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Vinyl was actually (mostly) killed by cassette tapes, then CDs replaced those because of greater fidelity and instant seek times.[0] Though it really took the e

Vinyl was actually (mostly) killed by cassette tapes, then CDs replaced those because of greater fidelity and instant seek times.[0] Though it really took the emergence of writable CDs to totally kill cassettes, since you couldn't replace the 'mix tape' use case until then. 0. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/annual-recorded-music-sales-by-format-from-1973-2015-and-what-that-tells-us-about-the-limitations-of-gdp-accounting/ https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/annual-recorded-music-sales-b...

throwawayboise 5y ago
No, cassette audio quality is noticably inferior to vinyl. They had a strength in convenience/mobility. The original Walkman mobile music player was a cassette player. Cassette players were popular in cars, and portable "boom boxes." Most people I knew bought their music on vinyl and made cassette copies or mix tapes to play in their car or otherwise on the go. Cassettes did not seriously threaten vinyl sales at least not that I remember. The vinyl killer was the CD.
- allturtles 5y ago
  Just look at the data I posted above. Cassette sales were replacing vinyl well before cd sales took off.
  - throwawayboise 5y ago
    Well I find it surprising. I was at the height of my music-buying as a teen and young adult in the 1980s/1990s and I never bought music on cassette, nor did any of my friends. We bought vinyl, made our own cassettes for the car, and switched to CD when that format came out.
- anyfoo 5y ago
  With the right tape deck and the right tape formulation, cassettes could get incredibly good, with SNRs over 60dB. Not bad at all considering that vinyl also degraded much faster from playing than tape did. It's just that a lot of people had cheap tape decks and even cheaper tapes, hence the bad reputation nowadays.
  - throwawayboise 5y ago
    But the cassettes that the major record labels produced for the consumer market were not that good.
    - stormbrew 5y ago
      You say that like a lot of records weren't cheap and shitty too. Outliers are always more memorable. In the end I think portability had more to do with both the reputation and the success of cassettes. Doesn't matter how good the tape is, a walkman in the 80s was never going to sound as good as a hifi, but that's what people wanted.
      - anyfoo 5y ago
        Convenience, too. This overlaps a lot with portability, but cassettes made it feasible to listen to your music in, say, the kitchen, a picnic, or, most critically I think, the car. If good sound quality is also within reach then (the various Dolby NR systems helped with that), cassettes made a lot of sense overall.

throwawayboise 5y ago

No, cassette audio quality is noticably inferior to vinyl. They had a strength in convenience/mobility. The original Walkman mobile music player was a cassette player. Cassette players were popular in cars, and portable "boom boxes." Most people I knew bought their music on vinyl and made cassette copies or mix tapes to play in their car or otherwise on the go. Cassettes did not seriously threaten vinyl sales at least not that I remember. The vinyl killer was the CD.

allturtles 5y ago
Just look at the data I posted above. Cassette sales were replacing vinyl well before cd sales took off.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  Well I find it surprising. I was at the height of my music-buying as a teen and young adult in the 1980s/1990s and I never bought music on cassette, nor did any of my friends. We bought vinyl, made our own cassettes for the car, and switched to CD when that format came out.
anyfoo 5y ago
With the right tape deck and the right tape formulation, cassettes could get incredibly good, with SNRs over 60dB. Not bad at all considering that vinyl also degraded much faster from playing than tape did. It's just that a lot of people had cheap tape decks and even cheaper tapes, hence the bad reputation nowadays.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  But the cassettes that the major record labels produced for the consumer market were not that good.
  - stormbrew 5y ago
    You say that like a lot of records weren't cheap and shitty too. Outliers are always more memorable. In the end I think portability had more to do with both the reputation and the success of cassettes. Doesn't matter how good the tape is, a walkman in the 80s was never going to sound as good as a hifi, but that's what people wanted.
    - anyfoo 5y ago
      Convenience, too. This overlaps a lot with portability, but cassettes made it feasible to listen to your music in, say, the kitchen, a picnic, or, most critically I think, the car. If good sound quality is also within reach then (the various Dolby NR systems helped with that), cassettes made a lot of sense overall.