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Are cassettes still worth it in age of digital streaming?
BEFORE playlists were curated by algorithms and songs arrived in seconds over 5G, there was the satisfying click of a cassette door snapping shut and the soft whirr of tape turning inside a plastic shell.
Cassette tapes and portable players, such as the Walkman, once defined how people experienced music. Today, they are widely considered obsolete. Yet they refuse to disappear entirely.
In recent years, major artistes including Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Joji and Kendrick Lamar have released albums on cassette alongside vinyl and CD. The move is less about sound quality and more about culture.
Portable, affordable, imperfect
Even in their prime, cassettes were never the gold standard for fidelity. Vinyl records offered richer audio and CDs eventually delivered cleaner digital sound. What cassettes did offer was affordability and portability. They were small, relatively cheap and easy to carry around. A Walkman clipped to your belt once felt futuristic.
Maintenance reality
Maintenance, however, was another story.
Cassette players, whether part of a full stereo system or a pocket-sized portable, required care. Belts stretched and snapped. Motors wore down. Tape heads had to be cleaned regularly. Leave a deck unused for years and chances are it will need servicing before it plays smoothly again.
The tapes themselves are not indestructible either. Stored poorly, they can develop mould. Some collectors insist on cleaning tapes with isopropyl alcohol, while others warn that doing so risks stripping the magnetic coating that holds the music. The conflicting advice reflects a broader truth about cassettes today. They demand patience and a willingness to experiment.
Ownership in streaming era
So why bother in 2026, when streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music place millions of songs in your pocket?
Part of the answer lies in ownership. Streaming offers access, not possession. Much like modern video games that grant licences rather than permanent copies, digital music libraries can change without notice. Tracks disappear. Albums are altered. Rights expire.
A cassette, like a Blu ray or DVD, is a physical object you can hold. It cannot be remotely edited or revoked. In an era increasingly defined by subscriptions, that tangibility carries emotional weight.
Scarcity
Availability, however, can be a challenge. As CDs and MP3s overtook the market in the early 2000s, cassette production sharply declined. Many albums originally released on tape have never been reissued in the format. Hunting them down often means browsing second-hand shops or online marketplaces.
Adding to the difficulty, cassette players themselves are increasingly rare. Most new units on the market are lightweight plastic reproductions with uneven performance and questionable durability. For collectors who want reliable playback, sourcing a well-kept secondhand deck or portable from the original era is often the better route. Older machines tend to deliver stronger, more consistent sound and preserve the retro charm that defines the format.
The Indonesian exception
One notable exception is Indonesia. The country is widely regarded as having one of the largest and most resilient cassette industries in the world. Despite the rise of digital formats, cassette tapes remain a preferred source of recorded popular music for many Indonesians, partly because tapes and basic players are affordable.
Beyond affordability, the format fits the country’s vast geography. In remote towns and villages where high speed internet access may be inconsistent, a simple cassette recorder remains reliable. Small labels continue to produce and distribute music locally, pressing limited runs that cater to specific communities and tastes. Rather than fading into nostalgia, the cassette in Indonesia functions as a living format embedded in everyday life.
For collectors across Southeast Asia, that means a steady supply of imported titles that are otherwise difficult to find.
So, are they still worth it?
Are cassettes efficient? No.
Do they offer the best sound quality? Also no.
Are they the most practical physical format? Not really.
But as artefacts of 20th century music culture, they remain distinctive. For those willing to change a belt, clean a tape head and accept the occasional hiss, cassettes offer something streaming cannot replicate – a slower, more unique relationship with music.
Sometimes, pressing play is about more than just hearing a song.
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 The Sun Malaysia
