Resurgence of Older Technology

[Orlando Smooth]

I have a fairly sizeable cassette collection and I'm not gonna kid myself into thinking it's anything but a cheap way of supporting artists and having a collection of items that's easy to store. I buy the cassette, download lossless audio files and then listen to the files. Shipping records all over the world is expensive, shipping a tape not so much.

Totally valid response. I'm not some sort of elitist that thinks the world needs to be purged of cassettes or whatever, but I do roll my eyes when people assume that because they're physical media they're high quality. As with all things, they have their place, it's just that their place is not really in the hi-fi system.

 

[Grimace]

On a purely subjective level, my favorite way to listen to music, aside from being at a live show myself, is on LP/vinyl. Yeah I know some people roll their eyes at tube preamps and bemoan the issues vinyl has, (all valid by the way) but on the current system I put together I just love the way it sounds. I can also cast music to my receiver via. Bluetooth or aux input, and so far any sort of purely digital (flac) file just doesn't sound as good as vinyl, and indeed even a CD. Some of the earlier CDs that have an AAD SPARS code sound absolutely incredible to my ears too.

Then just purely the nostalgia factor. For me, my earliest memories getting into music was my parents' box of 45s filled with late 70s/early 80s singles that I would listen to on these large brown Koss headphones. Not even in any sort of sleeve, just loose 45s with the Human League, Duran Duran, The Police, Culture Club, Alan Parsons, etc. Lots of jazz LPs too.

Seeing younger people that never even grew up with vinyl, cassette, or CD getting into the scene is so fucking cool. I don't understand why they buy LPs and never play them though - you can put together a badass little system for like $500! To me, records are meant to be played as much as displayed.

I also still listen to local independent radio stations on FM. WKCR, miss ya Phil Schaap. WBAI, the classic NYC Pacifica Radio station affiliated with KPFA in Berkeley, CA.

 

[punishedgnome]

When I was growing up film cameras where everywhere. You either had an instant camera, or one of those deals where you had to take the film to the place to get it developed. I specifically had a camera that took the little plastic 110 carts that had 20-24 shots each on them. They all obviously declined with the rise of digital photography to the point where I don't really think there are any places locally around me to get film developed anymore.

It seems like Polaroid-style instant pictures have made a comeback in recent years. It started with those Instax cameras a decade or so ago. I always liked Polaroid, and I had one of those Instax wide ones I used to take most of my pictures in the early 2010s. Now Polaroid themselves full blown makes new instant cameras and film again. The smaller Instax ones seem them most popular, though.

I think people are just looking for something a little more special and authentic. If you take a picture with one of these cameras, there's one copy of it and it costs $2 a shot. It's special and has a value and weight to it. If you take a picture and fuck it up, it costs you money. If you take a perfect picture, you only have the one copy.

 

[LostintheCycle]

Seeing younger people that never even grew up with vinyl, cassette, or CD getting into the scene is so fucking cool. I don't understand why they buy LPs and never play them though

Because it's a shallow trend that mostly tries to emulate a different time period aesthetically, and it's less convenient than using their phone. Moreover, because Gen Z's treat music differently. It's more like a decoration for life, which they throw on while on the bus, the train, while walking, while studying, hell even while in the shower just to occupy their ears to make the crawl of time more tolerable.

 

[consonant]

The oldest technology I remember using is VHS tapes and I have no idea whether or not they'd make a comeback, I never really see anyone talking about remembering them. They probably aren't as cool as cassette tapes or vinyl or as useful as CDs to people but they remind me of when I was younger so I'm pretty fond of them. Brings back some nice memories like renting pokemon tapes from the library and binging the fuck out of it, which was special because that was the first time I was even able to binge watch a show and it was surprising to me how many damn episodes Pokemon had. Also watching Scream and Star Wars with my family. I don't remember much about what actually happened in them because I didn't pay attention at all, but I remember it was nice having everyone watch something at home.
Me and my family unfortunately don't have any anymore, which is probably because we mostly rented them, and it sucks because it would've been nice to own the tapes of my first favorite shows. I'll probably buy some at some point just for nostalgic purposes.

