https://archive.org/details/Kmart30thAnniversaryProgram
All the facts about 1962 from a perspective 30 years later, but 30+ years in the past to us!
For example the fact that when K-Mart opened no one could have predicted that it would be one of the biggest real outlets in the country. :)
Two years ago I got into a docker compose project to use mpd and rern/rAudio to stream music 24/7 over multiple channels on a bunch of pis with dac hats, including my wood shop out in the woods.
So I'm out there at midnight a year or two ago and I had it pinned on these kmart rips.
It's creepy out there.
All of a sudden this booming voice yells "SECURITY TURN CAMERAS TO AISLE 13" or some such thing.
So be careful if you are likely to get into the same predicament.
For those too young to have to suffer through your youth of listening to such inferior sounds, just be grateful. For those trying to be hip and bring back old formats, stick to vinyl. Cassettes are worth losing to history.
I had it on CD, he bought the tape.
The CD sounded (obviously) so much better than his tape. But a little while later I made my own tape copy of the CD, and my copy sounded really close to the CD! Way better than his store-bought copy.
Those bastards didn't even have the decency to use Type II cassettes for the released album.
A Type II (or even better, Type IV-Metal) tape could sound pretty damn good. Still sucked to have to rewind or fast-forward, though.
(Also, Dolby NR was terrible. I'd rather have the hiss than have the muted highs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk71h2CQ_xM
even the tape hiss in the ad about a cassette tape is golden
It would be very common for a new band in that time to have their first release on cassette, and then after they could scrape up the dough, press a vinyl single (CDs being very digitally uncool). There were several niche labels from that time whose bread was buttered with cassette sales.
You're absolutely right the sound quality sucks, but as a child of the '80s whose first music collection was purely cassette based and played back on a Radio Shack cassette dictation player, that sound has a nostalgia for me.
We all put up with stuff when we have to. We no longer have to. Bringing back formats for nostalgia is fun, but for anything other than cassettes. Hell, my first car had an 8-track in it. My dad had a supply of blank 8-track tapes and an 8-track recorder in the home HiFi setup. I would record modern releases from CD to 8-track and rock it in the car. So yeah, been there done that
That's a neat Idea. I once did something along those lines when I was a kid. A friend and I were trying to dub as many albums as we could on to a 160 minute VHS tape in LP or SLP, whatever gave you nearly 6 hours of play time. Was just for fun though.
That was my setup for many years until one day I made friends with this new kid at school and stopped by his house afterwards. They were, uh, not so hygienic and had trash and clothes laying all over the house. In the mess I found some 8tracks just laying around. He didn't even know what they were so I tossed one in my backpack and took it home to try on my stereo that had an actual 8track player.
I remember being shocked by the sound quality. To me, it sounded way better than a cassette. I was also amazed that you could push a button and hear a different song. That seemed way better than a cassette that you had to rewind and fast forward through to get the right spot. I ended up taking the 8track apart for fun and of course got tape everywhere so in the trash it went. And that was my first and only 8track experience.
Probably will need to develop an SDK for it..
Sadly, they only draw power from USB-- no controlling them in software.
(They got me a cheap laugh when I started singing "Turn on your Woot light..." to the tune of Neil Diamond's "Heartlight". Yeah, I'm a dad... >sigh<)