As cassettes return, the dilemma is finding a tape deck

Sony sold more than 200 million Walkmans from July 1979, when the devices debuted in Japan, until the music was discontinued around 2010. Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba and Bose no longer sell audio tape players, representatives for each of the four companies confirmed. The Consumer Technology Association, a trade group, stopped tracking sales of combination radio/cassette/CD players in 2016, when an estimated 653,671 units were shipped, compared to a possible peak of about 25 million radio/cassette combos in 1994, according to a spokeswoman.

Although the market for new cassette players was too small to measure, apparently a vast supply of obsolete gadgets already existed, in various states of repair, awaiting rediscovery.

Liam Dwyer, the 20-year-old general director of WXBC, Bird College's student-run radio station, originally got into tape because Dwyer's father had a cassette deck in an old Volkswagen. While the station has a tape deck, Dwyer (who uses the pronouns they/them) recently finds a cassette player at school that someone is giving away — a Technics, model unknown. “I haven't tested it yet, but I believe it will work, or I'll fix it,” they said

Dwyer is looking into acquiring a Walkman for portable use, partly because of an interest in how Liz Harris, aka Grouper, incorporates tapes into sound art and instrumental music. The first tapes Dwyer picked up were from Golden Boy, a “breakcore” artist from their hometown, Portland, Ore., and the music Dwyer listened to on cassettes was primarily electronic and experimental. Frank Ocean Associate Vegin had a double cassette Volkswagen staple, but “unfortunately, the car had to be pulled.”

If cassettes are popular, it's partly because they're cheap for artists and independent labels to make For a recent title on Jack White's Third Man Records, cassettes cost $2.80 per vinyl LP to make $6.92, said Ben Blackwell, one of the label's founders. Tape enthusiasts' choice of playback device can be similarly economical.

In fact, the main reason people buy used physical media, including cassettes, is “to get a bunch of stuff for a low price and then get involved with it,” says Mike Hunchback, co-owner of Brooklyn Record Exchange. He noted that his customers tend to find used cassette players at thrift stores, such as his or online. “Most people listening to cassettes now that I sell to are using cassette players that are at least 20 years old,” says Hunchback. “And that cassette player's job is to listen to cassettes for fun.”