Hi. I was just wondering if anyone had any info on Stones albums on cassette? I saw one on ebay today, but they seem to be really rare...were the cassette tapes not popular or something?

I have a lot of Stones on cassette .

I think cassettes seem to be rare these days (even on ebay) because of three reasons:
1. Lots of people threw away their cassettes after they bought CDs
2. People used to buy LPs and transfer them the cassettes thus they didn't buy cassettes (to be able to hear music in their cars)
3. Cassettes that were used very often somehow wore out and after some years of heavy use they either sounded awful and had to be replaced (usually by CDs)

But I remember I bought a single cassette of "Anybody Seen My Baby" in the UK in 1997. By that time cassettes were already very outdated in Germany and I had never seen a single cassette before (that's why I bought it). I thought that CD players were still quite expansive in the UK in those days (compared to Germany) and therefore there might have been a marked for (single) cassettes. On the other hand there seems to be a kind of single tradition in the UK that's quite different from Germany

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stones2000
Hi. I was just wondering if anyone had any info on Stones albums on cassette? I saw one on ebay today, but they seem to be really rare...were the cassette tapes not popular or something?

Cassettes were very popular in the 70's and 80's. Collector's item, but not rare.
Sound quality was bad.

Tape quality is not "bad". I think the only cassettes I have left are Still Life and The Singles Collection The London Years.

And in 1983 you had to buy the Undercover cassette to get the long version (extra verse) of Wanna Hold You. For many years on tape only.

Tom

I preferred the flexibility of having vinyl and transferring that to a blank cassette when i wanted to listen in the car, the beach, etc.

I think a lot of other people did, too.

I have alot of Rolling Stones cassettes. They have been played so much that they are getting worn out. I usually like to listen to them in my car but now my tape player eats cassette tapes.

They all were available back then but it was cheaper to make a copy from your LP ...I only have Beggars on tape because it was very cheap (only 5 guilders)

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I had Hot Rocks on cassette, whilst my father had The Rolling Stones (U.K. debut). Actually, the former was my very first Rolling Stones purchase. I'm guessing this must've been circa late 1990's. I was a little slow and reluctant to purchase CD's, as they were quite dear for a fifteen-year-old in the U.K.

More often than not, pre-recorded cassettes were made using less than stellar tape stock, recorded at high speed and had less than spectacular audio.

Even so, the old pre-recorded tapes are great for collecting as they look really cool. Sadly, finding one that still plays without tons of drop outs and other faults is not an easy task.

If I'm planning on playing an old tape now I always make a point of replacing the splice that connects the leader tape to the actual tape, otherwise these can un-spool and you have to break the shell open to sort it. Most pre-recorded stones tape shells are glued rather than screwed together.

One Stones tape that I always thought sounded terrific was the UK/EU pressing of "Bridges To Babylon". No idea why, but this sounded amazing for a pre-recorded tape.

The early UK Decca tapes have quite a charming sound to them if you can find a good one. The early UK tongue label Warner ones don't seem to age so well, always full of drop outs and tape drag etc. The UK EMI era ones sound decent but again, they often suffer from the ravages of time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-02 14:14 by vudicus.

"Some items reprocessed for stereo" i.e. all of them!




"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

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Deltics
"Some items reprocessed for stereo" i.e. all of them!

Weird how they never released the re-processed version on vinyl, not that I'd want to hear it.

I've heard the re-processed "Route 66" on "Rock 'n' Rolling Stones" and it is bloody awful.

Back in the day I recorded all my stuff (vinyl and cd) to Maxell XLII metal tapes so I could play them in the car. Once I got a good job and started earning real money I got a cd player in my car and the tapes then became obsolete. I gave about 200 cassettes to my coworker and as far as I know he's still enjoying them.

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shadooby
Back in the day I recorded all my stuff (vinyl and cd) to Maxell XLII metal tapes so I could play them in the car. Once I got a good job and started earning real money I got a cd player in my car and the tapes then became obsolete. I gave about 200 cassettes to my coworker and as far as I know he's still enjoying them.

I never ventured into Metal tapes but for many years the high end Maxell Chrome tapes were truly superb.

