During the eighties and early nineties, one of the key moments of adolescence was hearing and creating the first audio cassette. Nowadays, adolescents would tell you that they first discovered music on a CD or MP3. There are still many people who remember the days before digital music became common.

The beginning of a music revolution was found in audio cassettes. They were a portal to a musical new world. They made music portable, and we could take the music on walks and listen to it in our cars. Vinyl was easily damaged and was not portable as audio cassettes.

But cassette tapes had their own challenges to ownership. Susceptible to damage, the frail ribbon was prone to tangling or twisting, which often led to a premature demise, and thus a frustrated listener. The natural order of things dictated that audio cassettes withstood more than vinyl LP's, but were soon to be passed over by CDs.

In talking to some of my peers, we have all shared stories of our favorite TDK audio cassette memory. One friend spoke of a home made tape her mother made of lullabies she would listen to when her mother was away. Another friend had an older brother who would send him mix tapes when he was at college. We all have memories attached to the audio cassettes we had when we were younger.

The era of coexistence between audio cassettes and CDs was a fascinating time. CDs were more expensive, but they offered a significantly superior functionality over cassettes. The days of rewinding and fast-forwarding were gone; one could simply select their desired songs, or even loop a single track. Given the relative convenience of CDs, it's no wonder that they completely displaced the cassette tape.

Whatever advances are made in technology in years to come, we will still remember the humble audio cassette. It did play a major role in the development of future technology and artistic technique, and many of them are still around and playable. The audio cassette will never again dominate the market, but thousands of us still love it and remember it fondly.