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I don't know what criteria WaPo used but I think if you include blank cassettes instead of just counting prerecorded releases, the tape media was much more popu
by jasode 9y ago
I don't know what criteria WaPo used but I think if you include blank cassettes instead of just counting prerecorded releases, the tape media was much more popular than vinyl even before mid 1980s.
Kids were taping songs from the radio and sharing "mix tapes" in the 1970s. Boom boxes had dual-well cassette decks for easy tape-to-tape dubbing. Cars quickly migrated from 8-track to cassette tapes. (Obviously, a fragile needle & groove playback mechanism isn't going to work a well in a moving vehicle: https://www.google.com/search?q=vinyl+record+player+in+car&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=vinyl+record+player+in+car&s...)
- cr1895 9y agoThat is very true, but from the article I think they're referring to music that people bought, not tape as a storage medium. Having a tape recorder at home is one thing...having your own record lathe for DIY acetates is quite another. The article says, "Thanks to its compactness, portability and sound quality, it quickly began to surpass the vinyl record in popularity." People aren't making vinyl records at home, so to compare them to tapes-as-a-medium is somewhat apples to oranges. At least that's how I interpret their wording.