Entertainment / Music
Cassette players set to make a comeback
09 Mar 2016 at 13:42hrs | Views
US rapper Eminem recently announced that he is re-releasing The Slim Shady LP, originally released in 1999, on cassette tape.
This could lead to an upsurge in the sales of the cassette player or what was known as the "walkman".
Other international artists including Kanye West and Justin Bieber have also released their latest albums on cassette tape.
While no new technology has officially been released recently to play cassette tapes, many companies are still producing cassette players, which up until very recently were only used by hipsters. Could this mean hipsters will now start using iPods?
Meanwhile, Sony announced the launch of a new cassette tape last month.
The new tapes are able to store up to 185 terabytes of data, which translated is around the size of 18 standard computer hard drives.
Playback of regular cassette tapes do not offer the same quality as a CD would, but the new tapes with larger storage could mean music lovers could now listen to lossless audio for less money on devices.
Depending on the compression of audio files, lossless files in "aiff" and "wav" format at a higher file size result in richer quality than the common "mp3" format. Another theory is that the new cassettes could also be used to store other files aside from audio such as Ultra High Definition (UHD) video.
But cassettes are not the only technology to regain popularity in recent times.
Numerous music stores are selling classic retro vinyl players, signalling that old technology may be making a comeback.
While traditional video stores are taking a knock, with the launch of numerous online video services and rentals, the music industry seems to be having paradoxical luck.
Other international artists including Kanye West and Justin Bieber have also released their latest albums on cassette tape.
While no new technology has officially been released recently to play cassette tapes, many companies are still producing cassette players, which up until very recently were only used by hipsters. Could this mean hipsters will now start using iPods?
Meanwhile, Sony announced the launch of a new cassette tape last month.
The new tapes are able to store up to 185 terabytes of data, which translated is around the size of 18 standard computer hard drives.
Playback of regular cassette tapes do not offer the same quality as a CD would, but the new tapes with larger storage could mean music lovers could now listen to lossless audio for less money on devices.
Depending on the compression of audio files, lossless files in "aiff" and "wav" format at a higher file size result in richer quality than the common "mp3" format. Another theory is that the new cassettes could also be used to store other files aside from audio such as Ultra High Definition (UHD) video.
But cassettes are not the only technology to regain popularity in recent times.
Numerous music stores are selling classic retro vinyl players, signalling that old technology may be making a comeback.
While traditional video stores are taking a knock, with the launch of numerous online video services and rentals, the music industry seems to be having paradoxical luck.
Source - channel24
