Are you old enough to do these things?

No-one in the frame for the 2CV? Not the worst car ... it was almost impossible to stop them working ... other than cold weather, hot weather, rain, sun, weekdays or weekends. But the flip up windows and horizontal gear stick on the dash were so cool. Mine was green.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18900411
Yeah, took me a minute, but I found it;

"Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape"

https://www.amazon.com …%2Cundefined%2C​133&sr=1-1

Thank you!

I don't remember the date exactly - maybe late 70s or early 80s - mom bought my sister and I a Smith Corona electric typewriter.
The ribbon came in the form of a cartridge that could be quickly inserted or ejected. They were available in different colors and one
was white - a correction ribbon. The system worked very well and we put countless hours on that typewriter. I'm surprised, but ribbon
cartridges can still be bought...

https://www.amazon.com …la-4583520382145635&psc=1

Later in the early or mid 90s I bought a Canon StarWriter word processor. A basic portable word processor that saved information to disks.
I was between jobs at the time and the StarWriter was less expensive than a pc and printer.

ECC233 wrote in post #18900467
No-one in the frame for the 2CV? Not the worst car ... it was almost impossible to stop them working ... other than cold weather, hot weather, rain, sun, weekdays or weekends. But the flip up windows and horizontal gear stick on the dash were so cool. Mine was green.

Here in the states I only see them at car shows. Interesting body styling, for sure.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18900381
... if you were like me and life revolved around recording your own mix tapes! ...
... Nakamichi cassettes (essentially TDK SA90) and one, yes count them ONE UNOPENED TDK MAX-G 90 Metal position tape. They sold for about $12.00 back in the 80's,. and low and behold this unopened one will garner a cool Benjamin on eBay these days.

I was the only one I knew that did that back in Jr and High School... before boom boxes. I could only afford the cheap Maxell's at the time, but I longed for those metal blanks! Still wonder if they were worth it. Were they???
I sometimes still make mixed CDs. It beats having to create mp3 playlists plus I can fade songs into each other.

I still see it here in Montana from some of the local farms

icopus wrote in post #18900636
I was the only one I knew that did that back in Jr and High School... before boom boxes. I could only afford the cheap Maxell's at the time, but I longed for those metal blanks! Still wonder if they were worth it. Were they???
I sometimes still make mixed CDs. It beats having to create mp3 playlists plus I can fade songs into each other.

In a forum about hifi audio...
https://homerecording.​com …/post1699369/#p​ost1699369

The question of the difference between 19kHz and 20kHz top end can be detected by the typical listener!

icopus wrote in post #18900636
I was the only one I knew that did that back in Jr and High School... before boom boxes. I could only afford the cheap Maxell's at the time, but I longed for those metal blanks! Still wonder if they were worth it. Were they???
.....

OH YES. My first good deck was a mere Pioneer, decent, but not amazing. Compared to my old Boom box though, hooked up to a very high end turntable (or a friends CD player) it made good tapes. It only had Dolby B,.
On that approx $120.00 deck, no, you would likely NOT tell the difference between a good high azimuth position cassette like the Maxxell or TDK SA.

But for graduation from high school, I spent my cash on a Nakamichi deck. Dolby C, three heads, fine azimuth adjustment, etc..
You bet your darn tootin it did well with TDK Metal!
To my golden ears, it was not possible to hear a noise floor difference between the recordings and the source. Absolutely indiscernible.

I reserved them for use on great LPS, usually of the classical nature.

I fondly remember when Mrs Wife and I bought our first 'music centre', which had two cassette decks, along with record player and FM stereo radio. It was enormous and had touch controls for selecting radio presets, rocket science back then.

We used to turn the lights off and lie alongside it (we couldn't afford the chrome stand) mesmerised by the lights and the swinging volume meters. We thought we'd arrived!

Of course, back then, we lived in a cardboard box int' middle o' road.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18900832
OH YES. My first good deck was a mere Pioneer, decent, but not amazing. Compared to my old Boom box though, hooked up to a very high end turntable (or a friends CD player) it made good tapes. It only had Dolby B,.
On that approx $120.00 deck, no, you would likely NOT tell the difference between a good high azimuth position cassette like the Maxxell or TDK SA.

