Actually, I have a cassette deck, although it is attached to my Ford POS automobile. I no longer have the 10 or so cassettes I purchased for the car when it was new. That was in '96. It's digital compressed cr&^%$py digital files all the way baby!
Do you still use a cassette deck?

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I run a Nakamichi Dragon that's still operating to its original specification after decades of heavy use. I enjoy fooling audiophiles into thinking that they're listening to a CD, but I find to do that you need to run a well-recorded metal tape. These days I'm picking up prerecorded cassettes for pin money that still give me a very musical sound. I have a spare transport/head mechanism I bought years ago in case the Dragon's heads or capstans wore out, but haven't had to use it. No, I won't sell it. I know there are better cassette decks out there by Tandberg and Nakamichi themselves but I'm emotionally attached to my old Dragon. Besides, trying to find a decent Tandberg or Nakamichi on eBay is a risky business. If I encounter audiophools who argue cassette was always a crappy medium I play them one of the tapes I made at live concerts myself (without noise reduction!) These have some of them scratching their heads. Okay, for those of you who listen to three-minute, 25-second pop songs and want instant access to particular tracks, cassette can be a pain in the arse, but for old fools like me who listen mainly to classical music they can be just the thing.

I am a fan of all the releases on the Ecstatic Peace! label and i am aware that the current rock-noise scene favors cassettes as a convenient and an underground release format. I have a modest Nakamichi DR-10 deck and when used with high-quality blank metal tapes, it can give my Krell SACD standard a run for its money on CD vs TDK metal C-90!

Although I do not use cassettes anymore, this is—along with LP, reel-to-reel tape, wide-band speakers, and the search for tone instead of dynamics—a good tell-tale sign of what a lot of people are looking for in this highly impersonal, clinical, cynical world. If hands-on usage of music-carriers and nifty recording hardware is what people want, then I applaud that! Let's not sink any deeper into the WII world, people.

Yes I own a CR7 E Nakamichi (unfortunately, not a Dragon) and I use it for recording live concerts on FM radio and it works really well. The real problem is now to find the software, such as type IV cassettes, and to maintain the deck in order to work—it's a little fragile and needs to turn more than one time in a month.

Only transferring cassette tapes to digital (radio transcripts and such), to the extent that they deserve being salvaged. There is a strong case for vinyl in the digital age. There is an even stronger case, albeit a hopeless one, for good 1/4" studio tape. There is none whatsoever for cassettes. Just a fad. And a rather stupid one.

I bought a Nak a couple of years ago for $50. Mostly to transfer LPs to tape for my car. I don't drive anymore, so I sold the Nak for $100. I love eBay. If I was into black metal and noise as much as I used to be, I 'd have kept the deck—but I'm not. Cassettes seem very genre specific.

I have several cassette decks. The best one is the Revox. My fave is my Tandberg, when working. The Nak Dragon is okay for playback and the Luxman is the prettiest. I like the Philips because I can defeat the HX Pro. Who needs more compression?
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