I'm not sure if this is a question that has been asked or discussed here, but I figured I'd see what are the opinions of those who collect the obscure and what some may call obsolete technology that is cassette playing boomboxes: Why collect, how is that certain things become popular while others are neglected, and how do you feel about trends?
Born in '86, I wasn't exactly a part of the boombox scenes on the streets. In fact, I never owned a boombox, CD or tape player until this past April or so.
Coming from the film camera collecting side of things, which for the record was due to a couple factors, my love of the Minolta livery on the Toyota 88 C-V race car, and my sister who had been into photography for as long as I could remember. I stumbled across a Minolta film camera in a thrift store one day and had to have it, mainly for the Minolta branding and the exciting thought of trying a new medium for photography that my sister seemed very keen on. Back in 2010 I hardly had enough money for fuel to take me to work, so I borrowed $25 from my dad to buy a Minola Maxxum 450 and have been shooting on film ever since.
Five years later here I am still scouring thrift stores for film cameras (with a few more dollars to my name), still armed with my desire to find more Minoltas, I come across a little Panasonic boombox, the RX F4. Heh, a cassette player, huh? What am I going to do with this? Well, I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it's sleek long body with two bright white speakers on either end, and all the chrome bits on it, it was just a little gem I couldn't let go of. Between an older Panasonic record/cassette player or this boombox, I went with the boombox, found Boomboxery and have been hooked ever since.
Now that I've explained where I come from and how I came to this site, I'm asking this, why is that records have caught on and not cassette tapes? I've many tapes I've recorded over the years off the radio and songs that I loved from video games I played that I recently dug up again due to my recent discovery of the boombox. Well, they sound as good as ever! Sure some have been worn a bit and get a little funky but I still enjoy them. Cassettes are portable, durable, come in great colour combinations, and so easy to record onto and share. You can use them in your car, your walkman or on your Hi-Fi stereo system at home! Not only are they portable, recordable and look cool, but the players in which cassettes are used in are also brilliant and come in so many variations, i.e boomboxes. What's not to love?!
Records on the other hand are huge, not portable in any sense of the word, no (easy) recording options, fragile, typically come in black and typically have uninspired labels slapped on. Yes, they have their charm, watching the needle ride the groove, and they have a great sound (not getting into the whole records sound best debate here). Album art is always such a please, whether it's some lame Hawaiian album you picked up in hopes it'd be somewhat interesting (worst album I've ever bought, ugh), or an awesome triple record album that unfolds into a poster, you're sure to get a kick of the packaging.
Despite all the flaws and lack of pros (in my eyes) to the cassette, records are as popular as ever! (I've been listening to records for as long as I remember, it was never just a "trend" to me, thanks dad!). I like to think that in today's rapidly advancing technology driven world, we want to go back to something a little simpler, just drop the needle on the record and let it play. Or maybe hipsters just want to be goofy and get into whatever is the most obscure thing they could get their hands on, I dunno, all I know is that it's a little strange when you think about it. If you want obscure, why not 8 tracks? Why not cassettes?!
Before Boomboxery, before my little RX F4, I had no idea how big boomboxes were (size and in popularity, not to mention price!). I figured they were the product of early 80s hip-hop, movies about New York, and the Beastie Boys. How is that a cassette player from the 80s can sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars in 2015? Yet, to most of the world, they are just art pieces or some relic of the 80s. I still see them in random spots, as we all do hence the 'Sightings' forum (which I love!), goofy hip-hop inspired ads or even Starbucks Coffee bags. Are boomboxes tied to the cassette? When you think of records, most casual record enthusiast don't seem to be as concerned with the player as much as they are with the record itself. Yes, there are some crazy audiophiles out there, as there are with just about every other hobby out there, but the interest and focus, seems to be with the record itself. Driving up the prices of record players and records everywhere...
Where is the cassette in all this craze? They've so much to offer! Will they ever be as popular as records have been recently? Do you even care? What factor or factors make something popular and hip? I swear, next thing you know the cool thing will be using old flip phones from the early 2000 and Nokia bricks will sell for $500. Personally, I'd like to see the boombox and cassette have it's 5 seconds of fame, but it doesn't matter to me either way, it's just interesting to see the trends come and go.
