Nov122009
Purge Thursday: Mess o’ Cassettes
Filed under Purge Thursday by Kim at 2:31 pm on Nov 12 2009
Probably just about everyone reading this is of the right generation to have been witness to the prevalence of the cassette tape. By the time I was choosing and procuring my own music, cassettes were in their peak of production. Of course, now the nostalgia market has images of the cassette on t-shirts, pillows, purses, etc. They are to teenagers now what tie dyed t-shirts and peace symbols were to me. Oh, and there’s also the vast amounts of cassette tattoos I keep seeing all over the place.
Well I don’t need a tribute to the cassette, because hiding under the spare bed all this time has been most of my tapes from the 80s & 90s. Yes, I have been carrying around these relics from home to home since I stopped using them 15 years ago. Most of their content I have purchased digitally, and what I haven’t can’t really be that great, can it?
The only things that might survive this purge are the custom mixtape art. Here’s an excellent example by the wonderful and amazing April from approximately 1988. No way I’m getting rid of that. 
As a coda, I ask – what the hell do I do with them? Trash them? Can anyone possibly want these at the Goodwill? There are lots of fun creative projects out there I have no time for or interest in perpetrating – lamps, more lamps, furniture, ties, and art that impresses. It seems like there are lots of bloggers out there who don’t want their cassettes in a landfill, but very few people with concrete recycling suggestions. They are all held together with little screws! I guess I might try Freecycle first. If I find a good solution I’ll report back.
1 Rachelon 12 Nov 2009 at 2:38 pm
We were just contemplating the cassette tapes we have. Who knows what we’ll end up doing with them. Probably just stashing them in the basement. Ha.
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Kim Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Our basement is kind of like the basement in Blair Witch, so we are hesitant to store anything down there!
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2 Heatheron 12 Nov 2009 at 3:08 pm
I go through mine every few years and get rid of more. I still have my really special mixtapes, but I never play them.
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Kim Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I keep toying with the idea of making playlists in iTunes based on all the old mix tapes I have. Then I do other stuff instead. :-/
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3 Jenon 12 Nov 2009 at 3:21 pm
Alas, when I finally ditched the last of mine (actually when I moved out of Briarwood and up to Columbia, so not all that long ago, for cassettes!), time was of the essence and they went in the dumpster.
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Kim Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I for one applaud the getting rid of stuff with expediency.
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4 Mariaon 12 Nov 2009 at 6:44 pm
I still have a small box full. :-/ I’ll probably purge one day via thrift store, but I’m totally keeping my mix tapes. And that Cure tape I got for 25 cents at a garage sale. And my first Metallica tape…
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Kim Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I’m keeping my Crowded House tapes, I think. They got so much of my love.
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5 Meganon 12 Nov 2009 at 7:45 pm
Freecycle? That way crafty people could have them if they wanted them. I wish you could convince Ben to get rid of his. . . . we are awash in old media forms over here.
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Kim Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I may or may not still have floppy discs.
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6 Lorion 14 Nov 2009 at 11:22 am
Our school is looking for walkmans for our second graders for a recycling project.
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Kim Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Sadly, all the Walkmans I ever had ended up getting tossed. I merely have cassettes left over!
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7 aprilon 15 Nov 2009 at 7:48 pm
ah. the cow pattern. I’m moved that you’ve kept this stuff.
how about shadowboxing a few you’re particularly sentimental about?
I could also see some interesting sculpture. but then you have a sculpture you’ll have to purge later.
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Kim Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I really like the shadowboxing idea! I was thinking I should frame it somehow but that’s even better. There’s not a whole lot of stuff on my walls right now.
Also there’s always scrapbooking… heh… ugh. In the “It’s All Too Much” book that I was reading, he talks about how scrapbooking supplies are one of the worst accumulating things he sees.
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8 12tequilason 16 Nov 2009 at 1:23 pm
I’m always impressed with myself when I find an old tape, because I used to tape all my LPs (so the LPs would stay in good condition) and then I spent a bit of time decorating the tapes so they looked interesting.
I will never forget when I was in Israel (1987), and my friend’s brother had sent him some new music (on cassette of course). He hands me the headphones saying I had to hear it. It was Crowded House. I was blown away.
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Kim Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Oooh, was it the eponymous first album, or Temple of Low Men? I think I first heard CH on MTV, seeing the “Don’t Dream It’s Over” video.
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12tequilas Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Eponymous. We were outside at some lovely spot somewhere and I had the headphones on, feeling like everyone should be hearing this right now.
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9 curiouson 19 Nov 2009 at 8:58 am
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/hacks/the-simplest-efficient-iphone-stand-weve-seen-101515 , insert printed classic album cover art, sell to hipsters for $5 each.
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Kim Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Hah!! That’s awesome.
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