Let's Get Nostalgic

Remember those cassette players you used to listen to your homemade compilation tapes? You know, the one that could fast forward, but couldn't rewind? It was like a freakin' ordeal to repeat a song!

Even the pre boom box and Sony walkman tape players had rewind on them dating back to the early 70's when I got my first one. So I don't recall the type you mentioned

Yeah, me either. I never saw a tape player without a rewind function.

I remember trying to find a tape player that wouldn't make the tape sound all garbled when I jogged though. Never did find one.

Really!? Hmmm, wierd - the type we had in Denmark couldn't, haha. Maybe it was just the player we had, but I remember having to take the cassette out, flip it and play. Anyway, this thread ain't just about cassette players - share your own funny nostalgic memories!

You know, the players did have a rewind function, but they were just so poorly constructed, that they would stop working after a very short period of time - That was what I meant by "couldn't re-wind" - not that they didn't have the function at all.

Mglaffas81 wrote:

You know, the players did have a rewind function, but they were just so poorly constructed, that they would stop working after a very short period of time - That was what I meant by "couldn't re-wind" - not that they didn't have the function at all.

I had that happen with store bought cassettes but never ones I recorded myself. Either the tape wheels were too tight so you couldn't rewind from the end or they were so loose that when you tried to rewind the tape, the player would eat the tape.

I seem to recall what Mglaffas81 is talking about. I'm pretty sure my first portable cassette player, a Sony Walkman knock-off, didn't rewind, only fast-forwarded. It wasn't until my confimration in 6th grade that I received a real Sony walkman that could both rewind and fast forward. Living large!!

I seem to recall something similar too. Migght have been a protable walkman thing. All my stereo cassette players had rewind buttons. Heck, even the portable mono player had rewind!

My old time nostalgic story as requested by Mglaffas81....

I had this paper route in like 1976. My folks gave me this portable 8 track player (see below) I tied it to my butterfly handlebars while delivering papers. You just had to slap the handle to change the program.



It took a gazillion D cell batteries to run. I believe 4 at a time, but to keep playing it seemed like a gazillion. Anyways, I just got a Ted Nugent 8 track and the batteries were as dead as dead can be.
Had no cash, and the folks didn't have any more in the junk drawer by the fridge (wonder why ?) So I went a hunting....In one of my sister's room, James found something in the nightstand drawer that had just enough D cells inside. They were enough to get me through my route, Being I usually got tips, I went to T G and Y afterwards and bought new ones.

Later that night, my sister was really pissed off about something. Seems I gripped the power source for one of her toys. Shouldn't of left the thing empty I suppose.

James B. wrote:

My old time nostalgic story as requested by Mglaffas81....

I had this paper route in like 1976. My folks gave me this portable 8 track player (see below) I tied it to my butterfly handlebars while delivering papers. You just had to slap the handle to change the program.



It took a gazillion D cell batteries to run. I believe 4 at a time, but to keep playing it seemed like a gazillion. Anyways, I just got a Ted Nugent 8 track and the batteries were as dead as dead can be.
Had no cash, and the folks didn't have any more in the junk drawer by the fridge (wonder why ?) So I went a hunting....In one of my sister's room, James found something in the nightstand drawer that had just enough D cells inside. They were enough to get me through my route, Being I usually got tips, I went to T G and Y afterwards and bought new ones.

Later that night, my sister was really pissed off about something. Seems I gripped the power source for one of her toys. Shouldn't of left the thing empty I suppose.

Post of the day right here, folks.

...and on a related note, I saw one of those same 8-track players at our local thrift store not long ago. My kids asked me what it was and I said "It's an 8-track tape deck... they were kinda like the MP3 players of the 1970s."

i saw some kiss 8 tracks at goodwill...

I still have my original Sony Walkman from the old days and it works great. I listen to it regularly and still make my own mix tapes. I even use it in the workout room at my apartment complex....and yes I still use full size headphones only. I see 8 tracks all the time. I noticed if they are sealed they get good money for them. My favorite thing is to play my records. What I want is to find an original atari machine with some games in working condition. I like it way better than the modern machines and games. Even on my Nintendo DS I play games like pacman, galaga and astroids the most.

brokentulsa wrote:

I still have my original Sony Walkman from the old days and it works great. I listen to it regularly and still make my own mix tapes. I even use it in the workout room at my apartment complex....and yes I still use full size headphones only. I see 8 tracks all the time. I noticed if they are sealed they get good money for them. My favorite thing is to play my records. What I want is to find an original atari machine with some games in working condition. I like it way better than the modern machines and games. Even on my Nintendo DS I play games like pacman, galaga and astroids the most.

I bet I could kick your ass on a Galaga machine. I owned that game back in the day. That and the lesser known but infinitely more fun "Xevious".

