懐かしの時代にテープ巻き戻し気ままなリライト124

カセットテープ愛、世界で再生　ストリーミング世代魅了 - 日本経済新聞

The worldwide trend of rewinding the evolution of music technology, from digital back to analog formats, has been gaining momentum among music enthusiasts with a penchant for the past. This trend, fueled by a growing fascination with retro and vintage culture, has breathed new life into the charm of analog mediums such as vinyl records and cassette tapes. Anchored in a music experience that is tangible, unique and authentic, a diverse community of audiophiles and artists are thriving. They are finding a profound sense of individuality and achievement in embracing those analog forms, a conscious statement against the ubiquity and uniformity of the digital technology.

The resurgence in popularity of cassette tapes, first introduced in the 1960s as a favored device for playing or recording music, has mirrored a broader human tendency to value what has been left behind in the shift from analog to digital media. This renewed appreciation for cassette tapes is representing a deeper connection to the roots of music recording and listening, allowing enthusiasts to engage with a tradition that celebrates the sensory richness often absent in digital formats. Digital technology, while precise and consistent, captures and reproduces sound through a series of steps – sampling, quantization, storage or transmission as digital data, and eventual conversion back to an analog signal for playback. This process inevitably loses some of the inherent depth and nuance of the original analog signal, glossing over the subtle intricacies of the sound wave. By contrast, cassette tapes employ a magnetic field to store audio information in the form of magnetic patterns on the tape. During playback, all those patterns are converted into an electrical signal that causes a direct analog of the original sound wave.

The comeback of analog formats in the music industry has been marked by a renewed interest in musical cassette tapes and tape recorders. On the musical scene around the globe, many musicians and their fans have been embracing the nostalgic charm of cassette tapes. The UK has witnessed a consistent increase in sales over the past decades. In the US, certain renowned artists have sold over 100,000 cassettes featuring their tracks. Toshiba’s cassette tape recorder Walky, equipped with Bluetooth wireless earbuds, has struck a chord with the digitally inclined younger generation since its launch last July. Walky is a reimagined version of Sony’s iconic Walkman that captured the hearts of countless music aficionados during the 1980s. Adding a commercial perspective to this trend, Side-B Creations, a seller of tape recorders, reported a staggering tenfold increase in sales in 2023 compared with 2017.

Cassette tapes have been experiencing a revival in their appeal for both listening and collecting music across a diverse age groups. While streaming platforms like YouTube are prevalent among the music lovers, there's a gradual shift in preference from merely consuming music to fully experiencing it among young music enthusiasts in their twenties and thirties. Many audiophiles are seeking to enrich their listening experience with a touch of uniqueness. Analog recordings, known for capturing the full spectrum of sound with all its intricate details, are celebrated for delivering a warmer and more genuine auditory experience. This appeal often stems from cassette tapes' unique quirks, such as background hiss or pops, which are increasingly valued. Those imperfections forge a deeper, more personal connection with the music, standing in stark contrast to the ubiquitous and clinical digital formats emblematic of the modern fast-paced, efficiency-centric era. Cassette tapes, with their singular traits, are being tapped into as the potential rare gems within the music market. This resurgence is igniting a passion for tape collecting, spanning diverse music genres and appealing to audiophiles ranging from teenagers to those in their fifties.