Currys, one of the UKs largest home electronics chains, is to stop stocking tape cassettes ( Philips' 44 year old invention ) and tape decks. The High Street chain also predicts that this Christmas will be the last time it sells any hi-fi system with a tape deck included.

Cassette tapes have been suffering a slow decline over the past 15 years as first compact discs, and more recently music downloading, took hold. But it is estimated that there are still as many as 500 million tapes in circulation, languishing at the back of bookshelves, or in the side doors of cars.

The sales of cassettes have fallen steadily since they hit their peak in the 1980s - a decade when they enjoyed unparalleled popularity, helped by the rise of the Walkman, launched by Sony in 1979. The portability of the format moved out of the living room and on to the street. In 1989, helped by falling prices of hi-fi systems, 83 million music cassettes were sold in the UK. This fell to 53 million in 2000, and just half a million in 2005. Last year only about 100,000 were sold. However, this figure excludes audio books and blank tapes, which still attract a small, loyal fan base, with four million blank tapes sold last year and 1.5 million audio books.

Currys is the last High Street chain to bow out of the market. Woolworths and HMV stopped stocking the products 18 months ago.

And about time.

In their day they were far easier than open reel tape but the quality has always been iffy.

The number of times my car unit has chewed up a tape leaving a string of tape to be extracated from it's innards.

Yup, good riddance.

What am I gonna do with my Tascam 112? It cost 500 nicker. I still use it at least......... er........... erm









Once a year :o

Want some help putting your cassette's onto CD

I'll get my coat ......................