Boom boom boom, come back to my room....Cassette Archaeology!

Mister X · Sep 4, 2023

Looking around the net, it seems there's not a lot of threads on Compact Cassettes, what a rabbit-hole of a topic. It would be nice to do the thread in a timeline format but that isn't possible. This thread will focus on cassette construction, manufacturing and duplication. We'll throw in reviews and other tidbits of info from the years cassettes dominated the world.

Feel free to add anything! Don't worry about duplicates, some of these threads get long and no one cares.

Home Studio Recording, 8/84

soluna · Sep 9, 2023

I will take a look, i have collected a couple of links - here first are my links to cataloged cassettes :
http://www.c-90.org/catalogue/tapes
https://ez647.sk/cc/audio.html
https://www.45spaces.com/audio-compact-cassette-blank-tapes/
https://audiomax.pro/component/Cassette-tapes
http://pureanalogue.su/index.php/en/catalogue/audio-cassettes
http://agfabasf.com/catalog/tdk/
http://vintagecassettes.com/
https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=listen&gesusa=492&instnr=2
https://audiochrome.blogspot.com/2020/12/index-to-cassette-tape-measurements.html
http://www.thevintageknob.org/
https://www.zinsik.de/NOISELAB/Kassetten.html

I hope, this fits.
and i have some links to features, but they almost all in German. I will add these later.

soluna · Sep 10, 2023

Here are some other links :
https://www.lowbeats.de/erstaunliche-wiederkehr-der-compact-cassette/
https://www.studerundrevox.de/info-wissenswert/wissenswert/die-compact-cassette/
https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Za...n-zur-Demokratisierung-der-Musik-4146463.html
https://www.artusfilm.tv/postproduktion/archivsicherung/digitalisierung-ton/

Mister X · Jan 3, 2025 at 10:30 AM

Another website I just found
https://cassette.tape.fan/

Just added this one, he's done the hard work and posted a ton of PDF Tape Reviews! There's also a lot of other good information and testing on this blog.
https://audiochrome.blogspot.com/2020/12/index-to-cassette-tape-measurements.html

New 05/11/24
https://tapetardis.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/the-type-iv-metal-audio-cassette/

05/15/24
https://tapefan.exblog.jp/

6/6/24
Raks Tapes old website, from Manisa Turkey and a great write-up on Vintagecassette.com, hit showroom to see the tapes.
http://vintagecassettes.com/raks/raks.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20060709225034/http://www.rakselektronik.com.tr/index.htm

12/25/24
https://compactcassettes.jp/

1/3/25
How can we forget Maxell?
https://www.maxell.jp/consumer/ur.html

Mister X · Mar 20, 2024

Feel free to post anything releted to cassette tapes! Don't worry about duplicates, these threads get long and nobody can keep track.

Mister X · Mar 20, 2024

Mart Magazine, 1980

Mister X · Mar 20, 2024

The Boston Phoenix 1973

Mister X · Mar 20, 2024

Audio Magnetics
From The Boston Phoenix 1973

Mister X · Mar 20, 2024

The Tape Boom from Melody Maker Magazine 1971

Mister X · Mar 20, 2024

Penthouse USA 1977

soluna · Mar 20, 2024

Penthouse checked it a little late, i mean. But the focus of the makers was probably somewhere else... ;-)
By the way - interesting deck from JVC, it seems to be one of the few decks with cassette holder on right side. I an old crime TV-Series from the 70-s i`ve seen such a deck, must check, if it`s the same.

Mister X · Mar 21, 2024

Oh yea, JVC's are righties!

Mister X · Mar 21, 2024

Stereo Review Tape Buyers Guide 1975

Mister X · Mar 21, 2024

Stereo Review Tape Recording Guide 1979, I love the photos of the tape being made, my local friend that worked on 3M's Lines said when metal tape came out they had one guy whose only job was to sharpen the knives, on one end is a wide reel of media that is cut down to compact cassette width. If I had to guess, this was put on larger "pancakes" and that would be mounted on a tape loading machine.