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Are cassettes becoming a thing of the past?

J

JamzUSA

Guest
I needed to buy some cassettes for some trades that I have going, so today, I went to my ususal place, Sam's Club, to buy the 24 pack of Maxell. Well, I looked and looked: No tapes. I asked one of the employees, and he told me that they no longer carry cassettes. I then went to Fry's, and all I found was one or two small packs of Sony, (which I do not like). Then I went to Walmart Supercenter. I knew I would find what I wanted there. When I got there, it was the same as Fry's. Next, I went to Best Buy, and what do you know, the same as the other two. Finally, I went to Super Target, and thank goodness, I found ten packs of TDK in 60, 90 and 120 minutes. I was just wondering was it this way everywhere. I know the guy at Sam's Club, said that CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source of recording.
 
> I know the guy at Sam's Club, said that
> CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
> of recording.

It's getting there, fairly quickly. Most Sam's Clubs have stopped carrying the Maxell 24-packs. My local store in Rochester NY still has them, probably because I keep buying them in case lots. But even if the end isn't quite here yet, it's well within sight.

s<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 JUST RELEASED! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
> > I know the guy at Sam's Club, said that
> > CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> > happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
>
> > of recording.
>
> It's getting there, fairly quickly. Most Sam's Clubs have
> stopped carrying the Maxell 24-packs. My local store in
> Rochester NY still has them, probably because I keep buying
> them in case lots. But even if the end isn't quite here yet,
> it's well within sight.
>
I usually buy them in 10 Packs at National Wholesale Liquidators when they have them on sale, both 60's and 90's. There aren't to many guys left that trade in tape only, or won't take CD. If someone has something I really want, and they record on tape only, I'll take them. If what they want is on CD, I'll send CD. If however it's still on tape, I'll make a cassette copy unless it was on my "convert" to CD list. Eventually, everything I have will be digitized.
<P ID="signature">______________

Co/Moderator: New York,Miami,Airchecks,Classic Radio and Where Are They Now?</P>
 
> I needed to buy some cassettes for some trades that I have
> going, so today, I went to my ususal place, Sam's Club, to
> buy the 24 pack of Maxell. Well, I looked and looked: No
> tapes. I asked one of the employees, and he told me that
> they no longer carry cassettes. I then went to Fry's, and
> all I found was one or two small packs of Sony, (which I do
> not like). Then I went to Walmart Supercenter. I knew I
> would find what I wanted there. When I got there, it was
> the same as Fry's. Next, I went to Best Buy, and what do
> you know, the same as the other two. Finally, I went to
> Super Target, and thank goodness, I found ten packs of TDK
> in 60, 90 and 120 minutes. I was just wondering was it this
> way everywhere. I know the guy at Sam's Club, said that
> CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
> of recording.
>
Walgreens here has them. Good deal there.

I don't think tapes will be gone anytime in the near future. Maybe in 5-10 years.

The Walgreens down the street sells out of them often. So I have to try the other stores until they re stock.

As for the other stores (around here) Walmart still has them, Target dropped all but TDK 10 packs. Best Buy still has them. I think ShopKo does. And K-Mart does.


If you go to the store in the electronics section and look at the stereos and boomboxes, you'll notice that the tape deck/recorder is still far more commonly found then the CD burner and not everybody has a computer.

As long as this is the case, tapes will still be available (at least in some places)

Now when it comes to pre recorded media (VHS, etc) there is a problem there. You can still find blank VHS tapes in the store but with DVD players and DVD recorders becoming the most common, its getting harder to find VCRs these days. Same thing with pre recorded VHS tapes.

I prefer TDK. And Walgreens has TDK D60 and D90 10 packs in addition to Maxell and Sony 5 packs.

<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
> of recording.

That's one of the reasons I stopped trading cassettes (other than the space issue.) Where I have looked, the price of cassettes have gone up while CD-R prices have gone down. I'm still nervous though about the longevity of CD-Rs. I have about 120 or so data CDs filled with airchecks and I'd sure hate to lose them.
 
You'll probably be able to find blank cassettes if you look hard enough: just like if you want open-reel tape, 8-track cartridges, or phonograph needles and you're willing to check around the internet. Cassettes actually may linger awhile longer among aircheck traders if only because it's so much easier while traveling to throw a tape into a boombox and hit record, than it is to carry around a tuner and laptop PC.

I don't seem to have any trouble finding VHS tapes, either solo or in packs. Every supermarket, pharmacy, discount store has them, though the T-160s don't seem to be abundant as they used to be.

What does seem to have passed away are the dreaded three-pack for a buck cheapie cassettes sold without boxes. Remember those? Certron, Zimag, DelTone, and countless others. I used to have dozens of these things, loaded with songs taped off the radio. Never occured to me to tape the rest of the broadcast. :(
 
If all fails when it comes to cassettes...try going to kingdom.com as they sell tapes in bulk...it is not brand name...but their quality is quite good.