But for graduation from high school, I spent my cash on a Nakamichi deck. Dolby C, three heads, fine azimuth adjustment, etc..
You bet your darn tootin it did well with TDK Metal!
To my golden ears, it was not possible to hear a noise floor difference between the recordings and the source. Absolutely indiscernible.

I reserved them for use on great LPS, usually of the classical nature.

The 'classical' I listened to ---
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=fVxGpN8B4BQ
and
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=632hgWkit48
They were magical to me then. But still enjoyable to me now.
But nothing is as impressive as it was. I wear hearing aids and nothing is the same.

icopus wrote in post #18900862
The 'classical' I listened to ---
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=fVxGpN8B4BQ
and
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=632hgWkit48
They were magical to me then. But still enjoyable to me now.
But nothing is as impressive as it was. I wear hearing aids and nothing is the same.

I actually had the LP of Tomita doing Holst "The Planets" I was given it after my aunt realized I was spending a lot of listening time with the original STAR WARS Double album. (seriously great classical in it's own right, and the ultimate gateway drug into classical for a 6th grader.) The Tomita Planets album of course had a space ship and outer space on it,.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18901289
I actually had the LP of Tomita doing Holst "The Planets" I was given it after my aunt realized I was spending a lot of listening time with the original STAR WARS Double album. (seriously great classical in it's own right, and the ultimate gateway drug into classical for a 6th grader.) The Tomita Planets album of course had a space ship and outer space on it,.

so auntie assumed it would fit. She was right!

Although not a fan of Tomita at all, I will add that listing to that synth version of "Mars" was part of what got me really into classical. I seeked out a more "classical" version of "The Planets", and listened to Mars Bringer of War all the time! Then it was on to Carmina Burana, Beethoven's 9th, 6th and 3rd, the Greatest Hits of 1720 (all the favorites from the baroque era) Bach's Tocatta and Fugue, All of Mozart, and then eventually into Opera.

I also enjoyed Star Wars as well as Jaws. I also have Meco's disco version of Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz (I just have to smile and laugh at it). Meco's finale of The Wizard Of Oz (@ 24:50) still gets to me.* lol.
No, I'm not a fan of Tomita's other works either, but he did, like you, spark further interest into classical works. I did explore a little more, but not to the extent you did, and I'm afraid opera... I don't think I knew what I was looking for.
My tastes towards classical leaned to the popular works we heard in cartoons and movies though I could not tell you the titles now. Because today's music is so bad I cannot listen to the radio anymore, it might be a good time to explore classical again!

*Such a short lived magical era I didn't even get to experience except by watching the movies of the time.

icopus wrote in post #18901314
Because today's music is so bad I cannot listen to the radio anymore, it might be a good time to explore classical again!

3 to 5 notes, over and over, one or two chords. But still better than the simple loud rhythmic bass thumping with percussive sounds (often made by mouth, not drums) and some street chants by white guys pretending to be various ethnic minorities in the 'hoods.

icopus wrote in post #18901314
Because today's music is so bad I cannot listen to the radio anymore, it might be a good time to explore classical again!

Any time is good to explore classical music, but some of the new stuff is also good.

With services like Spotify we get to pick and choose what we hear. Thanks to software engineers even get list of potential listening based on what we've liked. For those of us who like to do it ourselves start with an artist, group or work we like and go down endless interesting rabbit holes chasing after similar stuff.

Small Disclosure: Daughter work for Spotify.

AZGeorge wrote in post #18901355
Any time is good to explore classical music, but some of the new stuff is also good.

With services like Spotify we get to pick and choose what we hear. Thanks to software engineers even get list of potential listening based on what we've liked. For those of us who like to do it ourselves start with an artist, group or work we like and go down endless interesting rabbit holes chasing after similar stuff.

Small Disclosure: Daughter work for Spotify.

Well, Pandora was very disappointing so I've been resistant to others. I'll look into Spotify. Thanks.