 

[Vaporweeb]

 

[llillilll]

I don't go as far as 1990's but i use a kanon camera from 2010, a laptop from 2010 and SHP2500 from 2015. I was going to get a psp because they look soo neat but i want other dopamine purchases such as a motorolla z play or similarly aged phone and another wrist or pocket watch far more than the PSP. When these things break, i will buy from that time again. I was still using the first 64bit CPU(the one AMD made) during 2010's soo i didn't live like this when i could soo i artificially am living them today or tech today don't look as appealing to me, i am not sure. There is just some soul to that time periot that is more than "things were more durable". Edges are too rounded now, maybe it has to do with that.

 

[Yabba]

The oldest technology I remember using is VHS tapes and I have no idea whether or not they'd make a comeback, I never really see anyone talking about remembering them. They probably aren't as cool as cassette tapes or vinyl or as useful as CDs to people but they remind me of when I was younger so I'm pretty fond of them. Brings back some nice memories like renting pokemon tapes from the library and binging the fuck out of it, which was special because that was the first time I was even able to binge watch a show and it was surprising to me how many damn episodes Pokemon had. Also watching Scream and Star Wars with my family. I don't remember much about what actually happened in them because I didn't pay attention at all, but I remember it was nice having everyone watch something at home.
Me and my family unfortunately don't have any anymore, which is probably because we mostly rented them, and it sucks because it would've been nice to own the tapes of my first favorite shows. I'll probably buy some at some point just for nostalgic purposes.

The VHS aesthetic has definitely come back, but I don't think that VHS will come back. Funnily enough, I think the popularity of the VHS aesthetic actually gave Gen Z a much cheaper alternative to actually buying VHS tapes. This fulfilled there desire to have an Aesthetic, so they never made a trend out of VHS tapes. The only way for VHS tapes to be popular again is if the aesthetic completely does, and even then it's a long shot.

 

[Regal]

I am an amateur audiophile. Modern audio is a disaster. Bluetooth and mp3s compress the hell out of your music. Your favorite underground artist is probably recording a low quality recording because of a cheap digital microphone. There are no longer industry standards for audio mixing for movies/TV due to the many, many different audio technologies at play.

Chances are pretty good that previous generations had better audio experiences. Audio might be the only technical experience that has actually degraded over time. Definitely more convenient though.

 

[Dark Agent]

Bluetooth and MP3s suck for your music. If you need to compress your music for your PMP, try AAC, it's much better than MP3

 

[4d1]

In my honest opinion, i love and treasure older tech. Not cuz its old but cuz its idk...rather.. ahh what's the word I'm looking for... organic ?

i agree. i always say it's more tactile. it's like when you put a disk into a games console - even though new games are "better" if they're installed on the device, it always *feels* better when you have that transition to slide something in and then it beeps, ready to start. this is just one example, but everything runs too smooth. there's no operating it anymore. hell, with ai, eventually it will do what it wants in your interest on your behalf. but i love when you have to *do* something, to feel something, to move something into place. it's the same as manual cars vs automatic, where drivers just use manual because they swear by it. old tech sometimes feels like this but in a different medium?

at least thats how i feel about it, idk if any of that made any sense lmao

 

[wearyinternettraveler]

Because, despite what has been said elsewhere in this thread, they're complete shit. Your dad knows what's up when it comes to audio. Being magnetic tape that is exposed to the air and also must be physically contacted by the reader device while in use, cassettes degrade relatively quickly when compared to CDs. Also the fidelity level of cassettes is laughable when compared to either CDs or vinyl. Their original popularity was because they were smaller and cheaper to make than vinyl records, not because they were superior in anyway. Find a cassette from the 90's and listen to it, and compare it to a CD from the same era - you will hear a big difference.

Another issue is the player. A lot of players aren't calibrated correctly so it'll play too fast/slow. This is an issue on turntables too but given the size difference it can range from easy (rotating a screw to change resistance) to a total teardown.

