Why old cassettes are making a comeback

Guess what? Taylor Swift’s new album isn’t just coming out on Spotify or CD—it’ll also be released on cassette tapes! Yes, those chunky little plastic things your parents or grandparents probably used.

Cassettes weren’t exactly famous for their sound quality—they could screech, break, or get tangled (you had to fix them with a pencil!). Even the person who invented them admitted they didn’t sound the best. But people loved them anyway. Why? Because they were cheap, easy to carry around, and anyone could record music on them.

Back in the day, turntables and records were expensive, but almost everyone could afford a cassette player. This meant music spread everywhere—about 100 billion cassettes were sold around the world! Small artists could share their songs without spending a lot of money, and big stars like Michael Jackson and The Beatles also used tapes to record rough ideas. In fact, John Lennon’s old cassette helped The Beatles release a new song in 2023—decades after he passed away.

Today, young people (Gen Z) who never even used tapes are buying them as cool collectibles. In the U.S. alone, about half a million cassettes are sold every year. So, while they may seem old-fashioned, cassettes are still giving us music in ways even the cloud can’t.

The cassette is proof that sometimes, old things never really die—they just rewind and play again.

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