Since launching my PR company, I’ve had the opportunity to work with virtually every type of product in the hi-fi industry. Over the years, we’ve promoted acoustic panels, amplifiers, cables, DACs, headphones, loudspeakers, music streamers, network servers, radios, turntables, and more. At one point, we even worked on a gaming chair with built-in loudspeakers.

However, one product that has never made it into our portfolio is a cassette deck. With the brilliance of modern turntables, the improved quality of vinyl, and the excellence of high-performance music streamers, it’s easy to see why cassette collections have largely been relegated to boxes in the attic.

Following the resurgence of vinyl, it appears that the national press and lifestyle magazines are pushing for the cassette to be the next big analogue thing. There is a constant noise (should that be a hiss?) about cassettes on social media and how they are gaining in popularity, especially amongst Gen Z folk. Is the cassette going to be back for good?

As you know, cassettes, were a cultural phenomenon from the 1970s through to the early 1990s. One key factor in their appeal was their size and portability. Unlike vinyl records, cassettes could easily be carried in pockets, purses, or backpacks, making them ideal for on-the-go listening. The introduction of cassette players like the Sony Walkman in 1979 revolutionised personal audio, allowing users to take their music anywhere.

For a few years, I bought cassettes over vinyl for one main reason – their portability. Using a Walkman was fantastic for travel and, best of all, I loved them in my car. For many years, I’ve written about rediscovering the sheer tactile joy of using a turntable and the simple pleasure of lowering the needle into a record’s grove. Reflecting on it now, I’ve decided that slotting a cassette into a car’s deck is also a pretty satisfying experience, and the subsequent clicks and whirrs (and hiss) as the tape is readied for play are kind of endearing.

Cassettes also offered unparalleled customisability. They gave listeners the power to create mixtapes and the opportunity to record tunes straight off the radio. In 1982, Malcom McLaren jumped onto the bandwagon when he wrote these lyrics for Bow Wow Wow:

‘’C30 C60 C90 Go. Off the radio, I get a constant flow. Hit it, pause it, record it and play. Turn it, rewind and rub it away.’’

Cassettes were everywhere, with the added bonus that an album on tape was cheaper than its vinyl counterpart. You still got the cover artwork (albeit in a much smaller form), and the lyrics, along with inner album art, were printed on a card that folded out in a concertina style. Their portability also made them ideal for the street vendors selling dodgy copies for 50p, who could quickly grab their wares and disappear when the police showed up.

In the 1980s, the cassette became a global symbol of the decadent West. I discovered this firsthand during a road trip to Berlin before the fall of the Wall. As a student in the Netherlands, I had obtained a pass to study in East Germany, and a group of friends and I drove to Checkpoint Alpha, the road transit border control post between East and West. At the time, German radio offered little variety – mostly hair metal stations or American Forces Radio – so we brought our own music on cassette, of course.

Unsurprisingly, a group of students in a Dutch rental car aroused the suspicions of the border guards. I was promptly relieved of the car keys and escorted to a small hut for a “chat.” At that moment, we were convinced our trip beyond the Iron Curtain was over and that the two guards would turn us back. However, the power of the cassette came to our rescue. We offered each guard one from our collection, and to our surprise, it worked like a charm. They stamped our visas and sent us on our way.

If you’re curious which cassettes they chose, one guard took my full-price copy of Kick by INXS, while the other selected my friend’s dodgy version of Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder. This amused us, given that we were now headed to The Wall.

Shortly after this, cassettes began their decline with the rise of CDs, which offered better sound quality and the convenience of skipping tracks with ease. However, CDs were probably utterly useless when it came to bargaining with East German border guards.

However, their impact remains undeniable, and they led the way to the portable music experience we enjoy today. The newspapers would have us believe that cassettes are on the way back and that their growth is being driven by the younger generations. Indeed, the Official Charts Company reported that Dua Lipa’s “Training Season” was the top-selling cassette single of 2024, while Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short N’ Sweet” led cassette album sales. The Vinyl charts reflect an older demographic with Oasis, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd and Coldplay fleshing out the top 20.

I think the resurgence in cassette sales among younger generations might simply be a case of collectors’ completism – wanting to own an album in every format it’s available on. Similarly, I believe the market for cassette decks is largely fuelled by nostalgia. One of my friends, for example, recently imported a Nakamichi deck to relive his youth. Had I known about his plan, I would have introduced him to some high-quality turntables and music streamers instead.

The sales figures of cassette albums in the UK certainly do not warrant the media hype as they account for less than 1% of the music market, with annual sales of c100,000 units in the UK over the past six years, with a slight dip in 2023.

After some further research, I’ve decided against pursuing PR work for a cassette deck manufacturer. I believe tapes are destined to remain little more than a background hiss in the world of hi-fi. Personally, I’m much happier with the convenience and quality of music streaming. And if I’m craving some analogue pleasure, I’ll simply turn to my turntable every now and then.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be visiting the Loud & Clear Edinburgh store with the editor of Hi-Fi+ magazine. He’ll be testing the very latest turntable from VPI, the Model One, along with MOON’s flagship 861 power amplifier and 891 network player/preamplifier. I’m absolutely certain he’ll prefer the sound of these over any cassette deck he’s ever heard. I’ll let you know!

Matt Tasker, January 2025