In 2005, I went back to college.
I enrolled at my former 6th Form college to do a couple of A levels. I would be in classes with kids half my age and I wondered how I might be received. Fortunately I wasn't shunned as some weird outsider that would be on the watchlist of social services and pretty much got on with everybody.

The college broke up for Xmas and on my return in the new year, a good many of my classmates brandished iPods. I however didn't as I'm not keen on listening to music through earphones. In maths, the teacher woud allow us to listen to music whilst working through an exercise book and I was pretty much the only one in the class that didn't have an iPod. This would not do.

The next lesson, we were working through a trigonometry exercise and people were plugging in their iPods so I fished out of my bag my answer to this ubiquitous over-hyped music device. A 20 year old Aiwa personal stereo, complete with battery cover held in place with red electricians tape. It drew considerable attention. Do kids nowadays have no knowledge of older technology? When I was their age, I knew what a Dansette record player was and that it played 78s, and TVs that could be fixed by your dad belting the side of it with his shoe and I could even have recognised a gramophone.

But no, this was like some weird alien device that they couldn't even comprehend. It played a format that they had no memories of and was obsolete before they even started nursery school. Surely their parents must own similar stuff. This was proved when one of them declared that their dad had something in the loft that played cassettes.

To complete the image, I dug out "Now That's What I call Music 10". The problem was that it needed rewinding and notwithstanding the technical wizardry of Aiwa's R&D department, my player had no rewind function as it used up batteries on a scale not seen since Big Trak. Rewinding the tape involved slotting the cassette spool onto a Bic biro and spinning it around and around and this actually drew gasps as if I had just levitated out of the window.

If only I still had the original headphones which were those strip of spring-steel affairs with a sponge headphone pad at each end; none of these uncomfortable ear-plug things for me.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 10:14, 9 replies)

Ahem...
Fastforward to the end and turn tape over... that oughta do it.

I'm looking forward to whipping out my bnib red wm 11 complete with orig headphones etc. Still full factory lustre because it has a bent pinch roller pin meaning it was never used. That'll cause a stir amongst the youth of tomorrow.
(AndyC4m Eject Eject [><], Mon 8 Nov 2010, 10:50, closed)

The FF on these things
was hardly fast. It should've been called 'Sedate Forward'. Besides, that's only ok if you want to listen to the other side.

Here's a thought, what bitrate does an mp3 have to be sampled at so it is of better quality than a cassette with all it's noise and hisses.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 10:58, closed)

I think he meant turn the tape over and fast forward to the end of the side you don't want to listen to...
:)
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 15:46, closed)

The bic biro method
Often had to use this method to conserve power plus it was a lot faster than the RW/FF.
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 12:19, closed)

Double tape decks was the P2P of its day.
Through in 4 Kingsonic tapes for £1 and you had six months worth listening power right there.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 13:42, closed)

fuck, i LOVED now 10
it had nina simone, the pogues and kirsty macoll and queen on it.
it also had one of the worst songs ever made on it, hey matthw.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 21:01, closed)

It was the first one I had
so therefore it was the best one.
Even if it did have The Alarm on it
( Joe Scaramanga with a G-double-O-D vibration, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 8:45, closed)

i did have now 6
but my brother frisbeed it across the room and shattered it
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 14:20, closed)

Tracklist time! Now That's What I Call Music 10 or Now 10 was released in 1987. The album is the 10th edition of the (UK) Now! series. This was the first of the series to be available on double CD in addition to being available on vinyl & audio cassette
Disc 1

1. Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé : "Barcelona"
2. Pet Shop Boys : "Rent"
3. The Communards : "Never Can Say Goodbye"
4. M/A/R/R/S : "Pump Up the Volume"
5. Hue & Cry : "Labour of Love"
6. Jellybean feat. Steven Dante : "The Real Thing"
7. Johnny Hates Jazz : "I Don’t Want to be a Hero"
8. The Style Council : "Wanted"
9. T'Pau : "China in Your Hand"
10. Heart : "Alone"
11. Kiss : "Crazy Crazy Nights"
12. Billy Idol : "Mony Mony"
13. Whitesnake : "Here I Go Again"
14. The Alarm : "Rain in the Summertime"
15. Marillion : "Sugar Mice"

[edit] Disc two

1. Wet Wet Wet : "Sweet Little Mystery"
2. Curiosity Killed the Cat : "Misfit"
3. Los Lobos : "La Bamba"
4. Fat Boys : "Wipeout"
5. Bananarama : "Love in the First Degree"
6. Cliff Richard : "My Pretty One"
7. Karel Fialka : "Hey, Matthew"
8. Jan Hammer : "Crockett's Theme from Miami Vice"
9. Nina Simone : "My Baby Just Cares for Me"
10. Erasure : "The Circus"
11. The Housemartins : "Build"
12. Level 42 : "It's Over"
13. ABC : "When Smokey Sings"
14. Squeeze : "Hourglass"
15. The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl : "Fairytale of New York"
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 12:55, closed)