about tapedeck
Tapedeck.org is a project of neckcns.com, built to showcase the amazing beauty and (sometimes) weirdness found in the designs of the common audio tape cassette. There's an amazing range of designs, starting from the early 60's functional cassette designs, moving through the colourful playfulness of the 70's audio tapes to amazing shape variations during the 80's and 90's. We hope you enjoy these tapes as much as we do!

about audio tapes
The compact audio cassette medium for audio storage was introduced by Philips in 1963 under the name Compact Cassette. Although there were other magnetic tape cartridge systems at the time, the Compact Cassette became dominant as a result of Philips' decision (in the face of pressure from Sony) to license the format free of charge. It went on to become a popular (and re-recordable) alternative to the vinyl record deck during the 1970s. During the 1980s, its popularity grew further as a result of the Sony Walkman, with cassette sales overtaking those of LPs. (Vinyl overall remained ahead due to greater sales of singles, although cassette singles achieved popularity for a period in the 1990s).

The mass production of compact audio cassettes began in 1965 in Hannover, Germany, as did commercial sales of prerecorded music cassettes (also known as musicassettes; MC for short). The system had been initially designed for dictation and portable use, thus the audio quality of early recorders was not well suited for music. Some early models also had unreliable mechanical design. As time went on, various improvements (in particular, the introduction of Dolby noise reduction) resulted in the format being taken seriously for musical use.

Although its use in the West has declined as a result of more advanced technologies, it remains widespread, and is still the dominant medium for listening to music in many third world countries.

In essence, the audio cassette is simply a cassette-based (and smaller) version of the older reel-to-reel tape format. It consists of two miniature reels, between which an oxide-coated plastic tape, or magnetic tape, is passed and wound. These reels (along with some other mechanical parts) are held inside a protective plastic shell.

Four single audio tracks are available on the tape. These are paired to produce two stereophonic tracks – one played when the cassette is inserted with its 'A' side facing up, and the other when it is turned over (with the 'B' side up), thus mimicking gramophone records.

(Source: Wikipedia, right here. Wikipedia Copyright stipulations apply.)

send us your tapes
Have you got some cool audio tapes lying around? Send us a picture then, we'd love to get e-mail from you!

Please take a picture of your tape on white background from straight above without using a flash. The tape should measure about 800x600 pixels on the image. Please try to use as little JPG compression as possible (quality 10 or better when saving from Photoshop) and send the files to tapes@tapedeck.org

Thanks you all so much for the contributions tapedeck.org has already received - without your input this site would be impossible. Thank you very much: Alexandru, Diego, Ahmed, George, Dominik, Marcello, Jouse, Pascal, Niko, Jaromir, Tim, Paul, Luciano, Marc, Andreas, Colin, Alexander, Roland, Maurice, Sven, Radu, Daniel, Scott, Reinhard and Ronny!



orig_0008_philips_cd_one_90 audio cassette tape

orig_0043_no_name_red_reels audio cassette tape

konica_sgi_60 audio cassette tape

basf_sound_ii_90_080417 audio cassette tape

tdk_ieci_74 audio cassette tape

tdk_fe_90_080417 audio cassette tape

tdk_d_46_071126 audio cassette tape

tdk_ferric_90_071126 audio cassette tape

fuji_dr_ix_90_081001 audio cassette tape

tdk_d-c90_2_080417 audio cassette tape

tdk_d-c90_071126 audio cassette tape

tdk_ferric_60_071126 audio cassette tape

tdk_ma-r90_080417 audio cassette tape

SONY_EF_90 audio cassette tape

tdk_metal_ref_081001 audio cassette tape

basf_chrome_extra_ii_60e_081001 audio cassette tape

tdk_cding2_90_080417 audio cassette tape

tdk_ma-r audio cassette tape

basf_sound_i_90_080417 audio cassette tape

basf_record_100_090802 audio cassette tape

basf_ferro_standard_i_90_071201 audio cassette tape

basf_chromdioxid_c_60_2_1972_090322 audio cassette tape

maxell_xlii_90 audio cassette tape

orwo_audio_cr_e_ii_hifi_60_2_1989 audio cassette tape

goldstar_popconcert_60_081022 audio cassette tape

maxell_xlii_90_b__080417 audio cassette tape

jvc audio cassette tape

konica_xri_75 audio cassette tape

maxellur audio cassette tape

superpila_chord-x_sf90 audio cassette tape

sony_hf60_080515 audio cassette tape

ICM HIFI CHROMDIOXID C60_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

denon_dx1_90_080429 audio cassette tape

basf_record_90_080417 audio cassette tape

tdk_cding2_90 audio cassette tape

phillips-60 audio cassette tape

no_name_90 audio cassette tape

teac_cassette audio cassette tape

thats_mrx_46pro audio cassette tape

maxell_ln90 audio cassette tape

maxell_udi_cd90_080417 audio cassette tape

Yashimi audio cassette tape

maxell_epilaxial_xli_60_081001 audio cassette tape

maxell_xlii-s100_071126 audio cassette tape

Memorex-MRX3-Oxide-90_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

NIKKO C90_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

permachrom_c60_090802 audio cassette tape

sony_hf60_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_hf90_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_fxi90_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_fx60_071126 audio cassette tape

