Cassette technology, 50 years old today!

[Mike G in SC]

Just saw on TV, the Cassette celebrates it's 50th birthday today.

Probably a national holiday at the Yamaha factory!!

 

http://media.heraldonline.com/smedia/2013/09/13/00/06/413-Ua8Ht.AuSt.55.jpeg

[RandyR]

I'm sure I have some saved that are almost that old. I used one in college circa 1975 for recording music off the radio. The local radio station would announce what song was being played next and I would record it if it was one I wanted to learn to play on guitar.

 

thank you GI Bill

[bongobobny]

[dacheedah]

2nd that

[bill in mn]

I like the tape player on my 85 . I have so many cassettes it's like a trip down memory lane, waite it is.

[cowpuc]

Dear folks at Yamaha:

My friend Mike brings up a very important point here of which I would like to comment. I want you all to know how proud I am of you. You, your engineers, marketing staff and investors have made me one of the happiest motorcyclist in the world today.

I have been riding the Yamaha XVZ12 since 1986, have owned 5 of them and ridden just under a million miles on them since that time.

My life long experience with the Venture began with an 84 Blonde (a bike my kids named Big Girl or BG (pronounced beeeg) of who's side panels, because of the joy this big ol gorgeous bike brought into our lives, are lovingly used on our current bike..

Being the Royal model, Beeg came from the factory with an original cassette player. Over its hard life on the road this cassette player became part of many years of excitement and fun for my kids and I as we crossed America many many times.. One particular time stands out in my mind as unforgettable..

After a tent camping excursion on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, all the while listening to my favorite Willie Nelson tape on the bikes cassette player, we packed up and headed for Knaub Utah. Tired of listening to the same Willie tape for 3 days (how anyone can ever tire of Willie I dont know) my daughter removed Willie from the cassette and stuck one of her tapes in the deck.. She was just a child and didnt understand the standard procedure of tape removal from any deck, albeit, checking for tape snag..

As we pulled out of our camping area Willie began to unroll himself thru the forest in a fashion very typical of that era of technology. As my daughter and I chatted and rode thru some of the most gorgeous country on the planet we had no idea that willie was being left behind and following us..

As Willie came to the end of his spool and it snapped off, he said goodbye by making a tug across my lower leg as if to say, please dont leave me I wanna be on the road again..

Not being one to leave Willie in the woods, I turned Beeg around and started the process of reeling Willie in.. To this day I am really not sure how many inches/yards/miles of rewind there was from Willie on that morning BUT, I can say it was a long long way!! Willie was stretched across limbs, rocks, stumps, ant hills and on and on.. My Daughter was very impressed with the amount tape there actually was in that little cassette. I was very impressed with how thin some of the sections of the tape had stretched without breaking!!!

Of the following Ventures I have owned only one had a Cassette.. It seemed that the original bike had actually broken me of my need for music while traveling on a bike.. Dont feel sorry for me though, I actually look at this as a positive - maybe even a safety feature that you folks were trying to create.. I discovered that while riding a bike it is easier for me to pay attention if I dont have music playing. I also discovered that at highway speeds a person can sing as loud as they want and no one can hear you.. You dont have to have a good voice, you can add or subtract words from the song, you can even take words from a different song and put them into whatever song your singing and no one can hear you - pretty cool...

At any rate, the main reason I am writing this is to make suggestions of things for you folks to do at your 50th Cassette Anniversary celebration that I am sure you are having..

Here you go..

1. Have contestants tie one end of a partially unspooled cassette to a pole and leave the cassette on the bike, see who can stretch the unspooled cassette tape the farthest..

2. Same process only this time tie the end of the tape from one bike to another. Drive the bikes around the parking lot to form patterns with the unspooled tape. Have different classes of awards for different patterns made (award for most original, most chaotic, hardest to clean up, and on and on).

3. Have grab bags of old cassette tapes (obtainable cheaply at Goodwill stores across america).

 

As I sit here waiting for the new Yamaha Venture, you know, the one with the detuned new Yamaha V-Max motor in it, I can only hope that the lowly cassette player will be part of nostalgia meeting modern day motorcycling..

Your Friend

Cowpuc

[EasyRider]

While never and I mean never having ridden the slower first gen bike I do second Cowpuc love for the cassette. I wish it were a memory not a present day display located where my cd player should be..

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Y'all should see the new Yamaha bike-to-bike intercom being tested at a secret location.

 

650 feet is a good range, right now...but the future for this kind of technology is unlimited.

 

 

[ame]

[/ame] Edited September 13, 2013 by tx2sturgis

[cowpuc]

Y'all should see the new Yamaha bike-to-bike intercom being tested at a secret location.

 

650 feet is a good range, right now...but the future for this kind of technology is unlimited.

 

 

 

 

You know,, I really like the way that this Brian character down there in Texas thinks, kind of a sneaky touch of sarcasm in a Red Green kinda way,,, sort of like a bunch of fellers and gals I met a while back down at Vogel

Anyway,, one of these fine days Tippy and I are gonna actually make it down in TX's neck of the woods in an attempt to corrupt,, I mean straighten things out down there - you know, look for space ships at Roswell and go ghost towning and all that..

I think I may have to track Brian down when we are out there just to see if he really exists,, if he does, maybe even get a ride in that air-born side car attached to that Ural.....

AND,,,,, I could sure use someone to help me hook up this new intercom system:rotf::rotf:

[Mike G in SC]

Y'all should see the new Yamaha bike-to-bike intercom being tested at a secret location.

 

650 feet is a good range, right now...but the future for this kind of technology is unlimited.

 

 

I hope they don't do electric bikes,,, would run out of cord,,, probably 100'.