recording and listening to the hurting by tears for fears, bought it on vinyl and sounds like hell, bought the cassette and i'm loving the sound. i get excellent results recording from tape on audacity. recording records of low production value and highs get distorted. it's never an issue with tape. i hook directly to back of the cassette deck. i have a marantz sd 1015 and i love it. honestly been playing more tape lately than vinyl. best thing about tape is how cheap they are to acquire. usually about 10% of what the vinyl goes for. i like the sound. been recording vinyl on tape as well to hear in the car. sounds awesome and takes me back. sounds like listening to records in the car. the mp3 player hardly gets touched anymore. all my files on the mp3 are wav or wma or wma pro. mp3 is no longer a viable listening option. i find it to be intolerable. cassettes seem to have great range and depth. i think people hate tape cause they're supposed to, not cause it sounds bad.
I really tried with tape. Grew up with cassettes. Now use my reel to reel, and I DO love it.
However, I got so fed up with cassettes going bad, being eaten, loss of magnetism over the years. If I had a refurbished Nakamichi, I'm sure I'd feel different.
My Sony MD player is superior to any cassette player I've ever heard. I don't have to worry about the tape being gobbled up, or magnets, or hiss.
I own a Teac A430 which needs belts, and a Pioneer CT-F900 which has new belts, but needs motor rebuilt.
Which means it will never be played again.
I can see the attraction, but cassettes proved to be a hassle for me over the long haul.
Nick Danger here on AK turned me back onto cassettes, and his are recorded really nice. I broke out my surviving Sansui deck and have enjoyed his mix tapes.
Which reminds me, at the local Goodwill, there is a TEAC cd that is labeled "How to Successfully Record CD to Cassette" and it has all these test tones, selected songs, etc.
It's 2 bucks, and I'll pick it up if anyone is interested. It's been there awhile.
No affiliation, just seems like a great tool for tapeheads.