sony_hf_90_071201 audio cassette tape

sony_hf_90_071126 audio cassette tape

sony_hf_60_i_081001 audio cassette tape

International_90 audio cassette tape

fuji_dr_ix_90_2_081001 audio cassette tape

sony_hf60_071126 audio cassette tape

sony_fxii90_071126 audio cassette tape

sony_hifi_60_071201 audio cassette tape

sony_hf_60_081001 audio cassette tape

sony_hd_f90_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_fx90_080417 audio cassette tape

denon_dx_160_071126 audio cassette tape

philips_fs_46_081001 audio cassette tape

AUDIO-CLUB-CHROMDIOXID-C60_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

AUDIOSERVICE-90_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

HOBBY-C90_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

Emtec_SoundI_90_111227 audio cassette tape

sony_-_hf60_3_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_-_hf60_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_-_ux-s60_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_-_ux60_080417 audio cassette tape

EUROCHROM-C60_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

AUDIO-SONIC-C90_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

AUDIO-CLUB-CHROMDIOXID-C60-show_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

akai_gx90_080429 audio cassette tape

AGFA-CARAT-48_MCiPjH_121006 audio cassette tape

vision_-_chromdioxid_60_080417 audio cassette tape

tokaido_super_chrome_071126 audio cassette tape

sony_EF_60_111227 audio cassette tape

sony_-_hf60_super_080417 audio cassette tape

sony_-_hf60_2_080417 audio cassette tape

skc_lx60-1_071201 audio cassette tape

Philips_FSX_90_111227 audio cassette tape

basf_chromdioxid_sm_cassette_120_071126 audio cassette tape

basf_chromdioxid_sm_120_071126 audio cassette tape

basf_chromdioxid_120_071126 audio cassette tape

basf_chromdioxid_120_2_071126 audio cassette tape

axia_a1_150_081001 audio cassette tape

Audio_plus audio cassette tape

Anvic audio cassette tape

sony_cdit_ii_90_080417 audio cassette tape

yoko_c60_081001 audio cassette tape

sony_cdit_ii_64_081001 audio cassette tape

maxell_ur60_071126 audio cassette tape

maxell_ur60_b__080417 audio cassette tape

BASF_SM_60_111227 audio cassette tape

sony_ef_90_081001 audio cassette tape

sony_ef_90_080417 audio cassette tape

SCOTCH_ferrichrome_90_111227 audio cassette tape

Reel-Cleer-Optics-I-60 audio cassette tape

BASF_reCorD-II_90_111227 audio cassette tape

other_111227 audio cassette tape

Magna_Chromdioxid_60_111227 audio cassette tape

Stylandia_4-23-04-2011 audio cassette tape

SAMSUNG-XM-H60-23-04-2011 audio cassette tape

mallory_duratape_crd60_ii_081001 audio cassette tape

jvc_af_i_90_081001 audio cassette tape

iplas_-_chromdioxid_60_080417 audio cassette tape

BASF-C120-23-04-2011 audio cassette tape

audiomagnetic_xhe_i_90_081001 audio cassette tape

technics_rt-60xa_080417 audio cassette tape

tdk_ma-xg90_071126 audio cassette tape

super_ferro_i_60_071201 audio cassette tape

super_ferro_071126 audio cassette tape

sony_ef60_071201 audio cassette tape

sony_chf90_071201 audio cassette tape

raks'n'roll_c60_071201 audio cassette tape

radioshack_ln30_080417 audio cassette tape

radio_shack_xr-120_080417 audio cassette tape

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tapedeck.org responsive layout

after changing the ad layout (which only supports the site and does NOT make me rich, by the way) on tapedeck to inline, tape-sized ads i was finally able to make tapedeck even more responsive: sizing your browser now gives you 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6 columns of tapes, depending on the space available. go ahead and try it! a few pics are on facebook

Isolating Tapes 101

[photo album] http://on.fb.me/MX2BHS — isolating this denon tape was a real piece of work. Still, properly isolated tapes make better tees! Remember that. New Stuff coming soon to Tapewear!

Updates first on Facebook

to stay up to date with the tapes we post, be a fan of tapedeck on Facebook — all updates are posted there first, sometimes days before officially appearing on the site! on Facebook, you'll also get updates on the tapes we're going to post in the future: the shape of tapes to come.