How to Make Your Cassette Photos Stand Out in a Crowd

For a small blog covering a very niche subject, Tape Tardis has done well for search referral traffic. Although it does now tend to focus on text-first content, Tape Tardis began life as a photo blog, and the presence of some of its most impactive illustrations on Google Images has been one of the key factors in netting labour-free, guaranteed, daily traffic.

I’ve always believed that if you can get a new, original photo fairly high up in the Google Images results, and that photo stands out, the great public of the world will spot it and engage with it. And that should encourage Google to keep the photo visible for you – perhaps even drive it up to a higher position. Impactive images will also likely get you shares on photo-driven sites such as Pinterest, which expand your reach with further links to your main content.

In this post, I’m going to document a few of the ideas I’ve used to make my cassette photos a little different, and thus instantly visible in a crowd…

1984 Pre-Recorded Chrome Cassette: Peter Katin Plays Chopin

I haven’t posted much in the way of pre-recorded cassettery from 1984, so to make amends here’s a classic, Made in England, chromium dioxide product from that very year.

All the hallmarks of the period are there. The proud boast of “CHROME TAPE” on the front of the inlay – essential info in the early to mid eighties when hi-fi credentials lay at the forefront of audio cassette marketing. The “CHROME – FOR QUALTY” C-logo appears on the cream paper label, as does the “DOLBY SYSTEM”-accompanied Dolby logo, which prevailed on casings before the text was phased out to leave only the double-D symbol.

Did Paper Label Audio Cassettes Actually SOUND Better?

If you collect audio cassettes, chances are you like the look of the ones with paper labels best. Well known for adding vivid colour to the product, paper labels can also on occasion create character by bubbling up away from the casing, as seen in the picture above.

But is there any link between cassettes with paper labels and a higher quality sound? Is a cassette without a paper label any more likely to have a dull sound? As regards the 1970s output, probably not. But 1980s and 1990s tapes with paper labels do show statistical evidence of higher audio quality…