How's Your Luck Been in the Used Bins Lately?

InHiding80

Went to Rhino Records in Claremont,CA for Small Business Saturday and got Live At Leeds aka the album that changed EV's life forever for $7.99 and it was 15% off in honor of SBS. Heard it a few times on Spotify.

ikiT

mostly miss

MedozK

I have been on a tape kick, it has kinda taken the place of me going through bins looking for early CD pressings.

Here is a tape I got the other day for .25 cents. Sounds great!

ikiT

that is #sogood

dankind

Scoop up those cassettes now, folks!

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2015/11/27/cassette-tapes-are-having-unlikely-moment/krQpVmYAcSsMFGFJ8d6RUI/story.html

The Boston Globe
"Cassette Tapes Are Having An Unlikely Moment"
By Dugan Arnett | Nov. 28, 2015

The cheap plastic. The unruly ribbon. Leave them on a car dashboard on a July afternoon and be prepared to come back to a warped, melted mess. To those who can remember loading a Walkman or boom box and taking in the warbled results, the recent reemergence of cassette tapes is a peculiar development. But it is a trend that some saw coming, even before the latest resurrection of vinyl, record players, and all things pre-iPhone.

Though quantifiable figures can be hard to come by — unlike vinyl, which reportedly took in $226 million in the first half of this year, tapes are still a relatively underground endeavor — there’s no denying the format’s increased visibility.

In the past few years alone, it has garnered its own holiday (Cassette Store Day, founded in 2013 by a group of labels hoping to draw attention to the virtues of the format), served as the subject of a feature-length documentary (“Cassette,” which is currently being submitted to various film festivals), and become the musical trend du jour for a slew of indie bands and enthusiasts.

Even major bands have gotten in on the action, with groups like Metallica, the Flaming Lips, and Dinosaur Jr. offering limited-release cassette formats in recent years.

“The interesting thing is they’re being put out by labels and being consumed by people who are not old enough to have had cassettes,” says Jem Aswad, senior editor at Billboard, which tracks the music industry. “So it’s a very confusing phenomenon to me.”

Confusing is a good enough descriptor. Beyond portability (and the ability to make mix tapes), cassettes weren’t much of an advance beyond vinyl. Yet, at a time in which anyone with a computer or smartphone can instantly access millions of songs, oftentimes at little or no cost, something about these small plastic relics seems to have taken hold.

Reed Lappin had a feeling about this back in 2006, when he and a business partner found themselves at a Lowell storage barn, responding to a classified ad hawking old records. As owner of In Your Ear, a Boston record shop dealing mostly in second-hand merchandise, Lappin makes such trips periodically.

On this day, the record selection proved underwhelming, but he came across something else that caught his attention: a vast collection of cassette tapes.

“We figured if there’s [ever] any kind of market for cassettes, they’ll come to us,” Lappin recalled recently, explaining his decision to pony up around $400 for roughly 10,000 cassettes. “If not, no big cost.”

A decade or so later, Lappin can’t complain about how it’s worked out.

On a recent evening, Lappin stood behind the counter of his Commonwealth Avenue shop, attempting to explain the draw of a technology that debuted in 1963 and enjoyed a fruitful run over the next two or three decades before eventually being rendered obsolete by CDs.

Lappin estimates that he sells about 50 cassettes a week on average — some to collectors but many to young people who, he says, “like the novelty of it.”

“It’s fun to put on a cassette and listen to it,” says Aaron Swartz, 22, a Boston-based musician. “I guess it’s just the [physical] nature of it — having it and putting it on appeals to me. I never got into CDs, really, so this has kind of been that replacement.”

Walking into Lappin’s basement store is a little like going back in time. Along with mountains of used records, CDs, and movies, he stocks roughly 20,000 cassettes by his count— almost all priced from $1 to $4. Stacked on shelves along an extensive back wall, the selection is wide-ranging, everything from Bob Marley to Guns N’ Roses to Tim McGraw.

And while the financial gains are far from earth-shattering — multiple local record store owners pointed out that they’re certainly not getting rich off cassette sales — a market does exist.

But it’s not just record stores. Many indie artists have taken to recording their music on cassettes, partly because the means of production can be cheaper and quicker than producing CDs or vinyl records; many vinyl manufacturers, for instance, are notoriously backlogged. Some artist-run record labels, meanwhile, have elected to provide their music solely in cassette form.

At his Jamaica Plain record shop, Deep Thoughts, Nick Williams says he’s noticed a modest increase in the number of customers seeking cassettes. But where he’s seen a significant bump in interest is on the blog he runs dedicated to reviewing cassettes, called Cassette Gods.

“The submissions to that have increased dramatically in the last 10 years,” Williams says. “I used to get one tape every other day, and now sometimes it’s five or six mailed in a day from bands that want their cassettes reviewed.”

Despite the apparent uptick in popularity, however, some have remained unmoved.

Though he admits that “there is an interest that wasn’t there two years ago,” John Damroth, who runs Planet Records in Cambridge, currently has no plans to start stocking cassettes regularly.

“I find myself amused by it, but not willing to commit space to it,” he says. “We’re sort of living in the past already, but not that past. We sell a lot of records and CDs, we still have a marketplace for that stuff.’’

But, he adds, “I’ve been proven wrong before.”

How long the interest in cassettes might last, of course, is anyone’s guess. Music trends tend to flow in odd and unexpected directions, and attempting to predict what might come next, Lappin says, is a pointless endeavor.

