November 14, 2005

Hit Pause

It seems that this post about the underappreciated cassette tape really got everybody’s lap in a lather. I think it’s finally dawning on some of us that those cheap lumps of plastique have become the kind of irreplaceable physical artifacts from which music is divorcing itself.

I love my mp3s, but it’s just gonna be weird if all future music becomes completely ethereal. The object is gonna have to evolve as well. I think there’s a residual need for a real visual/tactile THING you can hold in your hand and examine while the music’s playing. Hey, no dick jokes, I’m serious.

Lenny Sfumato contributes this tech link. And for unspooled tape heads who need an mp3 fix, I cannot recommend Tape Findings enough.

Rick at 12:56 am

3 CommentsÈ

Rick:

I have to say, even though I have well over 300 cassettes somewhere in my parents home out in Long Island, I do not miss them. They never sounded as good as either records, CDs or even 8-tracks (which sounded kinda great actually – probably the closest you could’ve gotten to reel to reels). Plus tapes were/are made shitty – they always broke if you played them enough. As did cassette players – most of which played at different speeds! And the artwork was more compromised than the dreaded CD format. Vinyl, on the other hand, totally rules. I, too, have become one of those people who also loves MP3s – I now have well over 225 GBs of music on my iTunes now. It’s quite ridiculous – like walking into a record store at home. The shit sounds great and it’s so easy to acquire more and more all the time. But there is nothing like listening to the crackle and pop of an old record and reading the liner notes on the back of the cover. Especially during the holidays, when Jews like us dine on the flesh of Christian children whilst listening to an LP of the Nuremberg Trials.

L’chiam!
-Dean

Comment by Dean Rispler Ñ November 14, 2005 @ 12:50 pm
one can hardly argue with the RISPLER-MEISTER on all his points, that is if one uses the cassette strictly for commercially available music. he’s right; i’ve never thought of cassettes as permanent prints (of music available in more stable formats).

the real magic of cassettes was in home-taping. in the pre-digital age, it was quite a priviledge to be able to record sound inexpensively in your own home.

ah, many more longwinded points to be made, but my 2-year-old kid is creating bedlam in the other room. (if bedlam is possible with only one person…)

-GS

Comment by giovanni sfumato Ñ November 14, 2005 @ 3:50 pm
i meant HOME-TAPING more in the sense of tape-recording shit around the house: voice, tv, jam sessions, comedy skits, or in the streets: bums, construction sites etc.

Comment by giovanni sfumato Ñ November 14, 2005 @ 3:54 pm