Tapes in the Digital Age

In today's era, accessing music can be done easily with just a handful of smartphones.

Several digital platforms such as Spotify, JOOX, Deezer, and YouTube have made it easier for us to access our favorite music without having to go to record stores. In fact, nowadays it is rare to find cassette and CD shops operating on the roadside.

In the 1970 until the early 2000, cassettes were the only popular entertainment medium at that time. If you are a generation born in the 1990, you must be familiar with cassettes.

At that time, record stores were scattered everywhere and became prey for the younger generation who wanted to listen to the new album from their favorite musician.

If you don't have the money to buy a cassette, then borrowing a friend's cassette is the way out. But nowadays, cassettes have become a rarity.

Even so, some online stores still sell cassette tapes from musicians who released their works in the era of still successful cassette tapes such as Sheila on 7, Samsons, Peterpan, Nidji, Westlife, and others, but at a slightly expensive price, not to mention with shipping costs if the cassette is sold in a city far from where we live. Then the shipping cost will be more expensive.

Two days ago, I visited the traditional market. In the market, there are several used goods for sale.

At that place, I saw that there were still people selling cassette tapes with prices ranging from US$0.10 to US$0.30.

At that time, I was selling a Sheila on 7 cassette that I bought at an online store in 2019. There, I also searched for cassettes, maybe there were cassettes from my favorite band, The Beatles.

But my goodness, when I got there it wasn't there at all. In the end what I bought were Eric Clapton and ABBA cassettes. The Eric Clapton cassette is for US$0.10 while the ABBA tape is for US$0.30.

So, at that time I was able to hunt for cheap cassettes and finally I got the Westlife album Coast to Coast cassette which was released in 2000 at a price of US$0.30.

Currently, cassettes are not only entertainment but have become valuable collectibles. Cassettes can also be used as story material for the current generation or as material for nostalgia for those born during the era of tapes being popular.