In the early 1980s, a new format of music was released called the cassingle. It became widely known by the more generic name cassette single since that’s pretty much what it was: An audio cassette format focused on single hit songs.
The cassingle was first introduced in 1980 to compete with the 45 RPM single record as a medium for music. The cassingle looks exactly the same as a regular cassette but typically only had 1-2 songs on each side. Its portability was the only benefit over records and the cassingle was eventually replaced by the CD.
At the time the cassingle was introduced, a song had to be released as a single to be ranked on the hits charts of the day which were very common and helped radio stations draw more listeners by playing the most popular songs at the time. So the single record format was well-established albeit in vinyl form only.
Let’s take a closer look at cassingles, a history of them, what they offered and why they inevitably died out.
Why were cassingles invented?
Cassingles were effectively an alternative to 45 RPM single vinyl records. The problem with records is that they required a record player which are large, need to be plugged into a wall socket and therefore are not portable. The family record player was typically in the living room or den and over time as they got smaller, perhaps in a bedroom.
Cassettes on the other hand could be played in a car tape deck, boombox, home stereo, Walkman and other portable cassette players of the day. They were very portable and small enough that they could fit in your pocket. Given that they are in a protective box, they were relatively safe and secure to bring with you, unlike a bulky and breakable vinyl record.
The thought was that people would happily buy a cheaper cassette with fewer songs just like they would a 45 RPM record, but would experience the benefit of portability which would be a major selling point over a record.
What did cassingles look like?
Cassingles looked exactly like a regular audio cassette tape because that’s what they were. The only real difference was less magnetic tape and fewer songs on the cassingle than with a full album cassette.
Cassingles were first sold not in a plastic box like full album cassettes but in a cardboard sleeve that slid on and off. They could also be wrapped in protective plastic when you purchased them new, too.
So when you held a cassingle up next to a regular cassette, you really couldn’t tell the difference other than by the amount of tape in each.
How much did cassingles cost?
When they were first released a cassingle was priced similar to a 45 RPM record so around $2 – $3. You might find some cassette singles for as low as $1,99 but it was also not uncommon to find them for price points like $2.49 and $2.99 too.
At the time, a full LP vinyl record or cassette album typically cost $6 – $9 depending on the artist and where you lived.
So the cost of a cassingle was about 25% the price of a full album but you only got several songs and sometimes not even that: Some cassingles had the same song on both sides only, or may have a remix or extended version(s) of the same song on the flipside rather than another track.
If you liked more than two or three songs on a album, your best bet was just to buy the whole album and skip the cassingle.
How did cassingles differ from regular audio cassettes?
At first glance, cassingles looked the same as regular audio cassettes of the day. The difference was more inside the cassette themselves.
If you tossed a few cassingles in a pile with a few regular cassettes with no outer protective packaging, you literally couldn’t tell the difference because to the naked eye there was none.
Instead of playing an entire album, a cassingle typically featured only one or two songs on the entire tape. So 1-2 songs per side at most. You could often find a cassingle with an extended mix of the same song or perhaps a B side song similar to what they did on 45 RPMs.
There was less tape in the cassingle since the music played on each side of the tape was several minutes in length. A full album might be 30 minutes of total music or more whereas each single song was perhaps 3-4 minutes in length tops.
Why did cassingles eventually die out?
Cassingles were an interesting product that I purchased on several occasions but quickly realized they weren’t really a desirable format. Other than being cheaper than full album cassettes, they seemed like such a waste. The cassettes looked the exact same as regular cassettes and took up the same space but only had several songs.
In terms of price, they cost about 1/4 the price of a full album but only had 1-2 songs on them so the price point wasn’t great either.
Ultimately, cassingles died out in popularity in the early 2000s mainly because Compact Discs had taken over the market as the most popular music format. Compact Discs are relatively small, are secure when kept in the protective plastic case and offer superior sound and usefulness when compared to cassettes.
CDs are digital technology so you can quickly and easily play a song or replay one without fast forwarding or rewinding as with a cassette tape.
CD players also offered options such as shuffle play where the CD player would randomly play the songs on the album you were listening to rather than playing them in order.
Cassingles were based on older, inferior tech – magnetic tape – and really didn’t offer much in the way of benefits other than a lower price. You might as well just buy the whole album on a CD and get better sound and functionality too.