> I needed to buy some cassettes for some trades that I have
> going, so today, I went to my ususal place, Sam's Club, to
> buy the 24 pack of Maxell. Well, I looked and looked: No
> tapes. I asked one of the employees, and he told me that
> they no longer carry cassettes. I then went to Fry's, and
> all I found was one or two small packs of Sony, (which I do
> not like). Then I went to Walmart Supercenter. I knew I
> would find what I wanted there. When I got there, it was
> the same as Fry's. Next, I went to Best Buy, and what do
> you know, the same as the other two. Finally, I went to
> Super Target, and thank goodness, I found ten packs of TDK
> in 60, 90 and 120 minutes. I was just wondering was it this
> way everywhere. I know the guy at Sam's Club, said that
> CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
> of recording.
>
 
I still like cassettes as they have a longer lifespan than CD's. I have tapes from 20 years ago which sound fine...I still listen to a tape player walkman when I am riding the subway in Toronto and it seems to work fine...feels weird having one when everyone else has a cd player or ipod.....which i also have...but the airchecks are on cassette and that is good time to listen to them.



> > CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> > happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
>
> > of recording.
>
> That's one of the reasons I stopped trading cassettes (other
> than the space issue.) Where I have looked, the price of
> cassettes have gone up while CD-R prices have gone down.
> I'm still nervous though about the longevity of CD-Rs. I
> have about 120 or so data CDs filled with airchecks and I'd
> sure hate to lose them.
>
 
Yes, I found a Sam's here with a few. So I bought all of them for $168. so I will have cassettes for a while. Now they are permanently out of the cassette selling business.

I found about three pages of cassettes on ebay. Some of them are reasonable.


> I needed to buy some cassettes for some trades that I have
> going, so today, I went to my ususal place, Sam's Club, to
> buy the 24 pack of Maxell. Well, I looked and looked: No
> tapes. I asked one of the employees, and he told me that
> they no longer carry cassettes. I then went to Fry's, and
> all I found was one or two small packs of Sony, (which I do
> not like). Then I went to Walmart Supercenter. I knew I
> would find what I wanted there. When I got there, it was
> the same as Fry's. Next, I went to Best Buy, and what do
> you know, the same as the other two. Finally, I went to
> Super Target, and thank goodness, I found ten packs of TDK
> in 60, 90 and 120 minutes. I was just wondering was it this
> way everywhere. I know the guy at Sam's Club, said that
> CD's have taken the place of cassettes. If this what's
> happening, I might have to take cassettes off of my source
> of recording.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
I agree with Adam.

> If all fails when it comes to cassettes...try going to
> kingdom.com as they sell tapes in bulk...it is not brand
> name...but their quality is quite good.
>
> > <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
I am not as knowlegable about CD's. I did not want to take chances, so I bought the gold CD's from Kingdom with a seventy-five year guarantee.


> That's one of the reasons I stopped trading cassettes (other
> than the space issue.) Where I have looked, the price of
> cassettes have gone up while CD-R prices have gone down.
> I'm still nervous though about the longevity of CD-Rs. I
> have about 120 or so data CDs filled with airchecks and I'd
> sure hate to lose them.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
> You'll probably be able to find blank cassettes if you look
> hard enough: just like if you want open-reel tape, 8-track
> cartridges, or phonograph needles and you're willing to
> check around the internet. Cassettes actually may linger
> awhile longer among aircheck traders if only because it's so
> much easier while traveling to throw a tape into a boombox
> and hit record, than it is to carry around a tuner and
> laptop PC.
>
> I don't seem to have any trouble finding VHS tapes, either
> solo or in packs. Every supermarket, pharmacy, discount
> store has them, though the T-160s don't seem to be abundant
> as they used to be.
>
> What does seem to have passed away are the dreaded
> three-pack for a buck cheapie cassettes sold without boxes.
> Remember those? Certron, Zimag, DelTone, and countless
> others. I used to have dozens of these things, loaded with
> songs taped off the radio. Never occured to me to tape the
> rest of the broadcast. :(
>
Check your local donation store like Salvation Army or Goodwill. I found at least 20 sealed blank casettes from Maxwell XL II 90s to some TDK SA 90s from 1984. You can get some real good metal tapes on E-bay, perfect for those older Nakimichi tape decks.
 
> > You'll probably be able to find blank cassettes if you
> look
> > hard enough: just like if you want open-reel tape, 8-track
>
> > cartridges, or phonograph needles and you're willing to
> > check around the internet. Cassettes actually may linger
> > awhile longer among aircheck traders if only because it's
> so
> > much easier while traveling to throw a tape into a boombox
>
> > and hit record, than it is to carry around a tuner and
> > laptop PC.
> >
> > I don't seem to have any trouble finding VHS tapes, either
>
> > solo or in packs. Every supermarket, pharmacy, discount
> > store has them, though the T-160s don't seem to be
> abundant
> > as they used to be.
> >
> > What does seem to have passed away are the dreaded
> > three-pack for a buck cheapie cassettes sold without
> boxes.
> > Remember those? Certron, Zimag, DelTone, and countless
> > others. I used to have dozens of these things, loaded
> with
> > songs taped off the radio. Never occured to me to tape
> the
> > rest of the broadcast. :(
> >
> Check your local donation store like Salvation Army or
> Goodwill. I found at least 20 sealed blank casettes from
> Maxwell XL II 90s to some TDK SA 90s from 1984. You can
> get some real good metal tapes on E-bay, perfect for those
> older Nakimichi tape decks.
>
I've been buying my blank cassettes at the local Radio Shack. They're a little more pricy, but worth the extra $$$, IMO. I've also gotten to know the emplyees there(pretty much on a first name basis).<P ID="signature">______________
"I look out for me and mine."-Capt. Malcom "Mal" Reynolds in Serenity</P>
 
