Vintage Cassettes: 1963-2010
Here you will find the beatiful pictures of sealed compact casettes. Cassettes from 1970-1990 are covered the most. Collecting vintage cassettes is a great hobby and brings all good memories back. Cassettes are organized by brands and then the years they were produced. We concentrate on the most important brands. This site try to cover three markets: US, Europe and Japan. We also added the History of Compact Cassettes located to the right.
Currently we have 2441 unique sealed cassettes in the database, of which:
- AGFA (71 cassettes) 1967-1991 Europe
- BASF (202 cassettes) 1970-93 US/Japan/Europe
- DENON (126 cassettes) 1978-2000 US/Japan/Europe
- FUJI / AXIA (216 cassettes) 1971-2006 US/Japan/Europe
- GoldStar / LG (26 cassettes) 1986-2001 US/Europe
- Hitachi / Lo-D (70 cassettes) 1966-1993 Japan/Europe
- JVC / Victor (55 cassettes) 1979-1991 US/Japan/Europe
- Maxell (265 cassettes) 1970-2005 US/Japan/Europe
- Memorex (53 cassettes) 1971-1999 US/Europe
- National / Technics / Panasonic (64 cassettes) 1967-1996 Japan/Europe
- Philips (63 cassettes) 1963-1999 Europe
- RAKS (28 cassettes) 1985-1998 Europe
- Realistic/Radioshack (28 cassettes) 1973-2005 US/Europe
- Scotch (95 cassettes) 1968-1995 US/Japan/Europe
- SKC / SMAT (65 cassettes) 1977-2012 US/Japan/Europe
- SONY (359 cassettes) 1968-2005 US/Japan/Europe
- TDK (371 cassettes) 1966-2005 US/Japan/Europe
- TRIAD / That's (90 cassettes) 1983-1992 US/Japan/Europe
- OEM cassettes (160 cassettes) US/Japan/Europe
- Reel-to-Reel cassettes (41 cassettes) US/Japan/Europe
Here is the Line-up for the Maxell, Sony and TDK in the Hey Days!!!
Maxell:
Type I: UR -> UDI -> XLI -> XLI-SType II: UDII -> XLII -> XLII-S
Type IV: MX -> MX-S -> Metal Vertex
SONY:
Type I: HF -> HF-S -> HF-X -> HF-ES -> HF-PRO
Type II: UX -> UX-S -> UX-ES -> UX-PRO -> UX Master
Type IV: Metal-S -> Metal-ES -> Metal Master
TDK:
Type I: D -> AD -> AD-X -> AR -> AR-X
Type II: SF (SD) -> SA -> SA-X -> SA-XG
Type IV: MA -> MA-X -> MA-XG
Now, I don't sell the cassettes pictured on this website. The best way to get vintage cassettes is Ebay. Be prepare that some cassettes commence quite high prices. There are several places you can buy TDK SA (for $1.25) or MAXELL XLII (for $1.00). These are not vintage, but for a casual recording will be sufficient.
Please check Links section for discussion boards.
Recent Updates:
May 28, 2013: Thanks to Audio-Collector we were able to update several section (About 50 cassettes added). We were able to add the "missing link" - Maxell MX 1984 US Market from "New" line. Also BASF LH super I 1982 (EUR) and BASF Chromdioxid Maxima II 1985 with alternative shells, BASF Collector Editions (1995-96), missing Sony HF-S, UCX, Metal-ES from 1985 European market, SONY FN (1988 EUR) and FX-II (1990 EUR), complete A-La line-up (1985 JPN), SONY WALKMAN (1988 and 1989 EUR), SONY NOTA (1988 EUR), SONY EF-X (1995 South American), Denon LX and DX1 with alternative shells, DENON DX (1990 and 1991 EUR). THANK YOU!
May 22, 2013: Important update: Technics ME from 1985 added thanks to rawavlad.
May 16, 2013: Small update thanks to yuko_ru, kostya1969, werter, KuranJabr (That's AM, RX, MG-X, CD-IS, Nakamichi EX-II, AudioMagnetics High Performance, Yamaha Music GX, National SG, Memorex CIRE-I)
May 5, 2013: Updated SKC and SMAT line-up. 11 cassettes added (several versions of SMAT SH-X and SMAT CR, also SMAT CD-II, SMAT SK, SMAT SH and SMAT YOUNG 2). While we believe SKC line-ups are correct SMAT line-ups are little mystery due to the fact that SMAT cassettes were produced mainly for South Korean market. On a way to reach 2500 cassettes in the database...
April 27, 2013: Added OEM section (AudioMagnetics, Aurex & Toshiba, Kenwood, Konica and Magnax, Luxman, Magna, Nakamichi, PDMagnetics, Pioneer, Yamaha finished. Other - still work in progress). Added 155 cassettes! Thanks to yuko_ru and audio-collector. More updates to come...
June 12, 2012: SKC LX (1992) added [thanks to CapstanJack] and RAKS High Dynamic (1985).
June 3, 2012: SKC AX (1990) and SKC ZX (1992) added thanks to CapstanJack.
May 27, 2012: Huge update (157 cassettes added). Complete redesign of the website. New Sections: Korean giants (Goldstar - 26 cassettes, SKC/SMAT - 51 cassettes) and Turkish giant RAKS (27 cassettes). Also Reel-to-Reel cassettes section added (TEAC, CVS and others - 41 cassettes in total). Also updates in other sections: Maxell MG I, Maxell Pochette Blue and Yellow, Hitachi UD-E, Victor ME-P, Technics MX, Philips SC II, Sony FN, TDK MA-X, Technics C, That's FX, That's MR-X Limited, Fuji Fr-II 1988 EUR, SONY Vocal added.
January 04, 2012: Happy New Year! Relatively big update (44 cassettes added) thanks to yuko_ru (23 cassettes), kostya1969, toyoko-tape-selector and CapstanJack. The following cassettes have been added: Technics LN and XA, National MX, National MA-DU, National FS (Pink and Blue), National NS (Yellow and Red), National DS 46 (Yellow and Orange) and National DS 60 (Yellow, Red, Pink, Green and Blue), Fuji 1990 US Slimline (Dr-I,Dr-II,Fr-IIx) and EUR Slimline (Jp-Is,Jp-II,Jp-IIx), Denon GX-Y, Panasonic EN, Panasonic EX, SONY Hip-Pop (White and Green), Memorex CDX2, Memorex MRX, Memorex Out of This World, Memorex Sound Invasion, Memorex Chrom Bias II, Philips EQ-I, Philips HP, Philips HR, Scotch CX (1990 EUR), Scotch Dynarange (1970 EUR), Scotch Highlander (1975 US and 1979 US), That's Pas-de-deux (White and Pink), That's Em-X, Lo-D DL, Lo-D SR, Lo-D EX, Lo-D SX (all 1983-84), Hitachi DJ-I (1988), Hitachi ME (1979) and Lo-D SX (1980), JVC AFI (1992-94). Right now we are working on RAKS and SKC/SMAT cassettes.
For detailed updates history dated back to 2008 see Updates.
To contact us: website(AT)vintagecassettes.com