Being a child of the late 1980s, I now struggle to recall a time before CDs, MP3s, and iPods. But the reality is that there were plenty of long car drives during which the only thing keeping me from succumbing to utter boredom was humming along to a good tune blasting from the car speakers—something playing from a cassette tape.
There would be stacks of carefully recorded, perfectly organised mix tapes which were safely contained in plastic cases, decorated with bright stickers, and tucked in the glove compartment and centre console of my dad’s car. Those cassettes had been traded between friends and crushes before finally earning a spot in the road trip rotation. They were certainly part of some amazing memories.
I think back to those long completed road trips sometimes and more often than not I can’t help but marvel over my inability to recall the moment when I finally tossed aside my beloved cassettes for something shinier and newer. And that makes me smile more than any bit of nostalgia over a gadget from my past—because it means that everything else about those journeys was more important.
Image by Adam Tinney/ShutterStock
Andreas Koepke
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 6:00 PMI am 30 and never used the cassette deck in any car I owned.
Sam Testa
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 6:32 PMI really miss mixed tapes. I only 24, so I didn’t get a lot of exposure to them in my childhood, but I remember making a few. Setting up two tape players (one to play and one to record), before slowly and quietly sneaking out of the room.
Even after that, when we got a stereo with dual cassette decks. We didn’t need to worry about being quiet, but timing was everything. Getting the tape to the right spot, and then pressing play while mashing down the play and record buttons on the second tape. Then waiting in real time for the song to be copied.
iTunes has nothing on the love that went into making a mixed tape.
Simon
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 6:47 PM2001 – the last year i had my beaten up old Mazda ute. Long live the tape deck but give me a hard drive filled with goodies any day of the week.
Rest in peace my old friend. We had some good times!
lolSnarfSnarf
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:51 PMIn ’09 I had no choice but to listen to my Rick Astley – Keep it turned on cassette. I think it’s one of the most unforgetable things about my previous car. In a good way.
John
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 12:18 AMMy 2008 car came with a 6 disk MP3/CD player and AUX Input. I haven’t used the CD player since I put two disks in to play with it when I bought it.
iPods rule now.
Scott
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 1:39 AMWe had a car with a Neil Diamond tape stuck in the player. After a year listening to Kentucky Woman my brother did a mental and managed to get the tape out and threw it out the window.
arrgh….. Good times
gargravarr
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 3:04 AMIt would be over 10 years, as I have replaced the head unit in my last three cars as soon as I got them. My next car/head unit will have an SD card slot, so even CD won’t be an issue.
BJB
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 3:53 AMThat would be 1994 for me. My car before that was wrecked in a car accident (not my fault!) and the new car came with a CD player.
Your Mate Alex
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:33 AMIn 2004 I bought 350z. I was really annoyed it had a bose in dash CD stacker with cassette tape. A BOSE CASSETTE! I’d rather catch Ferrari Syphilis.
Steve
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 12:53 AMI’ve used cassettes for a while (not as long as some, I’m in my early 20s).
So now that scene in Detroit Rock City where the boys have their Kiss tape taken out and trashed is that little bit less relevant now…