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Are music cassettes actually making a comeback?
by Debora Pape
Audio cassettes 1986-2021: My personal chronicle
10/12/2021
Translation: machine translated
From necessary evil to fascinating retro technology: what audio cassettes meant to me as a child, as a teenager and as an adult.
How it all began, I do not remember. I start the story where I have a first clear memory.
1986
I am ten years old and a naturalist by profession. As such, I use the best technology available to me: I record bird calls on audio cassettes. From my Mutter supplier I got a cassette player that also runs on batteries and has a built-in microphone. I put the device in the garden, where it records two 45-minute chirps. Afterwards I listen to the result and identify the birds by their voices. It's mostly sparrows. And military aircraft.
There is no other way of recording than via this microphone. If I want to record music from the radio, from the reel-to-reel tape or from the record player, I have to put the device in front of one of the two loudspeaker boxes. This is then only mono. Doesn't matter, the device itself is also only mono. What's stupid is that military planes can be heard very often on it, too.
David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
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