Cassette Tape
During the 1970s, '80s, and early '90s, the cassette player was one of the most dominate forms of music playback available. Although now they are almost obsolete due to digital technology, cassette tapes are historic as one of the last popular analog methods of transferring music.
Analog to Digital
Cassette players were one of the last popular analog methods of transferring music and were rapidly replaced by CDs due to the many advantages that they offered--including sound quality, storage space and durability.
Storage
Cassettes players use cassettes which record music on very small tape. The tape can generally hold from 30 to 100 minutes and was very popular after its introduction since it was much more effective to transfer and move than large reels or records, which were some of the popular forms of listening to music prior to cassette players.
Vehicle Use
Although previous methods of playing music had been introduced to vehicles, such as the 8-track system, which played music based on tape in a similar method that cassette players did---cassette players were the first type of music player to dominate the automotive industry. Throughout the '80s and '90s, almost every major automobile manufacturer included cassette players within their vehicles.
Easily Damaged
Cassette players often times have difficulty playing cassette tapes due to how easily the tapes can be damaged. Since they play music off of thin tape, the tape can be broken or twisted. Common elements can damage or distort the quality of tapes, such as heat or water.
Audio Books
Cassette players were the first systems to play unabridged audio-books---leading to a boom in audio-book popularity during the '80s and into the new millennium.
Quality
The most notable disadvantage of cassette players---which led to them being rapidly rendered obsolete by CDs---is their quality of play. Their quality of play is much more grainy and distorted than digital systems.
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