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Cassette Tapes

yoshmyster
How is it some cassette tapes of the same vintage gets wonkey while others just play fine? Example Bruce Willis as "Bruno" plays fine (it shouldn't but...) while Ice House plays like it's being played backwards. I wonder how many are crapped out? I need to go through them to see how they fared.
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Comments

15 comments

Date Votes
  • buschmaster
    different quality tape
    how many times a tape has been played
    storage conditions
    the longer the tape (e.g. 120 min) the more it stretches
    cassette head alignment

    you know how it can get crinkled when the tape jams. other problems can make it creased along the length, making it run off alignment no matter what you do, and you hear the other side playing in the background.

    there had been times I had to swap a tape into a nice recordable cassette body to get it to sound better. or at least swap the felt cassette head.
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  • He Dog
    Hey Yosh, I know a good, cheap source of 8 tracks... :lol:
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  • wpageabc
    Its more the nature of tape. Over time it gets ugly like most things.

    Temperature is always a factor.
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  • babun
    ......According to President Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, on September 29, 1973, she was reviewing a tape of the June 20, 1972, recordings when she made "a terrible mistake" during transcription. While playing the tape on a Uher 5000, she answered a phone call..........
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  • Smitty500mag
    I still say 8 tracks will make a comeback.
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  • hillbille
    Smitty500mag wrote:
    I still say 8 tracks will make a comeback.


    gotta admit I never had an 8 track jam up/birdnest like I did with cassettes........




    Yoshy the bad ones must not be Memorex? remember the comercials, they could break glass.........
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  • yoshmyster
    I think I store them pretty well. I don't think temperature is an issue since it rarely the joint gets in to the upper 80s.

    Yeah I felt that Cassette Tapes would comeback and it kind a did with "the hipsters" (from what I've been told). But from what I seen at Target all physical media (CD/DVDs) will be disappearing. Kind a odd they still have books on the shelves.
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  • buschmaster
    nothing beats the sound of a brand new cassette tape in a good tape deck. not even the most expensive digital equipment. don't know how to describe it, it's more "colorful". CD's sound flat by comparison and it's not the EQ.
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  • remingtonoaks
    It might have something to do with the the more you play it tape the tighter the winding of the tape gets I've had a couple of them that I fast forward and rewind them a couple of times to loosen up the winding of the tape. and they started playing just fine. Others I've had to take a pencil and put in where the gears go and Rewind them by hand to make them work again. What you're trying to do is loosen up the winding of the tape. The more you play the tape the tighter the winding of the tape gets

    I don't know what's wrong with yours so I don't know if that would help, but it might be worth a try
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  • gearheaddad
    Cassette tapes still have a small cult like following amongst the younger folks.
    My Son's band just recorded an album and had cassettes made along with CDs to sell at their shows.......
    I don't get that at all!
    Apparently the kids are getting old cassette players at resale shops and garage sales and are "going vintage"!
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  • yoshmyster
    Not a good idea to drive with all these damn US Open "tourists" doing stupid stuff while listening to "Slayer" especially when one no longer cares if I get a few more dents on the Caprice.
    gearheaddad wrote:
    Cassette tapes still have a small cult like following amongst the younger folks.
    My Son's band just recorded an album and had cassettes made along with CDs to sell at their shows.......
    I don't get that at all!
    Apparently the kids are getting old cassette players at resale shops and garage sales and are "going vintage"!

    Hipsters. Or blame "Guardians Of The Galaxy" since everyone wants a Sony Walkman.
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  • Brookwood
    This thread inspired me to dig out a few of my old cassette's and crank out some tunes out in my shop last night.

    ELO and Allen Parson's sounded great but when I put Patsy Cline's greatest hits into my player, she started singing Crazy while the tape unraveled itself into a catastrophic mess! :oops: :o There was no way to save poor Patsy, may she RIP
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  • Ditch-Runner
    I remember a ball of tape hanging out of the player more than once , do not miss that but I had 8 tracks and needed a steamer trunk in the back seat to carry more than a couple the cassette was a vast improvement in space savings :D
    I also recall buying the same tape several times could not figure out why it came up missing then found one my buddies hated the beach boys and would toss it out of the window :x .
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  • buschmaster
    dudes at work say I'm "old school" because I still use CD's! they all use Bluetooth and mp3's on their phones. it's tempting to bust out the boom box and tapes :evil:
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  • AdamsQuailHunter
    Hello - my Panasonic RE 8840 record/play 8-track from the 70s died. If any of you-all happen to have a record/play 8-track or even a play only model that you might like to part with please contact me. Supposedly the private e-mail feature is functional now.

    Best Regards - AQH
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