Very nice looking site, and I'm seriously not knocking the effort, but I can't help but ask the question as to why there is a demand for cassette tape images? If someone told me that there is a preservation community for that format, I think my head might explode as it is easily the worst possible consumer media for music reproduction and was basically invented to fill the need for portability when there weren't other options. Even the venerable 8-track was better in that regard, if not without it's own demons.
But as usual, I'm probably just missing something
Haha if you're looking for a *practical* reason, absolutely none. For me it hits many of the same joy points as the arcade hobby. Some level of nostalgia, owning and fixing something I only dreamed about as a kid, and the physicality of it. Definitely not looking for the best sound quality - but the *act* of trying to get the best possible sound out of your hardware is still fun. And it's a level of technical repair that's fairly easy as an entry point (replacing belts, bulbs, adjusting levels etc. isn't very hard) but gives you a feeling of accomplishment. I rarely put a tape in and play through a full album, I have much better methods for that. But tinkering is still fun.
That's what I'm in it for anyway. And hell, while I've got the equipment, might as well record a mix tape. And if I'm gonna make a mix tape, it's gonna need a high quality, clean, vector j-card!
I can't contribute much to the community from a technical knowledge standpoint but I'm good at art layout and vector work so figured it was one way I could give back.