“Who knows in 50 years what people are going to want?” he asks. “I don’t think anybody could have predicted that records were going to come back.”

ldent42

excuse me while I run to the thrift store and buy all the tapes

ikiT

If you're thinking at all about tapes, you really have to get a good player and recorder.
High end non Nakamichi decks can be found for sorta cheap, (ie Sony ES, or Pioneer), but do yourself a favor find a 3 Head Nak that works.

Tapes are still sort of awesome.

MedozK

the tiki bomb said:

If you're thinking at all about tapes, you really have to get a good player and recorder.
High end non Nakamichi decks can be found for sorta cheap, (ie Sony ES, or Pioneer), but do yourself a favor find a 3 Head Nak that works.

Tapes are still sort of awesome.

I'm totally into cassettes right now. It all started with finding an Onkyo TA-R22 deck for $12 at my local store. It looked brand new and sounds really good to me. If I continue going how I am, I am going to look into a Nakamichi deck.. I know they are some of the best.

darthvedder

Found
A Very Special Christmas volumes 1-3 and
John Denver & The Muppets - A Christmas Together
on CD for 50 cents each.

ikiT

I have a Nakamichi DR-8 which was probably produced in 1999-2000. Over the past 15 years I have had other several Nakamichi decks (a BX-300 that I got for 40 dollars at an estate sale...an MR-1 which I found at a thrift store for $10...both of which I sold for the $$) but this DR-8 was a real find. I'd love a Dragon or another BX-300, but they'd have to be pretty cherry, without any issues. I'd also avoid the super cheap ones from the early 90s like the BX-100 and the ones that flip the tape for you. Too many moving parts for my taste...

This is a good resource right here
http://www.naks.com

Finding good blank tape is a challenge too. They don't make that shit anymore.

ikiT

If you buy prerecorded...make sure that little pressure pad is still there under the tape, Any white (or off white) CBS/Epic tape from the 70's or 80s, (big red letters on the side...Bob Dylan, Journey, Springsteen, Billy Joel, Boston, Cheap Trick, Pink Flyod, The Clash, and Michael Jackson, among many others) are very susceptible to this problem. Sometimes the pads are still in there, but when you play them, the pads immediately dislodge. this prob is in almost all CBS tapes from the 80s. I've actually transplanted about 90% of my CBS tapes into different shells.

Of course, if you have a high end Nakamichi, if actually bypasses the pressure pad and doesn't care if the pad is there or not. Most other decks, you have to have a pad.

MedozK

the tiki bomb said:

If you buy prerecorded...make sure that little pressure pad is still there under the tape, Any white (or off white) CBS/Epic tape from the 70's or 80s, (big red letters on the side...Bob Dylan, Journey, Springsteen, Billy Joel, Boston, Cheap Trick, Pink Flyod, The Clash, and Michael Jackson, among many others) are very susceptible to this problem. Sometimes the pads are still in there, but when you play them, the pads immediately dislodge. this prob is in almost all CBS tapes from the 80s. I've actually transplanted about 90% of my CBS tapes into different shells.

Of course, if you have a high end Nakamichi, if actually bypasses the pressure pad and doesn't care if the pad is there or not. Most other decks, you have to have a pad.

Yea, the pressure pad is the first thing I check

ikiT

how about this?

https://www.newburycomics.com/products/keith_richards-crosseyed_heart_exclusive_cassette?utm_source=VinylNewsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=12-16_KR&utm_content=Img&variant=12314515270

MedozK

the tiki bomb said:

how about this?

https://www.newburycomics.com/products/keith_richards-crosseyed_heart_exclusive_cassette?utm_source=VinylNewsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=12-16_KR&utm_content=Img&variant=12314515270

Awesome! I quoted this over in the cassette thread also.

SD48277

the tiki bomb said:

I have a Nakamichi DR-8 which was probably produced in 1999-2000. Over the past 15 years I have had other several Nakamichi decks (a BX-300 that I got for 40 dollars at an estate sale...an MR-1 which I found at a thrift store for $10...both of which I sold for the $$) but this DR-8 was a real find. I'd love a Dragon or another BX-300, but they'd have to be pretty cherry, without any issues. I'd also avoid the super cheap ones from the early 90s like the BX-100 and the ones that flip the tape for you. Too many moving parts for my taste...

This is a good resource right here
http://www.naks.com

Finding good blank tape is a challenge too. They don't make that shit anymore.

I don't know if these are considered good quality, but I have 6 Sony HF 90 minute blank cassettes, if you (or anyone else) is interested. I bought a pack of 10 for a project I was doing a while back, and only needed 4.

ikiT

With a good deck, and good source material, ANY new tape is good.

Unless, of course, you kept them on your dashboard or stored 'em on top of a radiator...

RP112579

Picked up a bunch of PJ CDs while hitting record stores in Chicago yesterday.

State College 2003 bootleg $9
Live On Ten Legs $3
Vitalogy $2
Even Flow European Maxi CD single $2
Animal Australian release CD single with cardboard sleeve $2
Animal US CD single $2

And my girlfriend got the Alive promo cassette single, which also has Wash and I've Got A Feeling on it for $2.

MedozK

RP112579 said:

Picked up a bunch of PJ CDs while hitting record stores in Chicago yesterday.

State College 2003 bootleg $9
Live On Ten Legs $3
Vitalogy $2
Even Flow European Maxi CD single $2
Animal Australian release CD single with cardboard sleeve $2
Animal US CD single $2

And my girlfriend got the Alive promo cassette single, which also has Wash and I've Got A Feeling on it for $2.

Nice haul!

buck502000

the well is dry near me for both CD and vinyl

BrainofBGA

This thread has inspired me to go check out some local places and in Melbourne itself over the summer holiday period.

A couple of places instantly spring to mind!

Hopefully can get some bargains!