WILL

HIGH QUALITY BLANK CASSETTES

EVER BE PRODUCED AGAIN?

You hear rumours all the time that cassettes are back. You see fake news stories that hype the hype and talk the tripe but my question is this:-

WILL HIGH QUALITY BLANK CASSETTES

EVER BE PRODUCED AGAIN?

The answer. They could, I mean if someone told you in 1995 that you'd be able to buy a lot of new music releases on vinyl today in 2018 you'd have said it's highly unlikely as CD has taken over. So my point is this. Will I ever walk into a music store or electrical shop and buy a tasty Sony Type I, or a UX Type II or even a Type IV all made like they were in the golden age for retro purposes of extra cool? It's a very tall order and an extreme of wishful thinking. I've more chance of winning the lotto at this stage. In this part of the world you hardly ever come across new blank cassettes except for the Maxel multi packs of 90s, which seem to be, or are the last man standing. 

Imagine seeing Sony, TDK and Maxell cassettes on the shelves of Tesco, or any high street music chain. Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to buy them without looking on eBay where wrapped cassettes now sell for silly money. A TDK MA-X 90 unopened can set you back anywhere between €40 and €60 and that's because they are simply out of production. That 1986 Sony UX-S is now 32 years old and the price reflects it's scarcity. Now, I'm under no illusions, cassettes are still used by people that always used them or came back to them as they stored them away, but the majority of people are oblivious to them. I love the format, limitations and all, but then again, a limitation only exists when you compare it to something else, for instance CD track skipping is handy and not great with cassettes, but it's useless to me as I like listening to albums in sequence. So in itself the cassette is a wonderful format that gives you little challenges when recording, Dolby, bias, EQ, etc, and that's part of the fun. I'd also like to say that if high quality blanks were to return then what kind of decks would be manufactured? Remember in the 90s a lot of tape decks and players were pretty poor quality as shortcuts were taken to keep costs down on a disappearing market.

Anyway, on a final note, I do hope and pray that there will come a day that high quality cassettes will be produced again. Remember, faith can move mountains!