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Reference Desk
Are cassette tapes still made in 2026?
Yes. Blank Type I cassettes are sold new by US retailers at $5.15 to $28.39 — the same four listings, at the same asks, as a week ago — and new cassette players are sold by 20 retailers from $3.99 to $730.99. But every blank cassette on sale is normal bias: across 639 cassette listings, zero Type II, Type IV, chrome or metal tapes appear.
Last verified 6 September 2026 across 639 unique cassette-titled listings from 30 US advertisers in live product feeds, after removing wall art, fabric, apparel, car-audio parts, audiobooks and digital Walkman players that match the same words. The Teac W-1200 deck did not appear in this pull and its price is left dated 1 September 2026.
What blank cassettes can you buy new?
| Product | Type | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maxell UR Type I, 90 minute, single | Type I, normal bias | Zoro | $5.15 |
| RTM Fox C-60 | Type I | Full Compass Systems | $6.50 |
| Maxell UR 90, two-pack | Type I, normal bias | Zoro | $10.25 |
| Maxell UR Type I, five-pack, 90 minute | Type I, normal bias | Zoro | $28.39 |
| Cassette head cleaner and demagnetiser | Accessory | Books-A-Million | $16.99 |
Note who is selling them: an industrial supplier and a professional-audio dealer. Blank tape has left consumer retail and moved to the trade counter.
Which cassette types are no longer sold?
| IEC type | Coating | Introduced | On sale new in US feeds, 6 Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type I | Ferric oxide, often cobalt-doped | 1963 | Yes, $5.15–$28.39 |
| Type II | Chromium dioxide or cobalt-adsorbed ferric | 1970 | No listings found |
| Type III | Ferrichrome | 1970s | No listings found |
| Type IV | Pure metal particles | 1979 | No listings found |
That is the citable statistic on this page and the method is simple: we read every one of 699 cassette-titled listings from 35 US advertisers and searched them for the strings "type ii", "type iv", "chrome bias", "high bias", "metal bias" and "CrO2". The result was zero.
Are cassette players still made?
Yes, and more widely than the tapes. Twenty US retailers list new cassette hardware, with a median ask of $66.85 across 159 priced listings:
| Machine | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| iLive personal cassette player with AM/FM | Office Depot | $30.99 |
| GPX CAS337 portable cassette player | FYE | $29.99 |
| We Are Rewind portable cassette player | Rough Trade | $129.99 |
| Teac W-1200 dual cassette deck | Macy’s | $599.99 as of 1 Sept 2026 |
| Tascam CD-A580 cassette/CD/USB recorder | zZounds | $649.00 |
Is the cassette revival real?
It is real and it is narrow. Urban Outfitters began selling new pre-recorded cassettes, blanks and players as early as 2015; cassette sales rose in 2016, 2017 and 2018; UK cassette sales in 2021 reached their highest level since 2003; and Maxell reported selling 8 million tapes a year in Japan as of 2021.
What the revival has restored is the object — the shell, the player, the ritual. What it has not restored is the chemistry. A blank cassette in 2026 is a normal-bias tape of the kind a 1972 buyer would have called adequate, and if you want the chrome or metal formulations that made the format worth arguing about, no US affiliate retailer sells them.
Questions people ask about cassettes in 2026
Are cassette tapes still being made?
Yes. Blank Type I cassettes are sold new by US retailers at $5.15 to $28.39 on 6 September 2026, including Maxell UR normal-bias tapes and the RTM Fox C-60. New pre-recorded cassettes are also issued by artists and shops, though few reach affiliate feeds.
Can you still buy chrome or metal cassettes?
Not from US affiliate retailers. Across 639 cassette-titled listings from 30 advertisers on 6 September 2026, no Type II, Type III or Type IV tape appears. Every blank on sale is Type I normal bias.
Are cassette players still manufactured?
Yes. Twenty US retailers list new cassette hardware, from a $3.99 VTech personal player to a $730.99 Philips dictation recorder, median $66.85 across 159 priced listings.
Is the cassette revival real?
Yes, but narrow. Urban Outfitters began selling new cassettes in 2015, sales rose through 2018, UK sales in 2021 hit their highest since 2003, and Maxell sold 8 million tapes a year in Japan. The hardware and the object came back; the premium tape formulations did not.
Where do you buy blank cassette tapes now?
From industrial and pro-audio suppliers rather than consumer shops. In US affiliate feeds on 6 September 2026 the blanks came from Zoro at $5.15 to $28.39 and Full Compass Systems at $6.50, unchanged from a week earlier.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Cassette tape — the IEC 60094 tape types and their introduction dates, the 1968 DuPont CrO2 process and 1970 Advent cassette, 3M Metafine Type IV in 1979, and the revival evidence including Urban Outfitters from 2015, the 2016–2018 sales rises, the 2021 UK high and Maxell’s 8 million tapes a year in Japan.
- CJ Affiliate product feeds, US advertisers, queried 6 September 2026 — the 639-listing census, the blank-tape availability table, the 14-retailer hardware count and every price.
Read next
Cassette tape types and eras, dated · Where to buy a cassette player · Are VHS tapes still being made?
How this page was made. Drafted with AI (Claude); not yet independently re-checked. How we work