And if you ever want to play a fun game that combines the intellect of chess with the "shoot-em-up" style of most video games, see if you can find the game "Archon". I used to have it on the original Nintendo. You have to think your moves ahead but instead of your piece just taking the square, you enter an arena where you have to kill the piece currently occupying the square. And every piece has strengths and weaknesses. That game was a total blast for me.

I still have a portable cassette recorder...with a retractable handle! Haha. But this thing is awesome. Up until I quit really recording music, this is what I recorded most demos on. It rules! Put it in the middle of a room with a full band, hit record, and everything comes out sounding great! It's a crazy little recorder.

I am happy to say I never had any 8 tracks..

Ricky wrote:

I am happy to say I never had any 8 tracks..

Unfortunately, I did. But not many.

As I remember I had Queen "News Of the World", Bad Company "Desolation Angel", Rush "2112", Boston S/T and Foreigner S/T.

The only one of those I never reacquired on CD was Queen. Not sure why.

What sucked about 8 tracks were they usually had the best song on the tape in two parts on different programs.

brokentulsa wrote:

What I want is to find an original atari machine with some games in working condition. I like it way better than the modern machines and games. Even on my Nintendo DS I play games like pacman, galaga and astroids the most.

I'm a '90s kid by generation, but I grew up playing on a second hand Atari. I bought a replacement last year on eBay. All of my old cartridges still worked after being packed in the attic for years. It's seriously my favorite console, haha.

I also collect old computers and games. I've kinda wanted to get back into collecting cassettes just for fun, but I need a working tape deck first...

I still have the last Sony Walkman I bought back in college. One of those bright yellow water proof "sport" ones. Still works as far as I know but it's just been collecting dust on a shelf above my workbench for a good 10 years now. Maybe it's a collector item by now?

I had some 8 tracks as a kid. Rick Dee's 'Disco Duck' was one I remember. And I think I had some old Elvis & Johnny Cash ones that my grandmother gave me. They had an 8-track player in their car. When the car died, she gave me the tapes.

tohostudios wrote:

I bet I could kick your ass on a Galaga machine. I owned that game back in the day. That and the lesser known but infinitely more fun "Xevious".

About a year ago I bought one of those "Plug-N-Play" arcade joystick thingies at Toys-R-Us that has a bunch of the old school Bally/Midway games on it, including Galaga, which I play obsessively. Right now my high score is somewhere around 275K on Galaga.

It's also got four or five different Pac-Man games, Galaxian, and DigDug!!

As for 8-tracks...the 8-track tape revolution totally passed over my house. By the time I started listening to/buying music they were just about phased out and cassette tapes were on the rise. Some of my friends had 8 tracks but they never made it into my house. My parents were loyal record junkies who bought vinyl LPs well into the mid '80s.

I still have my original Atari 2600 I got for Christmas in I think 1982. Still works but can be a little clunky at times. Also have all my original games for it. Though a good chunk of those don't work any longer. Yars Revenge and Defender remain my personal favorites. With Burger Time and Journey Escape also getting a lot of play. Sadly my Popeye game doesn't play and I've yet to come across another.

Quote :

That and the lesser known but infinitely more fun "Xevious".

Xevious was an awesome game. Another I loved was Gyruss. Years back I was at a movie theater that was selling their Gyruss machine. Always kinda regretted not getting it.


I still have one of those yellow sportsman walkmans. No idea if it still plays or not. I used to go through those cheap ones pretty quick in the eighties. I think they were Emersons or something. Some I know only fast forwarded. Learned the valuable lesson of it sometimes paying to pay more to get a quality product.

jstate wrote:

I still have my original Atari 2600 I got for Christmas in I think 1982. Still works but can be a little clunky at times. Also have all my original games for it. Though a good chunk of those don't work any longer. Yars Revenge and Defender remain my personal favorites. With Burger Time and Journey Escape also getting a lot of play. Sadly my Popeye game doesn't play and I've yet to come across another.

Ah, the Atari...I will never forget the Christmas when I got one. It was probably Christmas of 1982 and I ran out hoping to see it under the tree, but it was not there... As a family, we had gifts from Santa (which were unwrapped) and gifts from Mom & Dad which were wrapped. My brother only being 5 at this time was obviously a believer in Santa, while I had been a non-believer since about the age of 8. I kinda of felt like Ralpie in A Christmas Story looking for his Red Rider B.B. gun, but not finding the ultimate prize. I remember my parents kind of noticing that I seemed a little bummed, so after all things had been unwrapped, my Father told me to look under the couch. There appeared in all of its glory, the 2600!!! Christmas was officially saved, as I could now revel with the rest of my buddies, who either already had the system or were probably receiving it that very same day. I think that I got PAC-Man and Chopper Command that day? I was wicked good at Chopper Command...

I downloaded all Atari games on my iPad