount - Bodycount
Neil Young - Unplugged
Cure - Disintegration
Anthrax - State of Euphoria
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell II [don't own this but I believe it's 70+ minutes on one LP]

A few of those don't sound great on any format.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Bazinga!

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell II [don't own this but I believe it's 70+ minutes on one LP]

I know that's generally a no-no but I've an ECM LP of Arvo Part's Passio that sounds pretty good and it's about the same length (Part didn't want the piece split across four sides of a 2LP). I think it comes down to mastering and a good hifi (the same LP sounded gash on a cheaper system I had).

 

[Anthony]

I still have about 100+ Here Be Monsters cassettes. Are these sort after now? Should we re-release them?

 

[Kermit McDermott]

What's the oldest working cassette tape yiz have?

I have two from 1984 (Howard Jones & Duran Duran) that still play grand.

What the lifespan of a cassette?

 

[Scientician 0.8]

As I said above, I've got a few from the '70s that still work. I'd say a good quality tape kept in non-extreme conditions and rarely played could last for a long long time.