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My history in audio tape.....
Earlier this week, I finished degaussing (or bulk erasing) the last of my collection of over 300 audio cassette tapes. I had previously digitized them by playing the tapes while recording the audio signal on my home theater PC using the Audacity program. Since I now have digital copies of the information on the tapes, I no longer need the audio tapes, and could now part with them.
But listening to those tapes, and handling them one last time, brought up a lot of fond memories.
Back in the summer of 1971, I received an audio cassette recorder as a gift for my 7th birthday. It was a Juliette CTP-2002 audio cassette recorder, with a knob control, a 30-minute cassette, and an external microphone. I bought a few more blank tapes and recorded many sounds and noises -- TV themes, songs from the radio, and the spoken voices of me and my friends. In 1974, the recorder -- or the microphone -- stopped working. And so my recordings ended.
In 1977, my father bought for himself a Reaslistic Minisette-IV with a built-in condenser microphone. I borrowed it from him often, and used it to make my first volume of audio archives, which I called "The Best Bits From 'Old'". Since my cassette player didn't have a headphone jack, I did the recording in my bedroom, and remained silent during the process. A few months later, I made a second volume of archives, from more audio information that had been recorded in the last several months. I had been listening to American Top 40 since 1974, and the Dr. Demento Show since 1978, and I recorded many songs from these programs.
In 1979, I had a friend who was skilled in electronics (Jeff Greis) install a headphone jack on my old player. This made tape transfer a lot easier and less problematic. I also had the idea of putting the cassette player in a backpack, wearing headphones, and listening to music while I moved the lawn. In retrospect, I should have tried to patent the idea of a portable music system. But Sony already had the same idea, and released the first Walkman -- the model TPS-L2 -- that summer. I also wanted a Realistic SCT-30 cassette recorder, but the cost (around $200, if I remember correctly) was a bit prohibitive, especially since I was working a paper route at the time.
In the summer of 1981, I received a Panasonic RX-5100 "boom box" as a high school graduation gift. It could record in stereo, and had line-in and line-out jacks. I used it to record a lot of my albums onto cassettes, making my music more portable. I'd make runs on my bicycle to Purchase Radio to purchase cassette tapes, and to the local Radio Shack for accessories such as a tape rewinder, and a splicing block. That splicing block came in handy, as the boom box had a tendency to eat tapes. I think it also recorded slightly slower than the 1.875 inches per second standard, resulting in playback that was a half-step sharp.
In the summer of 1982, I bought a Sony Walkman WM-1. I used it to listen to music while I mowed the lawn. I no longer needed the backpack or an external battery pack.
In the summer of 1989, I moved to Dayton, and a few months later, I bought a Pioneer CT-W600R dual-deck cassette recorder/player unit as part of a component stereo system. I continued to record albums, CDs, and the occasional program on the radio, until around 1997. I also started replacing my albums with CDs.
A few of my past cars, including the 1985 Chevy Citation and 1994 Saturn SL1, had cassette players. (If I remember correctly, the Citation had an aftermarket player that I installed, but the Saturn had one built-in.) I could play CDs with a cassette adapter, but a portable CD player would skip when I hit bumps in the road. In the summer of 2000, I bought a Saturn SL2, which had both a cassette player and a CD player. Since I now had a CD player in the car, I no longer needed to make cassettes of CDs. My current vehicle, a 2012 Chevy Malibu, does not have a cassette player; just a CD player. It has an auxiliary jack, in which I could plug in MP3 players, or even the old Sony Walkman if I needed to.
In the last several years, I've been listening to my cassettes less and less, and listening more to my CDs, both at home and in the car. Some folks have gone on to say that cassettes are now an obsolete medium, and so are CDs. But they're still usable. I recently offered some of my bulk-erased tapes on the local Freecycle list, and one woman came by last night to pick up a cardboard burrito tray filled with 36 TDK D C90 cassettes. What will I do with the rest of them? Probably donate them to a worthy charity, such as McMRF (Montgomery County Material Reuse Facility). Dayton Crayons to Classrooms (a free store for teachers) doesn't have a demand for them, and is thus not accepting them for donation. I'll still keep a few blank tapes, just in case I need to record something and give the tape to someone.
