I was in an electronics store yesterday looking for new pair of headphones and stumbled across an interesting device: a cassette-to-MP3 converter. I was dubious, but it was only $30. And there was only one left. I took it home and dug out my stack of long-forgotten cassette tapes – 25 in all – and began the transfers. These took real time; a 90-minute cassette takes 90 minutes to download, almost like the old days of making tapes, timing the starting buttons and checking levels. Some of the cassettes have that bad warbling sound but many of the songs are pure nostalgia: Mr. Love (Vehicle), Zoolook (Jean Michel Jarre), Alibis (Moev), Uncertain Smile (The The) and Now Nothing (Penguin Café Orchestra). Ah, yes, cassettes…I wonder how long this will hold my attention. (The 45s would be next if I’d hung on to any of them.)