Cassettes Wounded, Not Quite Dead

It figures that the death of the cassette wouldn’t come with a grand eulogy.

OK, the humble pre-recorded cassette isn’t dead. But it’s certainly wheezing, limping and moaning its way into the 21st century: 1996 sales were down by nearly 20 percent from 1995. That’s 30 million fewer cassettes going into consumers’ tape decks.

More numbers? Try this: Tapes have gone from commanding half the music market four years ago to less than a quarter today.

Compact discs sales, which in 1992 outpaced cassettes for the first time, are still growing, up 12 percent in the last year. Even vinyl records, which have garnered quite a few teary-eyed - if premature - eulogies over the last decade, are up 78 percent, thanks to dance records and novelty issues from alterna-acts.

Doing just fine are cassette singles, which replaced the 45-rpm record in the late ‘80s and whose sales are up considerably this year. But consumers don’t have much choice there: That’s the only way to buy a single.

It’s cassette albums that are struggling for life. And nobody cares.

Maybe they should. Yeah, yeah, it’s easier to pay homage to vinyl, with its gloriously rich sound and big colorful artwork, not to mention the baby-boomer nostalgia factor. Even compact discs, icy as they struck some folks upon arrival in ‘84, have managed to warm their way into most music buyers’ hearts. Nowadays there’s something almost noble about their shiny, space-age look, their cozy little cases.

CDs are nearly as portable, and definitely more durable, which is why they’ve trampled all over the cassette’s longtime private kingdom: the car stereo.

Cassettes still maintain a stronghold in certain corners of the market, notably with rap and country buyers.