Born in '86, I wasn't exactly a part of the boombox scenes on the streets. In fact, I never owned a boombox, CD or tape player until this past April or so.
Coming from the film camera collecting side of things, which for the record was due to a couple factors, my love of the Minolta livery on the Toyota 88 C-V race car, and my sister who had been into photography for as long as I could remember. I stumbled across a Minolta film camera in a thrift store one day and had to have it, mainly for the Minolta branding and the exciting thought of trying a new medium for photography that my sister seemed very keen on. Back in 2010 I hardly had enough money for fuel to take me to work, so I borrowed $25 from my dad to buy a Minola Maxxum 450 and have been shooting on film ever since.
Five years later here I am still scouring thrift stores for film cameras (with a few more dollars to my name), still armed with my desire to find more Minoltas, I come across a little Panasonic boombox, the RX F4. Heh, a cassette player, huh? What am I going to do with this? Well, I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it's sleek long body with two bright white speakers on either end, and all the chrome bits on it, it was just a little gem I couldn't let go of. Between an older Panasonic record/cassette player or this boombox, I went with the boombox, found Boomboxery and have been hooked ever since.
Now that I've explained where I come from and how I came to this site, I'm asking this, why is that records have caught on and not cassette tapes? I've many tapes I've recorded over the years off the radio and songs that I loved from video games I played that I recently dug up again due to my recent discovery of the boombox. Well, they sound as good as ever! Sure some have been worn a bit and get a little funky but I still enjoy them. Cassettes are portable, durable, come in great colour combinations, and so easy to record onto and share. You can use them in your car, your walkman or on your Hi-Fi stereo system at home! Not only are they portable, recordable and look cool, but the players in which cassettes are used in are also brilliant and come in so many variations, i.e boomboxes. What's not to love?!
Records on the other hand are huge, not portable in any sense of the word, no (easy) recording options, fragile, typically come in black and typically have uninspired labels slapped on. Yes, they have their charm, watching the needle ride the groove, and they have a great sound (not getting into the whole records sound best debate here). Album art is always such a please, whether it's some lame Hawaiian album you picked up in hopes it'd be somewhat interesting (worst album I've ever bought, ugh), or an awesome triple record album that unfolds into a poster, you're sure to get a kick of the packaging.
Despite all the flaws and lack of pros (in my eyes) to the cassette, records are as popular as ever! (I've been listening to records for as long as I remember, it was never just a "trend" to me, thanks dad!). I like to think that in today's rapidly advancing technology driven world, we want to go back to something a little simpler, just drop the needle on the record and let it play. Or maybe hipsters just want to be goofy and get into whatever is the most obscure thing they could get their hands on, I dunno, all I know is that it's a little strange when you think about it. If you want obscure, why not 8 tracks? Why not cassettes?!
Before Boomboxery, before my little RX F4, I had no idea how big boomboxes were (size and in popularity, not to mention price!). I figured they were the product of early 80s hip-hop, movies about New York, and the Beastie Boys. How is that a cassette player from the 80s can sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars in 2015? Yet, to most of the world, they are just art pieces or some relic of the 80s. I still see them in random spots, as we all do hence the 'Sightings' forum (which I love!), goofy hip-hop inspired ads or even Starbucks Coffee bags. Are boomboxes tied to the cassette? When you think of records, most casual record enthusiast don't seem to be as concerned with the player as much as they are with the record itself. Yes, there are some crazy audiophiles out there, as there are with just about every other hobby out there, but the interest and focus, seems to be with the record itself. Driving up the prices of record players and records everywhere...
Where is the cassette in all this craze? They've so much to offer! Will they ever be as popular as records have been recently? Do you even care? What factor or factors make something popular and hip? I swear, next thing you know the cool thing will be using old flip phones from the early 2000 and Nokia bricks will sell for $500. Personally, I'd like to see the boombox and cassette have it's 5 seconds of fame, but it doesn't matter to me either way, it's just interesting to see the trends come and go.
