Is the Cassette Recorder Dead?

Is the cassette recorder dead? NOt yet. Although most manufacturers have basically abandoned it, except in cheap settings (dual dub decks, boom boxes). WOuld I go out and buy a new cassette deck? No way. I have a Nakamichi LX5, bought in the early 80's. It still makes very nice tapes which I use in the car. Don't want to scratch up my discs or have to handle them in the car environment. Tapes do tend to wear out easily with heat when left in the car, but it's easy to dub another one. Don't find myself doing that much recording these days, but like to make compilations from time to time.

tom

The walkman keeps it alive as the portable CD players don't work strapped to a belt. I have better luck with cassettes on airplanes as the batteries last longer. I enjoy cassette players but finding a good one for a decent price is a chore. I am still looking for a working JVC DD-7. Mine was stolen--but the DD series made by JVC were great decks.

I disagree about what was said re car cd players. I have been listening to cds for more than ten years in a toyota and a porsche and have not experience badly scratched ones. I am afraid handling is the culprit. A friend had hers scratched using one of the case logic type storage pockets. I have not been able to find a portable cd player that I can use when running (anyone experienced the Sony G system?) so I still use my tape deck but not in the car where I used to have mangled tapes a problem nonexistent with the magic silver discs.

If you own the equipment use it till it drops. But don't spend a penny on repairs! The cassette is dead, dead, dead, dead! The reason LP's aren't dead is because they sound better than CD's and there is alot of stuff not available on other formatts. The same can not be said for cassettes. Therefore, I repeat, "Dead, dead, dead!"

Oddly enough the cassette is still better than all these horrible sounding digital devices like MD, DCC, MP3, etc. I own one of kenwoods top of the line MD's and the flexibility is nice, but its bad digital-thin and anemic sounding. A good high quality cassette deck probably isn't a bad idea. They have made some advances in the analog arena that don't get much note these days: aside from Dolby S, pioneer's cassette decks digitally recalibrate the signal, there are more accurate mechanical/tape drives, better head material, and better tape formulations. Not to mention, regardless of the digital used, MP3 etc., you've got to worry about poor A/D convertors so that don't even get the maximum amount of info onto the inferior formats. Ya cassette is dead, but if depending on recording needs it may still be a good choice.