> I've been buying my blank cassettes at the local Radio
> Shack. They're a little more pricy, but worth the extra $$$,
> IMO. I've also gotten to know the emplyees there(pretty much
> on a first name basis).

I've done the same. Since my portable MP3 recorder bit the dust, I've gone entirely back to tape for at least a little while. My local Walgreens seems to out of Maxell tapes frequently these days, so when I need tapes quickly, I use the XR-120's from RadioShack. They've been fine.
 
I happily admit that I still readily use and buy cassettes, they're still available in my neighborhood in bulks and singles, though knowing how things are changing lately I've been buying the 15pk bundles of Maxell URs lately. I swear by the Maxell UR when it comes to trading stuff. The folks I trade with the most prefer cassettes. However, I do have several CD-Rs worth of my older tapes. I own two MP3 players (one older, one recently bought) that allow me to encode my tapes on the fly into MP3, so it's very convenient for me to archive the tapes I love the most. If someone asks for CD, I can burn them a CD, if someone wants podchecking, I can do that too. There's the advantage of having the encode on the fly.

To be honest though, going to and from work, 2/3 of the folks on the bus still use either CD or regular walkmans. Some even have walkmans with just the AM/FM. We Philly folks are hopelessly old school that way.
 
I live in Toronto and most of the people on the bus or subway are listening to Ipods, mp3 players or CD. I don't see anyone with a cassette player anymore.

> I happily admit that I still readily use and buy cassettes,
> they're still available in my neighborhood in bulks and
> singles, though knowing how things are changing lately I've
> been buying the 15pk bundles of Maxell URs lately. I swear
> by the Maxell UR when it comes to trading stuff. The folks
> I trade with the most prefer cassettes. However, I do have
> several CD-Rs worth of my older tapes. I own two MP3
> players (one older, one recently bought) that allow me to
> encode my tapes on the fly into MP3, so it's very convenient
> for me to archive the tapes I love the most. If someone
> asks for CD, I can burn them a CD, if someone wants
> podchecking, I can do that too. There's the advantage of
> having the encode on the fly.
>
> To be honest though, going to and from work, 2/3 of the
> folks on the bus still use either CD or regular walkmans.
> Some even have walkmans with just the AM/FM. We Philly
> folks are hopelessly old school that way.
>
 
I remember in public school, the teachers would use APEX (red lablled) tapes for recording stuff....along with the califone record players....


> You'll probably be able to find blank cassettes if you look
> hard enough: just like if you want open-reel tape, 8-track
> cartridges, or phonograph needles and you're willing to
> check around the internet. Cassettes actually may linger
> awhile longer among aircheck traders if only because it's so
> much easier while traveling to throw a tape into a boombox
> and hit record, than it is to carry around a tuner and
> laptop PC.
>
> I don't seem to have any trouble finding VHS tapes, either
> solo or in packs. Every supermarket, pharmacy, discount
> store has them, though the T-160s don't seem to be abundant
> as they used to be.
>
> What does seem to have passed away are the dreaded
> three-pack for a buck cheapie cassettes sold without boxes.
> Remember those? Certron, Zimag, DelTone, and countless
> others. I used to have dozens of these things, loaded with
> songs taped off the radio. Never occured to me to tape the
> rest of the broadcast. :(
>
 
> I live in Toronto and most of the people on the bus or
> subway are listening to Ipods, mp3 players or CD. I don't
> see anyone with a cassette player anymore.

I still regularly use a cassette/AM & FM walkman when I'm out and about, but I also have a discman. The discman seems to suck the life out of batteries even more than the cassette walkman does. Long live cassettes & the cassette walkman.<P ID="signature">______________
"I look out for me and mine."-Capt. Malcom "Mal" Reynolds in Serenity</P>
 
Apparently not...

So guess what I found this evening at the local Fred Meyer: four 4-count packs of Sony 120 minute cassettes, $3 each. Yup, for real. Being the well-prepared Boy Scout that I am, I cleared out their entire stock. Now I just need to find a tape deck, since my old mid-80s Sony croaked about the time this thread ran its course the first time around.

[size=8pt]What's also interesting is I seem to have stumbled into a thread that apparently ran its course whilst I was in my final term in college. I think I was still primarily inhabiting Muzak's discussion forum at the time. Those were the days... ;o)
 
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