The days of the cassette tape are doomed, it has been predicted, after a major electrical retailer announced it was pressing the eject button on sales.

Currys, with more than 500 stores in the UK, said existing stocks of blank cassette tapes would be sold but not replenished.

The move comes in the face of the runaway success of digital music formats such as the iPod and the MP3 player.

Currys have also said they anticipate that cassette decks, which are today installed in less than 5% of audio equipment stocked by the retailer, will disappear from the range entirely within 18 months.

The announcement sounds the death knell for the lovingly-made compilation cassette tape, often used as a gift to impress the opposite sex, and now gathering dust in many cases.

It also the heralds a wave of nostalgia for a generation used to dealing with chewed tapes and music often reduced to sounding as if it was being performed underwater.

"It has been a remarkably durable format," said Peter Keenan, managing director of Currys.

"I remember the tape with some fondness. The hours spent putting together compilation tapes and the all-too-familiar experience of finding that your deck had chewed your tape will resonate with many now in their 30s and 40s.

"For today's MP3 generation, it's just a few clicks of the mouse to achieve what's arguably a better outcome."

Currys have said the humble cassette tape has failed to compete with digital technology with a top-of-the range iPod holding the same number of albums as 1,500 cassettes.

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