I see these 2 good points of a cd:

1) The quality of music is better, no denying that.

2) The fact that one can program the player to play favorite songs, in the order one wishes to listen to them, completely bypassing those songs one doesn't like.

On the other hand, as careful as I am with the cds I own, I have somehow managed to scratch a few of them. My tapes are still intact (and I've owned them longer!) :o

I have also found that the good quality music that comes through in the cd can be easily recorded onto a high grade cassette, providing really decent sound quality.

So, I vote 50/50 on the issue. I agree with some of you that tapes are excellent for travel, especially in the car.

The main reasons I dig CD over cassette:
1. If the song you want to hear is number 5 on the list...how long does it take to find on a cassette??? (on a CD you push track5 and your done)
2. When your done...you dont have to rewind!!
3. You dont have to eject and flip over.
4. Blank CDs now cost less then blank cass....If you have a CD bruner, you can make all the cheap CDs you want.
5. Almost every computer built today has a CD player in it...When was the last time one of you saw a computer with a cassette player built in?
6. Almost all your good rental cars now have CD players
7. Nobody has ever recorded over one of my fav CDs!!
8. EVERY car cassette player will SOMEDAY eat and ruin a recording of yours...The questions you have to ask yourself is...When will it happen? AND... When it does...what tape are you gonna lose? (I hope you are not listening to your fav tape at the time.)

Just like all new techs...CDs will someday be replaced by something else. However, cassettes will be replaced before them. IMO, 10 years from now, your not gonna be able to buy a new stereo with a cassette deck anymore. The writing is on the wall for you tape lovers. Change is coming!! You have to be ready for it! I would hate to see you get left behind. (remember when "hi-fi" first came out? Vacuum tubes used to cost a buck...do you know how much they are now???? (You dont want to know) Parts for your broken cass. player will be the same way.

We all may still live in the 80s...but we gotta keep up. Times are a changin.

Thats my 4 cents exairman

: The main reasons I dig CD over cassette: 1. If
: the song you want to hear is number 5 on the
: list...how long does it take to find on a
: cassette??? (on a CD you push track5 and
: your done)
: 2. When your done...you dont have to rewind!!
: 3. You dont have to eject and flip over.
: 4. Blank CDs now cost less then blank
: cass....If you have a CD bruner, you can
: make all the cheap CDs you want.
: 5. Almost every computer built today has a CD
: player in it...When was the last time one of
: you saw a computer with a cassette player
: built in?
: 6. Almost all your good rental cars now have CD
: players
: 7. Nobody has ever recorded over one of my fav
: CDs!!
: 8. EVERY car cassette player will SOMEDAY eat
: and ruin a recording of yours...The
: questions you have to ask yourself is...When
: will it happen? AND... When it does...what
: tape are you gonna lose? (I hope you are not
: listening to your fav tape at the time.)

: Just like all new techs...CDs will someday be
: replaced by something else. However,
: cassettes will be replaced before them. IMO,
: 10 years from now, your not gonna be able to
: buy a new stereo with a cassette deck
: anymore. The writing is on the wall for you
: tape lovers. Change is coming!! You have to
: be ready for it! I would hate to see you get
: left behind. (remember when
: "hi-fi" first came out? Vacuum
: tubes used to cost a buck...do you know how
: much they are now???? (You dont want to
: know) Parts for your broken cass. player
: will be the same way.

: We all may still live in the 80s...but we gotta
: keep up. Times are a changin.

: Thats my 4 cents exairman

Couldn't have said it better myself. And the cassette player in my car DID eat one of my fave comps (not to mention, when this happened, I went over the curb and almost into a wall...what a spaz...).

The only thing I still see around that use cassettes are walk-mans. I own a few myself. I find it better to carry a bunch of loose cassettes in my pocket, briefcase, backpack, or fanny pack than to carry CDs. Minidiscs were supposed to replace that, but nobody seems to have bought into this new technology.

Tarzan Boy

Well I'm one that did buy into MiniDisc. MD is hugely popular in Japan, popular in Europe (particularly England) but not very popular at all in the US. I have never understood why...it is the PERFECT replacement for cassette.

You get all the pluses of CDs...random track access, non-deteriorating sound quality over time. The media is small and is protected in a casing so you don't have to worry about getting your discs scratched. You can add, move, delete, rerecord songs as often as you wish. How would you like to be able to delete a song off a custom comp you made and just record a different song?

The discs cost ~1.50 apiece. I have absolutely no idea why mp3 players are so popular, given the price of memory. Heck, I record mp3s to minidiscs all the time (a soundcard with digital output is really nice for this).

CDR does have some advantages over MD, but those pretty much boil down to compatibility with everything you already own, and the ability to record at many times normal speed. There are some MD decks that contain a CD player and allow you to record at 4x speed, but they are pretty rare. MD really is very similar to cassette as far as recording goes...except that you can synchro-record from CD to MD so hitting 'Pause' is something you never have to do.

I only wish MD was around in the 80s so I wouldn't have lost all those comp tapes that I cannot recreate. At least I can say that will never be a problem for me again.

The only problem with MD is the same problem any new format has, and that is getting people to invest in new equipment. Any new format that is introduced is going to have an uphill battle because with the advent of CD, sound quality is not an issue anymore...that is why CD took off the way it did. Now it's just a matter of convenience, which is why mp3 players are proliferating.

I will say that I don't see how convenient it is to have to download new music to an mp3 player every time I want to listen to something else. I want to be able to pop in a disc with whatever I want to listen to at that time. It's my opinion that the lack of acceptance of MD is far worse than the acceptance of Betamax, which is pretty much the reference standard for products that were better but not accepted by the marketplace.

Sorry to go on so long, but knowing that lots of people here probably record lots of comps I figured MD might be something they want to look into...

: Couldn't have said it better myself. And the
: cassette player in my car DID eat one of my
: fave comps (not to mention, when this
: happened, I went over the curb and almost
: into a wall...what a spaz...).

: The only thing I still see around that use
: cassettes are walk-mans. I own a few myself.
: I find it better to carry a bunch of loose
: cassettes in my pocket, briefcase, backpack,
: or fanny pack than to carry CDs. Minidiscs
: were supposed to replace that, but nobody
: seems to have bought into this new
: technology.

: Tarzan Boy