I'm 53. Those things were the absolute most lusted for device among the amateur musicians I knew in college and soon after; the ability to record with any complexity at all at home like that was insane. Before that, demos were just played live to a tape recorder, with no ability to multitrack or overdub or any such thing.
I'm sympathetic to the motivating factors of deliberately limited workspaces, but at the same time I am astonished and deeply happy about how this particular barrier to home recording has been more or less completely removed. The average laptop owned by a college freshman is far more capable, given the right software. That's astounding, and has allowed far more creative freedom, which is a boon we all enjoy.
But yeah: sometimes working with a form is interesting. And, for someone of a certain age, the powerful shot of nostalgia from working on something like this could definitely be motivating. That said, though, the tagline is bullshit: The cassette was never cool.
I'm sympathetic to the motivating factors of deliberately limited workspaces, but at the same time I am astonished and deeply happy about how this particular barrier to home recording has been more or less completely removed. The average laptop owned by a college freshman is far more capable, given the right software. That's astounding, and has allowed far more creative freedom, which is a boon we all enjoy.
But yeah: sometimes working with a form is interesting. And, for someone of a certain age, the powerful shot of nostalgia from working on something like this could definitely be motivating. That said, though, the tagline is bullshit: The cassette was never cool.