Hey @immatthewj, good old memories indeed!
My first stereo system was all Pioneer stuff that included a receiver, a turntable, and a pair of speakers. And my first cartridge was a Stanton with a nice little brush attached. They were purchased with my hard earned summer job money. I later added a top of the line Pioneer cassette deck. Looking back, I wish I have kept my cassette deck instead of throwing it out after I switched to CD's.
One of the favorite things that my friends would do was to come to my place and I would make a cassette for them from my album collections. Essentially a playlist put together mechanically. 😀