Branded Woolworths Chrome 90 Audio Cassette

Another good find, in the shape of this Woolworths Chrome 90 audio tape. Unlike the Woollies Chrome 90 and Ferric 90 I photographed in their cases for previous posts, this one actually has branding on the cassette shell. Once again, the shell is different in design, so it’s not just a matter of whether recognition was added to the cassettes – Woolworths looked to be using a range of different manufacturers. I don’t know whether this tape was made before the others, or shortly after, or even in between – but it’s clearly a 1990s offering. Somewhere between 1994 and 1998 I’d guess. It’s hard to be more specific, because the recordings now on the cassette evidently aren’t the first.

1989 Memorex CRX IIS 60 Audio Cassette

Memorex was a very shaky brand, with a poor reputation among some circles of aficionados. But Memorex tapes did sell, with the average consumer most probably buying them on the strength of the slick TV advertising they utilised. The UK’s TV ads of 1982 initially alerted me to Memorex tapes.

1997 Woolworths Chrome High Bias Audio Cassette

In addition to the standard ferric in the post on THIS LINK, Woolworths also did a high bias Chrome audio cassette. I’m assuming Chrome was just the name of the product and not the actual tape formulation, as this artefact comes from 1997 – in an era afterwhich even the highly chrome-committed BASF had turned their backs on real chrome.