GoKawiilIf you grew up in the 1980s, chances are you had a collection of cassette tapes. Remember those? The media format, about the size of a large stack of credit cards, was the primary way we listened to music in the '80s before being overtaken by CDs in the '90s and eventually streaming services like Spotify. If you're like me, you may still have many of them stored in a shoebox. But how long are these tiny tapes expected to last?
The general belief is about 30 years, but this is based on ideal storage conditions. Cassette tapes will deteriorate over time even under the best conditions since the coating that binds the tapes will eventually lose lubrication and detach. But the primary deciding factor for longevity is storage. I personally have cassette tapes that are more than 30 years old and still play just fine (thanks mom and dad for having a player around to try them!).
It's not a bad idea to digitize your cassettes using a digitization service or by connecting a player to your computer and recording to digital files using a service like Audacity. before they do deteriorate to preserve those custom playlists and memories. But for now, if you still have cassettes from the '70s and '80s, as long as they're stored well, they could play for decades to come.