Cassette Tapes Enjoying A Vinyl-Like Resurgence In Popularity

For music lovers like myself, perhaps no memory sums up the generation I grew up in like the one of making a mixtape. The process was a tiring one. I'd spend hours listening to the radio for my favorite songs, a cassette tape in my player ready to record as soon as the DJ stopped talking. They were crude days that I remember fondly now. It turns out that may be one reason the cassette tape is enjoying a comeback.

I'm fully invested in the comeback of vinyl. It continues to be the only physical form of music that sees an increase in sales from year to year. In the age of streaming, it's a form of music that you can hold in your hand. And vinyl sounds amazing too. Full, rich, and unprocessed. I'll admit, the same can't be said for cassette tapes as far as the sound goes. But I think it's the physical form of music that has fans buying them up. You can hold one in your hand. You can read the small liner notes on the sleeve. Finding a player might be the real challenge unless you drive older cars like I do.

Cassette sales rose in 2018 by a staggering 25%. Sure, it may be a movement fueled by pure nostalgia but if the format was good enough for The Guardians of the Galaxy, shouldn't it still be good enough for the rest of us? I recently made my first purchase back into the world of cassette tapes. I purchased a batch of tapes featuring some pretty iconic rock records from the '80s and '90s. Nirvana, Van Halen, AC/DC, Pearl Jam and more. If you didn't throw all your tapes away, you might just want to post them for sale online. There are plenty of people like me looking to rekindle our mixtape past.

[via Inlander]