Cassette Tape Nostalgia (Rick Astley Nearly 30 Years On)

In the past, I’ve described the inherent sound of cassette tape as “the analogue goodness of vinyl, just less of it”. It wasn’t always so however.  Back in 1963, when Philips developed the cassette format, it was never intended to be a music medium, let alone a hi-fi one.  The cassette (and the machine to play and record on them) was compact and simple enough to make a good dictation system for the office.  There were a number of restrictions that hindered the cassette’s use for music playback.