In an effort to hang on to the past, many of my clients still have collections of music on cassette tapes. In most cases, it’s the music of their youth, the soundtrack to their coming of age. There are copies of albums, bootleg recordings of concerts, and, of course, mix tapes.
I ask them, “Do you have a cassette tape player on which to listen to this music?” The answer, more often than not, is “No, but I plan to convert them to CD.” “When?”, I ask. They reply, “Someday.”
In the meantime, these cassette tapes take up a lot of space, and in many instances are in open boxes and coated in dust.
My advice to them — and to those of you who recognize yourselves in this story — is to weigh the importance of the music on these cassette tapes. Which ones have the the most significance to you? Which ones do you think you would really listen to once you’ve gone to the expense of converting them to a digital format?
Can you purchase that music in a digital format right now, either by buying it on CD or downloading it from iTunes? The quality will be much better than a converted tape would.
For any truly significant music that is not available digitally, consider having it professionally converted by companies who do this. It will save you a lot of time, and make this music available to you without having to wait any longer and watch more dust gather.
As for the rest of the cassettes — the ones that really aren’t that important — let them go. If you can’t bear to toss them, donate them to the Salvation Army or Goodwill.
