Gadgets

A Device That Wants to Bring Back Cassettes

Please. Why do we want to bring back an obsolete bad-sounding music storage format? Those who are nostalgic for cassettes never had to deal with them when they were the only things we had to use to make portable mixes. Still, people keep trying.

A couple of people have pointed us to ELBOW, a device created by an art duo (there’s your first clue) called BrainMonk who was bored of smart devices and touch screens. By engineering cassette player down to its absolute mechanical essence, they came up with this.

You mount it on a cassette thusly.

Just plug in your earbuds and go.

Here’s a video from their Facebook page.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38019 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

2 thoughts on “A Device That Wants to Bring Back Cassettes

  • With Guardians of the Galaxy 2 coming out, it’s probably the right time to market something like this. Especially to people who, like you said, never had to use cassettes in the first place.

    Reply
  • Useful, perhaps, if you have a collection of cassettes that you would like to play again because your cassette deck finally gave up the ghost — if only to rip the tracks to digital.

    Reply

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