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Kurotan t1_j4mdst9 wrote

>Now, with cassette sales growing in the US in 2022, the Walkman has returned as a hi-res streaming player.

Wait what. I get records, but cassettes were awful. Even with my love of nostalgia I don't want cassettes back.

I'm also not sure why I would want this when my phone streams everything already.

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mredofcourse t1_j4n8oio wrote

The post is misleading. This has absolutely nothing to do with cassettes and the Walkman never went away having evolved to CDs, DAT, MiniDisc and their first DAP ("mp3" player) in 1999.

This is just the newest DAP model of Walkman targeting audiophiles. It runs Android and can download or stream over WiFi. Its specs are impressive if you're into that sort of thing. It's like the restaurant in The Menu only its audio instead of food, but probably attracts the same cast of characters. For almost everyone else, phones are the way to go.

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APeacefulWarrior t1_j4otrna wrote

I've suspected for awhile that the recent boom in retro tech is due to how sterile and 'soulless' modern devices are. Cassette tapes have poor sound quality, but the physical act of using them is awesome. They're tacticle, they make cool clicky-whirry sounds. A good tape deck has super satisfying buttons to push. You've got dials and sliders and fidgets that our monkey brains tell us we should play with.

Meanwhile, you get none of that from smartphones. They're some of the most dissatisfying devices to use imaginable. Very little physical or auditory feedback, if any, with 99% of all relevant information being conveyed through artificial onscreen visuals and nothing else. And the screen itself is just a flat featureless piece of glass which is entirely uninteresting to touch.

Hell, even the aesthetics. Every cell phone these days looks and feels almost exactly the same, while there are a ton of different variations in older consumer tech.

I think people are just becoming starved for novel physical stimulation, basically.

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[deleted] t1_j4n5lfr wrote

[deleted]

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asdaaaaaaaa t1_j4o5gsh wrote

Was going to say, kids go nuts over the stuff their parents used. It's just the cycle of things I guess. Some future kids are going to be going nuts over "basic" smartphones current kids use now, compared to their augmented reality AI driven contact lenses or something.

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[deleted] t1_j4mnz7a wrote

People still like owning physical media but largely have no reason to. Cassettes are a way to physically own an album you love, financially support the artist moreso than through Spotify or whatever, while not requiring the same amount of space as vinyl. They're also a lot cheaper and easier to produce than vinyl records.

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BravoCharlie1310 t1_j4ostsa wrote

But wait I thought young people hate plastic. But now they want a bunch of plastic cassette tapes. Can you you say double standard.

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Blackstar1886 t1_j4mng9d wrote

>I'm also not sure why I would want this when my phone streams everything already.

Dedicated devices always will be better quality. Both streaming services and smartphones by design are aiming to be “good enough.”

For people who are connoisseurs, the dedicated device’s improved quality will be noticeable and of value.

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BravoCharlie1310 t1_j4oslf4 wrote

Why would anyone want to hear tape hiss from the 80’s is beyond me.

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