cassette on technabob...

I can’t think of any better way to connect my mix tape USB flash drive to my computer than to plug it into this retro cassette tape USB hub.

The 4-port USB 2.0 hub may look exactly like an old school cassette tape, but I can pretty much assure you that you’ll wreck your tape player if you attempt to pop this thing in and listen to it…

This oooey-gooey delicious skeleton is made from the melted down old carcasses of cassette tapes. Artist Brian Dettmer created these guys for an exhibition at the International Museum of Surgical Science, right here in my hometown of Chicago…

The cassette tape is probably just a fuzzy memory for those of you who grew up with Compact Discs and MP3s. But for us born before the 1980s, we have to figure out what to do with all of those old tapes. Why not turn them into a lighting fixture?

That’s exactly what the guys over at Transparent House are doing with their cassettes…

Plenty of companies have made cassette tape adapters for connecting MP3 players to your car stereo, but this one wins the award for ingenuity. Not only does this gadget let you play your digital tracks through your old school tape player, the cassette IS the MP3 player…

For those of us who were born in the pre-MP3 era, the idea of creating a custom mix of your favorite tunes and putting them on a cassette tape was one of the most romantic things that you could do for your significant other (unless you happened to include “That’s What Friends Are For” or “The Breakup Song” on there.)

The oh-so-clever designers over at Suck UK have put together this kit that lets you make a modern version of the mix tape…

While I don’t really know if these qualify as “gadgets,” I just had to show you these awesome tape dispensers coming from UK designers at j-me.

A clever visual pun manifested in 3-dimensions, they dispense Scotch tape instead of playing the magnetic type. Available for pre-order now, these dispensers should be shipping this September for about $25 USD.
[via designboom]

With just about every device from cell phones to watches embedding portable media players these days, I thought it might be fun (and maybe a little bit educational) to take a walk down memory lane and examine the evolution the portability of music and media over the last 50-odd years.
Regency TR-1
Back in 1954, I.D.E.A. released the very first portable transistor radio…