In the 1980s, cassette tapes were all the rage because they were more compact than the vinyl records of the 1970s. But the 1990s saw the advent of compact discs (CDs), and cassettes fell out of favor. If you were to come across a box of cassettes today, you might wonder how they compare with the sleek CDs you use so frequently.

Appearance

The most obvious difference between a CD and a cassette is shape and size. A CD is shaped like a doughnut, but it is flat with a thickness of just more 1 mm. In contrast, a cassette is rectangular and is 25 millimeters thick. Some cassette tapes are made of clear plastic and you can see the film winding around the two spools inside the plastic case.

Storage

Because CDs are so much slimmer and lighter than cassettes, you need less space to store CDs. For example, you can purchase a storage case that allows you to keep 12 CDs on the sun visor of your car. This is not something you can do with bulky cassettes.

Sound Quality

According to an article on the Crutchfield website, CDs sound better than cassettes because CD players have a better signal-to-noise ratio. According to "Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, 5th Edition," the signal is the sound you do want to hear and the noise is any sound you do not want to hear. Therefore, CDs have a crisper sound because unwanted noise has been filtered out.

Price

Blank cassette tapes can cost approximately $1 apiece. You can purchase CDs in packages of 25 or 50 at a cost of about 30 cents apiece.

Availability

Just as cassettes replaced vinyl records, CDs have replaced cassettes. Very little new music comes on cassettes, but you can always get your hands on the latest CD from your favorite music group. Additionally, compact disc drives found on most computers help boost the popularity of CDs.

Durability

Converting your favorite cassettes to CDs is recommended because CDs are more durable. According to an article published in April 2001 in Smart Computing magazine, the film inside a cassette's plastic case will stretch and degrade with repeated use, but you can listen to a CD over and over again without compromising the audio quality.

Source:

Chip's CD Media Resource Center: CD Physical Structure

Dimensions Guide: Audio Cassette Dimensions

Crutchfield: Getting the Best Sound Out of Your Portable Music Player in the Car