New Cassette Player

Above, the new stereo set at its temporary location in the living room. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For various reasons over the years, all of my cassette tape players have become broken. Some from internal damage or from years of non-use.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a stereo set that includes a cassette player, turntable, CD player and other features. It is not the greatest unit, but at least it serves the purpose given its relatively low price.

I have 200-300 cassette tapes that I have purchased since 1968.

During the late 1960s, cassette, 4-track and 8-track tape players came on the market. 4-tracks seemed to have disappeared relatively fast in favor of 8-track players. I was not impressed with 8-track players as they were much larger than cassettes and they often would interrupt song by changing tracks.

Cassettes, on the other hand, were smaller, and because of their two-sided format, emulated LPs with the order of the tape's play list. They were convenient and the only real flaw with them was the noticeable hiss when played. The Dolby noise-reduction system ("Dolby B") was developed to counter the hissing.

As things turned out, cassettes eventually put 8-tracks out of business.

Right now, I have the stereo set on a small table. Unfortunately, the speaker wires are only about two feel long (RCA type) and this prevents me from putting the unit into the entertainment center (except for the speaker wire problem, the unit would fit nicely). So I have ordered a couple of 12' speaker wire extensions so I can put the unit into the entertainment center. Since I have another stereo set in the den (one without a cassette player), this one will remain in the living room.

I listened to some of my tapes yesterday and they brought back a lot of memories.