Gold folks' home for old cassettes

ARE THOSE boxes of dusty old cassette tapes taking up too much room in your attic? Wish there was some way of updating your music…

ARE THOSE boxes of dusty old cassette tapes taking up too much room in your attic? Wish there was some way of updating your music collection while clearing out old junk? Well, thanks to music chain Golden Discs, you’ll be able to do both via its new exchange scheme.

The Golden Discs Classic Tape Swap has been launched to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company, which opened its first store on Dublin’s Tara Street in July 1962. Customers are invited to bring their old (functioning) cassette tapes into any Golden Discs store (original copies only, mind – no bootlegs, home mixes or anything taped off the radio) in exchange for 20 per cent off any CD or CD boxset in the store. Customers can exchange up to five old cassettes for the discount in any one transaction – a nifty way to modernise your old Shakin’ Stevens and Backstreet Boys back catalogues. Just us, then?

“We’re celebrating 50 years because we think anything in the entertainment industry that makes it to 50 is worth acknowledging,” said Golden Discs MD Stephen Fitzgerald. “This promotion came about as a way to get people more engaged with their local store.” goldendiscs.ie/ classictapeswap

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy is a freelance journalist and broadcaster. She writes about music and the arts for The Irish Times