Between the glory days of the record, and the tragic compact disc era, there was another way of listening to music. That way was the compact cassette.
A cassette (sometimes known as a "tape") normally contained 30 to 45 minutes of audio per side – just enough AC/DC to keep you wanting more. Its size was roughly that of a deck of cards, though not as deep.
A key difference between the vinyl record and the tape was that it enabled listeners to record music off of the radio, or to duplicate their friend’s tapes. This meant listeners were no longer bound by the crushing clutches of "not being a music pirate" and were free to ’stick it to artists.’
The recording industry inevitably tried to take cassettes off the market through a lawsuit, but their case was thrown out when cassette makers presented Bruce Springsteen as evidence that music had no value – a key requirement in considering something theft.
Where tapes failed in comparison to records was resiliency – they had a tendency to be ‘eaten’ by cassette decks. Following their destruction the tapes often resembled an unraveled ball of yarn – albeit a yarn covered in the sweet sweet sounds of ZZ Top. These eaten tapes would often get discarded by the sides of roads as drivers sought environmentally friendly ways to decorate the neighborhood.
Eventually cassettes were replaced in their role as a means to listen to audio. Their replacement came in the form of writing out and then ingesting the lyrics to your favorite songs – which in some instances improved the song after travelling through the digestive system.
Now-a-days, as we listen to our favorite Katy Perry wax cylinder it’s easy to take for granted the devices of the past.
Without cassettes my Walkman would only be good for emptying batteries.
Final Score: 
