TheaterFire

Who is buying $11 cassettes?

Posted by heldaway@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 36 comments

Who is buying $11 cassettes?
$11 for one blank cassette at Urban Outfitters under the gift ideas tab. WTF

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36 Comments

Repulsive-Tea6974@reddit

50¢ new in package at estate sales. Sooo no effing way.
View on Reddit #72223281

BrilliantWeb@reddit

30 yo cassettes (and VHS tapes) are gonna be garbage. They have a shelf life.
View on Reddit #72343088

oh_my316@reddit

I have 45-year-old audio cassettes that play fine😡
View on Reddit #72552926

Visible_Structure483@reddit

isn't there a lifespan on the media? not if it's recorded, just the whatever the tape is made out of.
View on Reddit #72255009

MuddyPig168@reddit

Yeah, dead people’s stuff is better than some huckster’s price gouging
View on Reddit #72231946

Hefewiezen1@reddit

Grew up on them
View on Reddit #72544835

Sh0ckValu3@reddit

I made a mixed tape for my friends 50th birthday. Spent almost as much on the blank cassette than the tape-player walkman I had to package with it so he could listen to it. :)
View on Reddit #72469884

heldaway@reddit (OP)

Good gift regardless!
View on Reddit #72471363

dschinghiskhan@reddit

I was a store manager of a Walgreens that had one of the last 35mm film processors left in the country (specific to Walgreens), and I sometimes had to cover the photo department if a shift leader was scheduled to run that department and was on lunch. Anyway, I thought it was ridiculous how many Millennials (when Millennials were young and annoying) dropped off disposable cameras of the same sights in the city over and over again. The picture quality was terrible, but that's exactly what the kids wanted. To make matters worse, my store was in a hipster neighborhood in Portland, and when the processor was the last of it's kind for one-hour or same day photos- it was when *Portlandia* was on TV. Nothing against hipsters- I was probably somewhat of a hipster myself- but the fact that teens wanted bad quality or a "vintage 35mm film look" irked me. Should I have been less grumpy and judgmental? Sure. But that's pretty hard to do. It's like the obsession younger folks have with *Stranger Things* and such. It's just annoying.
View on Reddit #72280775

KaitB2020@reddit

I just found a multipack of blank cassettes I never used from back in the day! I’m rich!! LOL
View on Reddit #72274644

MustangJeff@reddit

I'm an old GenX'r still into wifi and have five working Nakamichi cassette decks. Most new blanks floating around are 20+ year old NOS. There are a few companies making new normal bias tape, but the quality isn't good. Who knew it took a lot of expertise and precision equipment to make quality tape. I'm personally sitting on a fort Knox supply of sealed Maxell, TDK, SONY, and FUJI tapes. I've tried some of these new tapes and they are junk with the exception of the recordind the masters brand. Still, they aren't as good as the bottom of the barrel TDK or Maxells from the 90's. As to who is buying them. People that dont understand a 20yr old Maxell UR or TDK D at $3 off Ebay is better.
View on Reddit #72266788

IceSmiley@reddit

They are targeting the foolish and naive since lots of people give away audio cassettes although maybe everyone's gone who has them. I still have mixtapes from 90s radio I made but haven't got rid of them because it might be fun to listen to one day
View on Reddit #72259834

Oldman_Dick@reddit

hipsters. I can't wait for them to bring back 8 tracks and floppy disks.
View on Reddit #72221009

SmooveTits@reddit

> floppy disks. 1.44MB of digital warmth 
View on Reddit #72243929

Visible_Structure483@reddit

flexing with that high density media I see.
View on Reddit #72255071

TheJokersChild@reddit

Once they start watching movies on CED, I'm out.
View on Reddit #72222821

Bender077@reddit

How else are you gonna make a mix tape?
View on Reddit #72238914

blackpony04@reddit

When I got engaged to my now-wife back in 2017, I made her a mix CD using music I downloaded from the internet. It was a total pain in the ass compared to all the dubs I made on my dual deck cassette player back in the day. I was fortunate to still have a laptop with a CD burner and she had a car that still had a CD player, both options that are no longer available to us. Making a mix Playlist online just doesn't feel the same.
View on Reddit #72245255

Tyrigoth@reddit

Not even a popular brand...
View on Reddit #72241172

integrator74@reddit

I gotta make a mix tape for my crush. 
View on Reddit #72237228

heldaway@reddit (OP)

Real romance!
View on Reddit #72238613

thenoid42@reddit

Let’s be real here, just because somebody is asking a price doesn’t mean they’re actually getting it.
View on Reddit #72222628

heldaway@reddit (OP)

Good point
View on Reddit #72238451

Fletch_R@reddit

I don’t get how cassettes are having a mini comeback. Vinyl I get - sounds good, looks cool. But every smaller band I’ve been to see in the last few years is selling cassettes at their merch table. 
View on Reddit #72221393

Affectionate-Leg-260@reddit

Probably ease and cost of manufacturing.
View on Reddit #72233037

Fletch_R@reddit

They usually have vinyl and CDs as well. I’m just surprised anyone would want cassettes. 
View on Reddit #72237354

Junior_Lavishness_96@reddit

My last tape player got towed away in 2012.
View on Reddit #72236922

reddit455@reddit

supply and demand.
View on Reddit #72220758

Better_Resort1171@reddit

Yep. Take a gander at what Vintage stereo equipment is selling for... The good stuff 70s Pioneer, Marantz, etc
View on Reddit #72231887

SnowblindAlbino@reddit

People who shop for audio stuff at Urban Outfitters. Yesterday I saw a box of a dozen TDK normal bias 90 min tapes, unopened, for $3 at a thrift store. I see them all the time, including whole bricks still in the wrapper. I have more blanks in storage than I'll ever need again, and paid perhaps $.25 each for them.
View on Reddit #72229211

kgusev@reddit

Same as a pack of cigarettes 🤣
View on Reddit #72228104

TheJokersChild@reddit

Cassette is a vibe now. Thanks, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Stranger Things.
View on Reddit #72222760

DerpyBoxer@reddit

Yes. And retailers like UO are banking on younger generations having no idea how to get their hands on blank cassettes. It's like when Millennials learned they could get free broadcast stations with an antenna. The tech has always been there and can be had cheaply, *if* you know where to look.
View on Reddit #72226192

Stereo_Jungle_Child@reddit

That's outrageous! But it's not as bad as the $30 they want for blank wax cylinders for Gramophones! :) [https://www.ebay.com/itm/197821508887](https://www.ebay.com/itm/197821508887)
View on Reddit #72221820

jtcut2020@reddit

I bought one for older lady at my gym... $8 😅
View on Reddit #72221147

Rabbitrules87@reddit

Nostalgia commands higher prices, unfortunately. But definitely not me.
View on Reddit #72220910