Who's a Business Major?

[Scorpion8]

What kind of volume would it take for a company to produce a good cassette again? New stuff, instead of us scrambling around chasing NOS tapes that just keep going up in price. Any ideas? Any business majors here who could approximate what the worldwide market for cassettes is? I mean, there are tape houses still producing, if you scan google for the generics like http://nationalaudiocompany.com/osb/showitem.cfm?Category=13

Anybody ever use any of these? Think we could get them interested in making a new version of something classic in a tape formulation?

[Des-Lab]

I've been giving this a lot of thought. The short answer is "I don't know".

The long answer is maybe we can start an online petition. Once we gather so many signatures and requests, one of us can shop it to the majors and see what happens.

The first and foremost obstacle I see to such an effort being successful, is, unfortunately, ourselves. Were any of their marketing people to do some research and peruse this site and others (AK, AA, etc.), and one very common theme will quickly surface: As a group, we're cheap. VERY cheap. And love to complain about "overpriced" NOS. That's going to make them extremely recalcitrant at wanting to make the initial upfront investment needed to cater to us and placate our desires. Especially in these times of a nosediving economy and siezed up credit markets.

Part of pressing a successful case to any of the majors to [re]introduce an audiophile grade cassette tape will be commitments from all of us that not only will we buy LOTS of them, but buy lots of them AT THE PRICES it will take in order to justify their existence in the first place. Because we are such a small and niche group, nowhere near the amount of tapes that were made twenty years ago will be required. So fewer pieces will be made. That will translate to higher retail prices. Somehow I don't think it's simply a matter of "turning the machines back on". Much, perhaps most of the tooling has been long since dismantled as were the original molds. Then, there's the chemical side to the equation: resurrecting long since discarded formulas, securing the needed ingredients, and so forth. In many ways, it would be a "from scratch" proposal. Yes, I realize that some taoes are still being made. But clearly, they aren't what we'd want. And we're not buying many of them anyway. So in the eyes of the mfr's, it's a classic 'chicken-or-egg' quandary that WE are going to have to surmount for them.


Any way you look at it, the days of $8.99 two-packs of Metal died out aeons ago. Would you be willing to pay upwards of $25 for a single cassette-AND be willing to buy a hundred or more of them?

[Rat44]

The other stumbling block is the lack of machines to play them on.
How many new tape decks have you seen in stores lately.
Last summer the tape player in my car went up in smoke.
I had to replace it with a CD player,there were no tape players to be found.

[Scorpion8]

The other stumbling block is the lack of machines to play them on.
How many new tape decks have you seen in stores lately.
Last summer the tape player in my car went up in smoke.
I had to replace it with a CD player,there were no tape players to be found.

I've been storing up good, high quality car tape decks that I find at yardsales and such. My truck has a CD/tape combo unit, but my daily driver came with only a CD unit. Been thinking about retro-fitting that one ....

[NAD613]

The other stumbling block is the lack of machines to play them on.
How many new tape decks have you seen in stores lately.
Last summer the tape player in my car went up in smoke.
I had to replace it with a CD player,there were no tape players to be found.

Go to www.jcwhitney.com. They have a few car cassette players.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/Radios-with-Cassette-Players/600000541.jcw

[Rat44]

Go to www.jcwhitney.com. They have a few car cassette players.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/Radios-with-Cassette-Players/600000541.jcw

I have used Alpine and Pioneers in the past.
I won't waste my time on the cheap throwaways.
Thanks anyway.:-)<-

[NAD613]

I have used Alpine and Pioneers in the past.
I won't waste my time on the cheap throwaways.
Thanks anyway.:-)<-

What are you talking about; they've got a Dual for only $39! So what if they're famous for TT's back in the 60's & 70's.

Yeah, I didn't say they were Alpines or Clarions. I have the last nice car deck JVC made. Digital tuning, auto-reverse, real knobs for volume, tuning, bass & treble, etc... Bought it for $49 on closeout back in 1999 from Best Buy.

[Scorpion8]

I think Crutchfield still carries auto tape decks. Yup: Dual, Kenwood, Sony, Pioneer, JVC ....

I've even got a Sanyo outboard tape deck squirreled away ....

[Rat44]

I still have a cassette player in the Jeep.
Its a wash'n'wear jeep though.
I don't think a CD player would hold up to what I put that thing through.*devil*

[braxus]

I bought a used Pioneer player this year and will get a few parts in it replaced to get it to last a while longer. That's pretty much the only thing you can do today it buy and old deck and get it refurbished.