It was revolutionary when the cassette tape could suddenly be played anywhere and everywhere.
PC Magazine rated the original 1979 Sony Walkman as the greatest gadget of the past 50 years. Although the Walkman started the portable music trend, the industry has changed by leaps and bounds since its introduction. The old school Walkman - an iconic portable cassette player - could be useful if you still have tapes hanging around, or if you want to make an '80s statement. But vintage doesn't always mean better in terms of functionality.
Music Quality
Audiophiles argue that the vinyl sounds much better than the CD, and the CD sounds much better than the MP3. But no one would argue that the compact tape has superior sound quality over any of these formats. CDs are considered a huge step up in sound quality from the tape. Although people lament over the loss of the mix tape, nobody is missing the tape's sound quality.
Design and Size
Whereas MP3 players use lithium-ion batteries, which are long lasting and rechargeable, the Walkman eats through regular batteries. The Walkman itself is bulky compared to an MP3 player, or even most modern portable CD players. Because of the mechanical parts, carelessly pressing Walkman buttons could lead to accidentally destroying a tape on-the-go. There is also a notable absence of features that today's society expects from a portable music player, including an option to shuffle songs, or equalize the songs for custom music playback.
Accessibility of Music Cassettes
Studio-produced audio tapes just aren't made anymore. To find them, you'd have to go to a record shop and buy them vintage, or hunt around a garage sale. To be able to purchase the most recent music, you'll need to record your own copy on tape from MP3 or CD.
Personalization and Portability
Some people still find value in making mix tapes, which can be done using other tapes, CDs, or even MP3s, but is a time-intensive process and is easy to mess up. Also, there's a cap on how much music you can give someone on a tape. A mix tape might be more romantic than a mix playlist, but it can usually hold only a handful of songs. It's said that the perfect pop song is around three minutes long, and the standard audio cassette is 60 minutes long in total. Therefore, a tape will only hold 20 short songs. The least expensive MP3 players let you take hundreds - if not thousands - of songs with you on the go, including their record art.
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