Favorite obsolete formats.....

I still listen a lot to FM radio at home, as there are two local stations that have a good mix of their chosen genres (old time rock, old time country).  In the car, it’s hard rock mostly.

As for other formats, I don’t use them but keep the old equipment for sentimental reasons.  I have two Sony VCRs that still work and a Technics cassette deck that works fine.

A few months ago, I considered, then declined, purchase of a 40+ year old Teac reel-to-reel.  The price was fine, but it would need to be gone over by a technician, which again could be an acceptable expense if I had tapes to play on it. I have fond memories of a Sony R2R I had during the 1970’s, but today there really isn’t need to record music on one when I can burn CD’s.  Purchasing pre-recorded tapes for the big money they go for — no thank you.  But R2R looks cool as well as being the best way to enjoy taped music.

@freedeez,

"I swear some of my greatest listening experiences were with those cassette tapes."


Me too. I even had one of those portable Sony Walkman players. 

Virtually every Sunday evening was spent listening to the UK top 40 with a loaded cassette. By the late 90s I'd upgraded my NAD tuner and switched from NAD cassette to to Sony MD but there wasn't that much worth bothering with in the charts.

For me the final straw with cassettes came when they started putting the tapes into sealed housings instead of the usual ones with 5 screws.

This made repair a real pain. I also didn't like how hot the cassettes got when played in the car. 

The sound of some of those cassette car units (1980s/1990s) seemed to be a lot better than what I now hear in many car CD players. 

That could just be my memory but there's no doubt that there were some very good car units back then. 

Somewhat surprised that no stories of a Quadraphonic system have emerged. Maybe they weren’t that popular?I remember the Simpsons episode where young Homer was trying to hang out with the cool kids that had a Quadraphonic setup in their van only to be turned away. 

cd318 got it right.

 "The sound of some of those cassette car units (1980s/1990s) seemed to be a lot better than what I now hear in many car CD players.

That could just be my memory but there's no doubt that there were some very good car units back then."

The Alpine 7347 (circa 1985) skyrocketed the high-end car audio industry with some of the best sounding car audio systems to date. Of course, great amps and speakers played just as important of a role.  Even though the CD player offered a better signal to noise, the analog sound from the cassette was consistently smoother sounding.  DAC was only in its infancy back then so grainy sound was what you got with the CD.  High-end car audio systems today can be really good.  However, the industry has shrunken due to how cars are made with the OEM system being integrated into vehicle functions.  The audio enthusiast, however, will still pursue the products that integrate with the OEM designs and build some very impressive car audio systems.  Listening to a top flight car audio system is really a great experience. 

It wasn't a medium, but a source.....the lowly hand-held transistor radio that only played AM, but introduced many of us to the world of modern (for that time) music. Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Little Eva, along with many others that kept us up way past bedtime until the battery died. The fancy ones had leatherette cases, the sound was as low-fi as you could get, but it was a passport to rock 'n roll nirvana and cool personalities called DJs.