 

[splashy]

Today I popped a CD into my car (surprised a 2019 model even has a CD player) and listened to a playlist I burned at least a decade ago, maybe more. I noticed something. The CD had a distinct sound to it, different than Bluetooth (even hard copy, not streaming), just like vinyl does (but obviously not analogue).

what you mean by "it has a distinct sound" is that the audio quality is flat out better (as long as the audio you burnt to the cd is also very high quality). especially since you're listening to an audio cd through 4+ car speaker compared to a single bluetooth speaker with a limited soundstage. the bluetooth speaker you're using is probably using sbc (unless you're using an iphone). sbc is a sucky codec which WILL sound worse than a cd.

So, I wonder to myself, if I will one day feel about CD's how my dad does about vinyl. In some ways, I already do. Will CD's fade and make a comeback or will they sit in closets and last up to about 100 years until they are unplayable.

personally i feel like cds will continue to decline in sales as most people who still buy cds are probably older and still have cd players actively being used. for dedicated fans of an artist, they're more likely to just buy merchandise or even a vinyl. cds just don't have the same charm and novelty that vinyls do. i think cds will have a very similar fate to cassettes. sales will decline until it's no longer profitable enough for them to be produced. cds might have a resurgence in popularity with some people who feel nostalgic for the medium. just like cassettes did. and it'll likely be to a similar extent too.

 

[InsufferableCynic]

If you're using Bluetooth 5 or up, you should get identical performance from playing a perfect copy (like a CD) than you would playing it from speakers connected directly. It has more than enough bandwidth to handle it and doesn't use sucky codecs.

 

[Razzle Dazzle]

I heard that cassette tapes are making a comeback.

PBS NewsHour | Cassette tapes make comeback in era of music streaming | Season 2023 | PBS

Cassette tapes make unexpected comeback in era of music streaming

www.pbs.org

 

[starbreaker]

I heard that cassette tapes are making a comeback.

PBS NewsHour | Cassette tapes make comeback in era of music streaming | Season 2023 | PBS

Cassette tapes make unexpected comeback in era of music streaming

www.pbs.org

Can confirm. I've got Eternal Champion's "Parallel of Death" EP on tape. One side has a cover of "The Destroyer" by Legend, and the other has a cover of "Awakened By The Dawn" by Mystic Prophecy.

Also, I'm still buying CDs and ripping them to high-VBR ogg vorbis for offline listening in 2023. The only reason I still have an Apple Music subscription is that it's less inconvenient than looking for torrents.

 

[InsufferableCynic]

I honestly don't understand the resurgance of tape.

I sort of get Vinyl (even if it makes no sense), because good quality vinyl can sound quite good, almost as good as a CD (anyone who says they sound better is objectively wrong, please read about redbook CD audio), but tapes - even ferro chromium tapes - generally sound like crap and need Dolby Noise Reduction (which fucks the sound) just to be listenable without horrible hiss.

Old technology is making a comeback because new technology is often soulless, impossible to actually own, or screws us in other ways. A lot of it is bloated and unusable. But there are MUCH better formats for music than tape, so in this case replacing the new with the old makes no sense.

By all means explore tape because it's fascinating and interesting, but make sure you don't fall for the meme.

 

[starbreaker]

I honestly don't understand the resurgance of tape.

Neither do I; in the case of that Parallel of Death EP I just wanted to support the band.

 

[Regal]

Old technology is making a comeback because new technology is often soulless,

Yes. So much of this kind of thing is people wanting to tinker with gear. When a smartphone does everything you lose out on being able to tinker with all these different hardwares and gain some knowledge in the process. I guess I'm talking about hobbyists.

mp3 is fine for most people. Bluetooth is fine for most people. I have spent a lot of money on audio hardware to learn this lesson.

 

[LostintheCycle]

The only advantage I can think of with tape is that it's portable, so that you are able to express what a hipster you are to the public.