To anyone born in the 21st Century, cassette tapes are probably something of a mystery.
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The joys of recording your favourite song from the radio – or the despair when your most-played mixed tape was melted by the sun in a hot car – seemed to have been confined to the achives along with bubble skirts and skinny leather ties.
But that may all be about to change.
Wagga retailer Don Tuckwell has been in the music industry for nearly 60 years and has seen records replaced by casette tapes, that in turn gave way to CDs, which had seemingly been on the verge of being replaced by MP3 players and the digital revolution.
For a few years now, vinyl records and turntables having been back.
“Vinyl has been making comeback for a while,” Mr Tuckwell said.
“I think it’s just a fad with the young people, although that’s gone out to people in their 40s who may have missed it first time around, or who saw mum and dad with it and it’s just reinvigorated interest in it.
“Some people even say they just love the ‘snap, crackle, pop’ sound you get with vinyl.”
Mr Tuckwell said the retro fad to music is not stopping at vinyl.
In his Wagga music store, Mr Tuckwell is stocking blank cassette tapes, as they too find new fans among the young.
While music companies are not yet bringing back pre-recorded new release tapes, the live music scene appears to be driving the trend.
“A lot of bands are putting music on cassette because it’s a cheaper format, and I suppose once again it’s a bit retro,” Mr Tuckwell said.
“There’s a lot of kids in this day and age who have never seen cassettes.
“I would say anything that’s old is new again.”
Mr Tuckwell said vintage “boom box” cassette players were increasingly becoming fashionable with teenagers.
Wagga musician and owner of Flying Fox Studios Grant Luhrs said there was a difference in the sound produced by records and cassettes as opposed to that stored digitally.
“Basically, it’s analogue versus digital, and many people prefer the analogue sound,” he said.