Vintage 1980s compact audio cassette showing its printed label, magnetic tape and twin reels.

. A transparent plastic compact audio cassette is seen in close-up with its magnetic tape, reels and printed label. The label identifies the release name printed on the cassette label. The black-and-white treatment concentrates attention on the shape of the cartridge, the exposed spools and the older recorded-music format. This portable analogue medium was widely used to distribute commercial albums, create home recordings and play music in vehicles before CDs and digital files became commonplace. The photograph records a surviving physical audio carrier with a recognisable design and tactile handling characteristics. The design of the cassette is especially revealing because the two tape hubs are visible through the transparent shell. There is a narrow slot through which the magnetic tape is exposed to a tape player's head, and the spool openings are the points through which the transport mechanism drives the tape. A cassette is usually turned over or mechanically reversed to play its two sides, depending on the player. Music collections on this format often involved careful physical storage, handwritten labels and the risk of tape damage. Recorded music has moved through a succession of physical formats, from shellac and vinyl records to magnetic tape, compact discs and digital services. Audio cassettes stored an analogue signal on narrow magnetic tape carried between two spools inside a plastic shell. The format was portable and could be used in cars, personal stereos, domestic tape decks and recording equipment. A track or album could be played repeatedly, but the tape could wear, become tangled or lose quality through repeated use. Printed labels and case inserts were important sources of information about artists, tracks, recordings and record labels. The cassette shell, hubs and printed record label preserve details of a music format associated with home audio collections in the 1980s.