Ask around, you might find that more people have a tape player than you think.

I have two tape players and nice collection of cassettes. They come in handy, now that the CD player has bought the farm.

A couple months ago, two friends wanted to record some improvoisations, and the quickest way to do it was to plug the mic into the tape player, pop in a cassette and let 'er rip, right there in my living room.

I was in Rome, Italy a couple years ago and bought a portable tape player in a variety store, so tapes seem still to be in use in certain countries.