When I was about 10, i listened to a Hot Rocks cassette on a portable Philips tape recorder. It was probably not too different from the one Keith used to record part of it.

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vudicus

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shadooby
Back in the day I recorded all my stuff (vinyl and cd) to Maxell XLII metal tapes so I could play them in the car. Once I got a good job and started earning real money I got a cd player in my car and the tapes then became obsolete. I gave about 200 cassettes to my coworker and as far as I know he's still enjoying them.

I never ventured into Metal tapes but for many years the high end Maxell Chrome tapes were truly superb.

Yeah, those were the chrome tapes I used. I thought they sounded great.

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vudicus

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shadooby
Back in the day I recorded all my stuff (vinyl and cd) to Maxell XLII metal tapes so I could play them in the car. Once I got a good job and started earning real money I got a cd player in my car and the tapes then became obsolete. I gave about 200 cassettes to my coworker and as far as I know he's still enjoying them.

I never ventured into Metal tapes but for many years the high end Maxell Chrome tapes were truly superb.

me too...

I recall in 'the day' a 90 minute metal tape cost $20, whilst the chrome ones were $3-ish.

I remember thinking, "isn't chrome actually a metal too?"

I couldn't wrap my head around paying $10-12 for a prerecorded cassette vs. $20 for a blank cassette that I still had to record to.

So, I did what a lot of people did, buy the vinyl, transfer to chrome tape and beat the hell out of that chrome tape.

I still have all my albums, played once!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-02 15:09 by treaclefingers.

Cassette's were most popular from 82 till about 87...vinyl was being fazed out & cd's were just taking off....I remember back in 87 an old friend was visiting & we went to the local record store looking for stuff,he bought a new(still sealed) DW & I got a used(very) cassette of it...took them back to my place & played them,1 track at a time & we were totally amazed at how much better the used(and abused) cassette sounded compared to the record...

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detroitken
Cassette's were most popular from 82 till about 87...vinyl was being fazed out & cd's were just taking off....I remember back in 87 an old friend was visiting & we went to the local record store looking for stuff,he bought a new(still sealed) DW & I got a used(very) cassette of it...took them back to my place & played them,1 track at a time & we were totally amazed at how much better the used(and abused) cassette sounded compared to the record...

did the cassette copy contain completely different songs? maybe you were mistaken and were actually listening to Some Girls?

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treaclefingers

me too...

I recall in 'the day' a 90 minute metal tape cost $20, whilst the chrome ones were $3-ish.

I remember thinking, "isn't chrome actually a metal too?"

I couldn't wrap my head around paying $10-12 for a prerecorded cassette vs. $20 for a blank cassette that I still had to record to.

So, I did what a lot of people did, buy the vinyl, transfer to chrome tape and beat the hell out of that chrome tape.

I still have all my albums, played once!

Weren't the expensive metal tapes those that were actually built of metal?

I have kept some of those

In some Asian countries cassetes were popular way into 21st century:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-02 15:35 by franzk.

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franzk
In some Asian countries cassetes were popular way into 21st century:

Wow... Where's this from ? I bet it's sounding better than the CD...

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kowalski

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franzk
In some Asian countries cassetes were popular way into 21st century:

Wow... Where's this from ? I bet it's sounding better than the CD...

I'm pretty sure it does.

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Nikkei
When I was about 10, i listened to a Hot Rocks cassette on a portable Philips tape recorder. It was probably not too different from the one Keith used to record part of it.

Nice one but I think it's from the 70's this one is from 1968



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Therer is still a Keith solo boot (studio outtakes) which I only have on cassette. Never have seen it in disc ever.
Wasn't there a notion that 8 track tapes were considered some of the best audio available?

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kowalski

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franzk
In some Asian countries cassetes were popular way into 21st century:

Wow... Where's this from ? I bet it's sounding better than the CD...

It's Malaysian: [www.discogs.com]

Thanks everyone for all the info! That cleared up the confusion. I kind of like the idea of maybe getting Cassette or Vinyl stones some day, but don't they both wear or warp after many listens?

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franzk

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kowalski

Wow... Where's this from ? I bet it's sounding better than the CD...

It's Malaysian: [www.discogs.com]

Thanks. There's one from Ukraine too : [www.discogs.com]