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Cassette Tapes On The Wane

Posted by Zonk on from the click-click-click dept.

jonerik writes "The BBC has an article on the current status of the once-popular cassette tape in the UK and elsewhere. It's been a long climb up and a long fall down for the audio format introduced by Dutch electronics giant Philips in 1963. Having sold 83 million units in the UK at their 1989 peak, cassettes sold just 900,000 units in the UK last year. And yet the cassette soldiers on in the West in niche applications - particularly in the audio book market - and in other countries where CD and MP3 penetration hasn't been as extensive. From the article: 'Keith Joplin, a Director of Research at the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, said that Turkey still sells 88 million cassettes a year, India 80 million, and that cassettes account for 50% of sales in these countries. In Saudi Arabia, it is 70%.'"

7 of 339 comments (clear)

  1. Oh that's too bad by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just love it when I'm driving down the freeway, the stereo goes plop-plop, the cassette pops out and the entire dashboard looks decorated like a christmas tree with overflowing tape. It's just not as festive with CDs...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Oh that's too bad by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Funny

      to get festive with a CD requires a microwave oven, and it's much prettier.

  2. Yay! by RickPartin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good riddance! Cassette tapes allowed easy duplication of music between friends that destroyed the music industry! Oh wait no it didn't.

  3. Didn't See That One Coming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if this could happen to floppy diskettes too?

  4. time for computer upgrade by yagu · · Score: 4, Funny

    With the threat of cassette tapes going away, what does this mean for me and my TRS-80? Are there CD Burners for the TRS-80? Help!

  5. Re:I'm new at this, but... by grungebox · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, cassette tapes you!

    Since you're new, I'll forgive you. But here are your problems:
    1) The previous statement said "Turkey sells 88 million casettes..." Your retort is not parallel. The correct response is, "In Soviet Russia, casette sells you!" or something equivalent.
    2) I noticed you're sitting pretty a score of 1. To increase that score, you nowadays can't just make a lame Soviet Russia joke. Throw in those now-popular old people in Korea, perhaps. Maybe write "I know I'll get modded down for thus but..." and then whatever. That's a surefire way to get to 5. Or you could say something that alludes to "In Soviet Russia" without actually writing it. For example, "You know the editors are just baiting us by saying 'In Saudi Arabia...'", except say something funny instead of that.

    By the way, I know I'll get modded down for this whole spiel.

  6. Re:Cassettes by wfberg · · Score: 4, Funny
    Live digital instruments (such as professional keyboards) are often 20- to 24-bit, 192 KHz, and lossless digital amplifiers have been around since the 60s.


    Damn my incompatible 10bit 30Khz ears!

    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty