1990s Woolworths Ferric 90 Audio Cassette Tape

One audio tape brand I’m not seeing much of on the Internet is Woolworths. Until it went out of business in early 2009, Woolworths (very often known as Woollies) was a British high street retail chain store. It had been a fairly well respected and popular chain of large general product shops in the latter part of the 20th century, perhaps best known for selling sweets and snacks, entertainment media such as records and tapes, and household electrical items such as light bulbs or plug extensions.

Early 1990s That’s AS IV Audio Cassette

In contrast with the EX 90, this, the AS IV, was a proper metal tape from That’s. A Type 4 as opposed to a Type 2. Judging by the material it was used to master (from a four-track Portastudio), this one was probably bought in the latter half of 1994. I rated That’s cassettes very highly, and this super-high bias job has a very bold, big sound with phenomenally good signal to noise and typically good resistance to glitches. After listening back through the recordings on this metallic monster I almost want to turn my back on CDs and go back to using audio tape for future projects. I did say almost, so it’s not likely to actually happen, but if CDs were banned tomorrow, tapes like this would provide a very acceptable rescue mechanism.

1970s Scotch Dynarange C90 Audio Cassette

I don’t have a date of purchase for this blatantly very old Scotch Dynarange tape, but there’s one recording on it featuring me as a child, with kids I knew at junior school. The case design ties in with that shown in the 1971 to 1973 stock on http://vintagecassettes.com/, and there’s nothing to contest the fact that my Mom would have bought the cassette during that period. The recording of me as a child wouldn’t have been as early as that – it’s more like 1975 or 1976 I think. But this is a retro cassette, good and proper.