Death Of The Tape?
 

The days of the humble cassette tape will soon be coming to a timely end with the announcement from electrical retailer Currys that their existing stocks of blank cassettes will be sold but not replenished.

The retailer has also predicted that cassette decks will also disappear from the range in the next 18 months.

The move comes in the wake of the digital format boom, which has seen the iPod and MP3 player take over the market. Currys have said the humble cassette tape has failed to compete with digital technology, with a top-of-the range iPod holding the same number of albums as 1,500 cassettes.

The cassette tape was introduced in 1963 with sales of pre-recorded tapes in the UK peaking in 1989, when 83 million were sold. This year, total UK sales of blank tapes are expected to be below one million.

 

Noob question- cassetes are digital?

No, they're analogue. If you've finally discovered irony, well done.

I'm putting in an order for an ass-load of tapes tomorrow, and I may even do something stupid like by a pristine tape deck to keep in storage for the next million years. What a prick I am, eh?

Just because Currys is not selling them anymore doesn't mean their dead yet. I'm sure blank tapes will be manufactured for a while yet.

Actually, I just bought a tape deck because I was starting to get vexed at missing all the stuff that was only coming out on tape.

My feelings about cassettes are mixed. They are clearly an inferior format in terms of sound quality and convenience (all that rewinding and fast forwarding) but they do make you more likely to sit down and listen all the way through which is a plus I think.

Is that order of tapes of blank tapes or tapes with music on? If it is the latter, what stuff if I may ask?

Well, I picked up a load of charity shop tapes recently. All faintly obscure folk stuff, I haven't had a chance to plough through it yet. None of all that noisy ra ra ra techno stuff you like though.

It was blank tapes I was thinking about though. Perhaps this is Currys' scheme to make me bulk buy. T'bastards.

Fuck This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, Currys is an Indian food joint?

I am not scared.

They said the same about vinyl too. It's so boring, of course production is going to decrease and it has for now a number of years , but I'd hardly call a body that's still faintly breathing a dead person.

What about 8-tracks and wax cylinders? And those other ones that no-one bought whose name escapes me? Are we all going to be buying SACDs and replacing out CDs in the next x years? WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?

A lot of them weren't cheap technology that you can afford to tape music on, so arse to them. And to me too.

lole dude... cassettes disappeared from mainstream usage a long time ago.

they will not disappear. not so soon.

Never. I'll keep them alive

That's good to hear. Cassettes suck0rz.

they do not manufacture 8-track nor 4-track tapes anymore. it is costing them money to manufacture a product few use anymore in their components. hell, people do not even have components anymore.

I guess my 4 track is going to be useless.

i saw that report yes. its a shame as its getting harder and harder to find places that sell them now.

While although a lovable format, all things pass in time.

But the constant generational change in format is annoying. I love for there to be something as timeless as the music itself.

my black metal band vassafor has only released on tape and vinyl. In certain scenes tape trading is still very much the norm. Plus its good for most people's car stereo's

Fuck Currys. I buy my blank tapes at WHSmith.