Tapes – I am Ashley Elsdon

Goodbye walkman

Posted by ashleyelsdonon December 3, 2021December 2, 2021in TechLeave a comment

Earlier this year my old walkman finally gave up. I had owned this walkman for a long time, and by that I mean a few decades. It was a lovely device, a lovely piece of engineering. It was barely bigger than a cassette itself and it would run for ages on just a single AA battery.

But it stopped, just stopped working one day and I have no idea why at all.

You might ask if I tried to repair it. The answer is no. The technology was so small that you’d have to have been a specialist to even attempt a repair. I knew that I wouldn’t be up for it.

But I have considered replacing it. I had a good look around eBay and I was amazed at the prices that a functioning walkman will go for. I’m sure that I had looked some years ago and they were going for next to nothing. My guess is that the prices spiked after the first ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movie came out.

Anyway, so far I haven’t replaced it, I’m not sure that I will now. I still have cassettes. I still like them. So I expect that one day I will.

And so that was Mixtape Alpha

Posted by ashleyelsdonon January 14, 2020November 2, 2020in TechLeave a comment

I had one of these for a fair old time, and did, on occasion play with it a little. In 2019, along with lots of other bits of technology, I decided that I didn’t really need it anymore. Don’t get me wrong. It was fun to play with. I enjoyed it, but at times you just need to move on.

So now it’s gone to someone else who will hopefully find it useful, fun or whatever. I hope that they enjoy it.

A cassette magazine from a long time ago

Posted by ashleyelsdonon January 6, 2020November 2, 2020in MusicLeave a comment

When this first came out I can remember buying it. It was such an exciting idea. A magazine that you could listen to! It was a revelation. I didn’t buy many of them. It wasn’t cheap, or at least I didn’t really have the money back then. But I’m pretty sure I bought a few of them.

Sadly, as they were on tape, I eventually recorded over them, and they’ve been lost along the way. So one day I had a look for them on eBay, and of course, there were quite a few available. After a while I’ve got hold of one of the ones I wanted.

So far I haven’t played this, I’m half expecting it to jam up the mechanism, and perhaps I won’t actually even try. We’ll see.

I can’t believe I missed Cassette Store Day

Posted by ashleyelsdonon October 16, 2017in EventsLeave a comment

It was last weekend and I missed it completely. Which is a real shame for me. So, to make it up to myself I thought I’d post a few of my favourite cassette pictures.

Teac Blue Reel to Reel Cassette

Teac Black Reel to Reel Cassette

TDK Metal Cassette

A Cassette Shaped USB hub

Old fashioned Cassette Recorder (biscuit tin)

Tascam Cassette Multitrack

Finding my first cassette recorder

Posted by ashleyelsdonon August 28, 2017August 27, 2017in History, StuffLeave a comment

Tin box in the shap of a Ferguson cassette recorder

When I was about 11 or maybe 12 I really desperately wanted a tape recorder, and for Christmas I got one. It was a fergusson and it looked like this.

I found it again at a very weird museum a few weeks ago. It took me right back. I used to use it for recording myself and later on it was very handy for use with a ZX81 and then with a ZX Spectrum.