It broke my heart to see it go, but it was obsolete.
A piece of my past. Something I was saving to give to my kids kid some day.
I wouldn’t exactly call myself a hoarder – my mom would disagree. Recently we moved my husband from a basement office to a first floor room, my mom said, “Oh great, now you have another room to fill with junk.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about. Record albums – “Big CD’s” the boy calls them. VHS tapes – I still have a player, so they’re all good, right? And those precious cassettes. What? You say they don’t even want them at Popping Tags? (That would be Goodwill to you.)
The deconstructionist wants to play with them. “By play with them, what do you mean?” I ask.
Him: “You know mom, take them apart!”
Me: “What?! No! I want to save these for you someday.”
Him: “Do we have something you can play them in?”
Me, as I start digging through the cassettes like they were priceless jewels: “Of course we do.”
I hate to admit it, but I have all of these tapes on CD or in my iTunes, at least all of the ones that are any good.
It hurts, but I hand over the tapes. I can’t look.
He is the deconstructionist. The glee he feels in taking things apart makes it all OK. Kind of.
RIP Cassette Tapes.
You were here for only a short while, those of us who knew you will miss you. MixTapes will never be the same.
I saved all the Steely Dan.
Jen Kehl 
At least he had fun doing this. But seriously, I probably have some old tapes somewhere, too. Just can’t believe how obsolete that and even CDs seem to be becoming, too. Crazy, but my kids will never know anything other then possibly destroying cassette tapes someday!!
Hey Janine! I know….it was so hard to let go though!
We did exactly the same thing with our tape stash way back when. Should have saved some for boy #3!
I commend you Jane, I never could have done it before this year…I don’t know why.
Ohh… it’s painful to look at that last picture! I still have my old cassettes, and I don’t think I will ever part with them. So what if I have the CD and digital copy of every song ever made by New Kids On The Block, circa 1988-1992? That doesn’t mean I don’t need the cassettes, too! 😉
I know Heather…It’s so true. I started looking through them and I was like, I have this on CD and in my iTunes, and this one, and this one. I had no good excuse anymore!
Oh, that hurt to see. I wonder if those guys on the show American Pickers will be around long enough to think they’re valuable. I got a whole bunch to sell them!!
Penny, trust me, they aren’t worth a dime. And believe it or not, neither are LP’s, it’s so sad…
Had the same issue recently. Didn’t want to give up my tapes! My husband actually digitized them all for me…. ❤
Your husband is awesome Deb! How was the quality?
I think that that is a great use for old tapes! Go, your little deconstructionist!
Thanks Rachel! I thought so too. It’s better than something I really need!
Ouch! Painful…and yet, somehow awesome. We have this classic photo of my oldest daughter when she was about a year and a half, sitting on the stairs with a pair of my underwear around her neck, holding a basket of Daddy’s old tapes. He still listens to them, mostly 80s metal, when he is driving his 1990 Toyota Truck. 🙂
I actually “donated” some to a friend who also drives an early 90’s car. But the rest….well they’re history.
That looks like it hurt. So does that mean next week it is going to be Mixed ITunes?
Ha! Kerri!!! I actually saved my “real” mixtapes! You never know when you’re gonna need some inspiration! It will always be a mixtape to me!
I always wondered why my Mom would only buy records instead of cassettes when I was a kid. It turned out it was my fault. I sat in her closet and shredded all her 8 Tracks.
What goes around comes around, sort of. My cat shredded all my cassette tapes. Yeah…
Sarah That’s seriously hysterical and somehow comforting!
OH. NO!!!!!!
Not the mixed tapes!!!
I totally get what you mean. Back in the day they were awesome. They carry memories.
Sigh…but sometimes we do have to let them go. Besides you can download them now 🙂
PS. We have a junk room. We call it the green room even though we painted it orange a while ago…don’t ask 🙂
Sadly Kimberly we have more than one junk room. We have a finished basement with too many closets. Yes there is such a thing!
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! I still have 3 crates of LP’s and umpteen boxes of cassettes in the basement where they will be staying…well at least until my husband gets rid of his “treasures”. 😀
I still have all of my LP’s I think for nostalgia’s sake I can keep those. At least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
OMG I can’t believe you let him wreck your tapes! I think it’s awesome that you did and he obviously had a blast. I do still have a few of my favorite records – how could I ever get rid of the Billy Idol PHOTO album (the LP has his picture on it) that I paid $30 back in The Day? Well, I can’t.
You are brave. And I think it’s excellent that you just made more room for new stuff 😉