Tapes!
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I was sitting in my car the other day listening to my CD player and I suddenly got to thinking that I miss cassettes. I think I miss the sheer physical-ness of them. I had a huge clear out of my cassettes about 4 or 5 years ago (when the cassette player in my car finally gave up the ghost), but I held on to a few of my favourites and my firsts. Just underneath Aerosmith is the ear of a Mr. Jive Bunny and his Mastermixers, and inside the player is the red cover of the Bangles compilation album 'Everything': the first and second cassettes to come into my collection! (I think they stand up pretty well as firsts - though my first musical purchase of any sort was Dear Jessie by Madonna on 45 vinyl...less cool).
But I suppose the question is are they actually worth missing? They didn't last forever, they got tangled on occasion etc etc. But do you think you can rescue a damaged iPod with a pencil? Is forwarding someone a playlist cooler than making them a mixtape? When was the last time you got to press PLAY and RECORD at the same time? Or hear the satisfying clunk when you press EJECT. Everything has become a bit smooth and a bit safe.
Cassettes remind me of a time of boomboxes, batteries, and handwritten playlists. I think that is what I miss. Then again I saw the Lemmy documentary recently and Henry Rollins still has a lot of cassettes, so maybe I'm not the only one!
