Cassette tapes to be wiped out

The traditional cassette tape is to become a thing of the past, with leading retailers confirming they are to be wiped from the shelves.

Thirty-somethings with fond teenage memories of taping their favourites tunes on cassette must now mourn the end of an era.

This comes after Currys Ireland said it is to stop stocking tapes due to dwindling demand, in a further signal of the takeover by digital technology.

The company also estimates traditional cassettes decks will be unavailable to buy within 18 months, marking the final curtain on a remnant of a by-gone musical age.

“Sales of tapes have dwindled in our stores in the last few years,” managing director of DSG Ireland – which trades as Currys, Dixons and PC World – Declan Ronayne said.

“Recordable media, such as CD, DVD and more recently memory sticks and cards have become increasingly popular, as have MP3/MP4 players and iPods.

“In a sense this decision reflects the beginning of the end for mechanical audio products.”

Dating back to 1963, the cassette’s popularity peaked in the eighties and early nineties with 95 million blank tapes sold in 1991.

But over the years that figure dropped to just a million in 2006, with more technologically sophisticated equipment conspiring to attract consumers.

“Digital technology has fewer moving parts, is considerably smaller and has the huge advantage of using a format that is compatible with many devices,” Mr Ronayne said.

“It is also much more portable. A top of the range iPod can hold the same number of albums as 1,500 cassettes, which would have required some pretty sizeable pockets.”

Currys anticipates that cassette decks, which are only installed in less than 5% of audio equipment, will disappear from the range within 18 months.

“I remember the tape with some fondness,” Mr Ronayne said.

“The hours spent putting together compilation tapes and the all-too-familiar experience of finding that your deck had chewed your tape, will resonate with many now in their thirties and forties. For today’s MP3 generation, it’s just a few clicks of the mouse to achieve what’s arguably a better outcome.”

The portability and versatility of cassette tapes allowed a generation of music fans to assemble their personal compilation favourites.

Combined with the massive success of the Walkman, the cassette tape was the first technology to transform the cumbersome daily trek to work into a private musical extravaganza for commuters.

Philips launched the cassette in 1963 under the trademark name Compact Cassette.

It soon became dominant as a result of Philips’ decision to license the format free of charge and went on to become a popular rival for turntables and albums during the 1970s, benefiting from its re-recordable status.