Can cassette tapes be cool again?

By Mark Coleman, Special to CNN

Updated 1640 GMT (0040 HKT) September 30, 2013

Today is Cassette Store Day, which its organizers hope will attract you back to the format popular in the '70s and '80s. Sure, it had its frustrations -- unspooling or twisting tape, occasionally muffled sound -- but there was also the mix tape, staple of budding romances,and now a culty coolness as bands like the Flaming Lips and Grape Soda issue their music on cassettes.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – Today is Cassette Store Day, which its organizers hope will attract you back to the format popular in the '70s and '80s. Sure, it had its frustrations -- unspooling or twisting tape, occasionally muffled sound -- but there was also the mix tape, staple of budding romances,and now a culty coolness as bands like the Flaming Lips and Grape Soda issue their music on cassettes.
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Like cassettes, vinyl records offer tactile pleasure and better sound and dominated music sales before cassettes-- and then CDs and MP3 files --came along. But even old vinyl has continued to sell, helped by a new surge in fondness for the format. The Beatles' "Abbey Road," for example, was the top-selling record in 2010 and 2011.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – Like cassettes, vinyl records offer tactile pleasure and better sound and dominated music sales before cassettes-- and then CDs and MP3 files --came along. But even old vinyl has continued to sell, helped by a new surge in fondness for the format. The Beatles' "Abbey Road," for example, was the top-selling record in 2010 and 2011.
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Hard to imagine, but there was a time everyone thought they wanted clunky 8-track cassettes. In the '60s, Ford started putting 8-track tape decks in its cars, and soon, sales of this format left cassettes in the dust. But this was bound to end ...
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – Hard to imagine, but there was a time everyone thought they wanted clunky 8-track cassettes. In the '60s, Ford started putting 8-track tape decks in its cars, and soon, sales of this format left cassettes in the dust. But this was bound to end ...
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With the arrival of the boom box, cassettes came back into vogue in the '80s. This hulking music delivery system was considered "portable" and helped propel cassette sales.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – With the arrival of the boom box, cassettes came back into vogue in the '80s. This hulking music delivery system was considered "portable" and helped propel cassette sales.
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The Walkman made listening to music truly portable -- and personal -- and in the '80s helped cassette sales outstrip vinyl for the first time. The ability to record one's own tapes was always a huge part of the cassette's appeal.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – The Walkman made listening to music truly portable -- and personal -- and in the '80s helped cassette sales outstrip vinyl for the first time. The ability to record one's own tapes was always a huge part of the cassette's appeal.
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Cassettes and LPs faded from the scene in the early '90s, when compact discs appeared and music went digital.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – Cassettes and LPs faded from the scene in the early '90s, when compact discs appeared and music went digital.
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But vinyl has returned on a wave of hipster chic and nostalgia, not to mention audiophiles' conviction that records just sound better. Most new releases today -- like this double-sided record from the Stooges and the Black Keys -- come out in vinyl, too.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – But vinyl has returned on a wave of hipster chic and nostalgia, not to mention audiophiles' conviction that records just sound better. Most new releases today -- like this double-sided record from the Stooges and the Black Keys -- come out in vinyl, too.
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An increasing number of bands, such as MGMT, have released new music on cassette, and Cassette Store Day organizers promise release of a Fair Ohs double cassette and a Los Campesinos! live album on tape, among others. Can the trend catch up to vinyl's resurgence? It's still early.
Photos: How we've listened to music
How we've listened to music – An increasing number of bands, such as MGMT, have released new music on cassette, and Cassette Store Day organizers promise release of a Fair Ohs double cassette and a Los Campesinos! live album on tape, among others. Can the trend catch up to vinyl's resurgence? It's still early.
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