[least]

Cassette tapes have made a similar niche comeback for a very similar reason. There's the tactility in the experience of fast forwarding, rewinding, pressing play. If you're using a walkman, you can even feel the tape turning as it plays in your hand or in your pocket. The rituals involved with using a tape are so intentional in a way that it just isn't when listening to music on a streaming service.

It also is basically the epitome of DIY ethos so popular in punk and indie music, what with creating your own mix tapes, sometimes imperfectly. The relatively low fidelity of the medium also adds to the charm. "stealing" music by taping it from the radio, another cassette, or from a cd.

It just plays heavily towards nostalgia in a way that I don't think CD will ever be able to. Though I do have fond memories of burning mixed CDs, it just doesn't have the same charm as sitting at a tape deck and carefully pressing record and stop.

[ghaff]

I got rid of all my vinyl (much of it with some water damage) years ago, but I do sort of understand the tactile appeal, the retro-ness, and the listening intentionality. In these days of lossless digital formats, CDs are mostly just a medium to buy/transfer a bunch of bits. I can't say I really understand interest in cassettes at all. Obviously it was the only way you could copy someone's album or make a mix tape at one point but that doesn't apply today.

[eru]

I guess the intensity of cassette nostalgia depends strongly on exactly when you were a teenager?

[ghaff]

I certainly had cassettes as a teenager and college student and made plenty of mix/party tapes using them (and copied albums my friends owned). I guess I just look back at them as a utilitarian tool to accomplish something I had no other means to accomplish.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

Same, except that I think it's worth spelling out the purpose of the tool:

1. win friends (and influence people)

2. convince the target of my affection that I am truly super-awesome, and they should fall in love with me because of incredible mix tapes.

Cassette tapes FTW!

[ummonk]

I don't get it. You understand the tactile appeal, retro-ness, and listening intentionality of vinyl, but you don't understand interest in cassettes?

[ghaff]

You don't have the large format artwork and liner notes, you have objectively inferior sound quality, you don't have random access, it's just an object that you stick in a player. So, no I don't, beyond a nostalgic I used to make mix/party tapes in this format.