Last Days of the Audiobook Cassette

Mac Slocum
July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

In the wake of Hachette's last cassette-based audiobook, the New York Times eulogizes a format many thought was already long gone:

Cassettes have limped along for some time, partly because of their usefulness in recording conversations or making a tape of favorite songs, say, for a girlfriend. But sales of portable tape players, which peaked at 18 million in 1994, sank to 480,000 in 2007, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The group predicts that sales will taper to 86,000 in 2012.

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