Post No. 2,195: In which our hero salutes the cassette tape

Compilers of the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY have excised "CASSETTE TAPE" from the "Concise" edition, another sign of shifting technologies and once-ubiquitous daily items now rendered obsolete.
I admit that I am among the mourners.
During my college days, I would not have survived without my cassette tapes. There was no local radio station in CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA that would play JOY DIVISION, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, THE CURE or similar bands back then -- hell, there probably isn't a local radio station in C.R. now that will play that stuff -- so I depended on cassettes as a link to the music I loved.
My first college work-study job involved sweeping out the system of subterranean pedestrian walkways that connected buildings on the MOUNT MERCY COLLEGE (now "Mount Mercy University") campus.
The task gave me a nickname that stuck -- "TUNNELMAN" -- while giving me an opportunity to listen to cassettes on a WalkMan.
Did you know "UNKNOWN PLEASURES" is a perfect album to hear while sweeping dust down a seemingly endless tunnel? I learned that lesson the hard way, thanks to my cassette tapes.
Later, I would tape all my albums so I could listen in the car.
Drives along the astonishingly beautiful coast of SONOMA COUNTY, CALIF. -- which I consider to be "home" -- were punctuated by alternative music, R&B rarities, reggae and even jazz on cassette. Years went by and you could identify my car by the shoebox full of cassettes in the passenger side.
Yes, the iPod era is much easier for storing a music collection. I just don't think the current era is as cool as a shoebox full of eclectic cassettes.
R.I.P., cassette tape.