But listening to those tapes, and handling them one last time, brought up a lot of fond memories.
Back in the summer of 1971, I received an audio cassette recorder as a gift for my 7th birthday. It was a Juliette CTP-2002 audio cassette recorder, with a knob control, a 30-minute cassette, and an external microphone. I bought a few more blank tapes and recorded many sounds and noises -- TV themes, songs from the radio, and the spoken voices of me and my friends. In 1974, the recorder -- or the microphone -- stopped working. And so my recordings ended.
In 1977, my father bought for himself a Reaslistic Minisette-IV with a built-in condenser microphone. I borrowed it from him often, and used it to make my first volume of audio archives, which I called "The Best Bits From 'Old'". Since my cassette player didn't have a headphone jack, I did the recording in my bedroom, and remained silent during the process. A few months later, I made a second volume of archives, from more audio information that had been recorded in the last several months. I had been listening to American Top 40 since 1974, and the Dr. Demento Show since 1978, and I recorded many songs from these programs.
In 1979, I had a friend who was skilled in electronics (Jeff Greis) install a headphone jack on my old player. This made tape transfer a lot easier and less problematic. I also had the idea of putting the cassette player in a backpack, wearing headphones, and listening to music while I moved the lawn. In retrospect, I should have tried to patent the idea of a portable music system. But Sony already had the same idea, and released the first Walkman -- the model TPS-L2 -- that summer. I also wanted a Realistic SCT-30 cassette recorder, but the cost (around $200, if I remember correctly) was a bit prohibitive, especially since I was working a paper route at the time.
In the summer of 1981, I received a Panasonic RX-5100 "boom box" as a high school graduation gift. It could record in stereo, and had line-in and line-out jacks. I used it to record a lot of my albums onto cassettes, making my music more portable. I'd make runs on my bicycle to Purchase Radio to purchase cassette tapes, and to the local Radio Shack for accessories such as a tape rewinder, and a splicing block. That splicing block came in handy, as the boom box had a tendency to eat tapes. I think it also recorded slightly slower than the 1.875 inches per second standard, resulting in playback that was a half-step sharp.
In the summer of 1982, I bought a Sony Walkman WM-1. I used it to listen to music while I mowed the lawn. I no longer needed the backpack or an external battery pack.
In the summer of 1989, I moved to Dayton, and a few months later, I bought a Pioneer CT-W600R dual-deck cassette recorder/player unit as part of a component stereo system. I continued to record albums, CDs, and the occasional program on the radio, until around 1997. I also started replacing my albums with CDs.
A few of my past cars, including the 1985 Chevy Citation and 1994 Saturn SL1, had cassette players. (If I remember correctly, the Citation had an aftermarket player that I installed, but the Saturn had one built-in.) I could play CDs with a cassette adapter, but a portable CD player would skip when I hit bumps in the road. In the summer of 2000, I bought a Saturn SL2, which had both a cassette player and a CD player. Since I now had a CD player in the car, I no longer needed to make cassettes of CDs. My current vehicle, a 2012 Chevy Malibu, does not have a cassette player; just a CD player. It has an auxiliary jack, in which I could plug in MP3 players, or even the old Sony Walkman if I needed to.
In the last several years, I've been listening to my cassettes less and less, and listening more to my CDs, both at home and in the car. Some folks have gone on to say that cassettes are now an obsolete medium, and so are CDs. But they're still usable. I recently offered some of my bulk-erased tapes on the local Freecycle list, and one woman came by last night to pick up a cardboard burrito tray filled with 36 TDK D C90 cassettes. What will I do with the rest of them? Probably donate them to a worthy charity, such as McMRF (Montgomery County Material Reuse Facility). Dayton Crayons to Classrooms (a free store for teachers) doesn't have a demand for them, and is thus not accepting them for donation. I'll still keep a few blank tapes, just in case I need to record something and give the tape to someone.