At 10:31 AM 12/11/03 +0100, Johannes Gebauer wrote: >On 11.12.2003 1:19 Uhr, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote > >> I know the quality isn't always as good, but I still listen regularly to >> cassettes I recorded 25 to 30 years ago - they still sound okay. I recently >> copied them all onto newer cassettes in case I tangled them up. (Come to think >> of it, I have reel to reel tapes which are nearly 50 years old and still >> working.) > >Are you sure they are still working? Ours certainly aren't. The tape is now >sticky, and will ruin the recorder. Only Baking will save them.
This was limited to certain tapes (mostly Ampex, Irish, and private brands made by Ampex), and largely from the 1970s and 80s. I provide tape restoration services, and tapes from the 1950s are usually in very good shape, especially paper tape. Except for the feathering of edges from fast-rewound tapes, these are not difficult to recover. The gummy tapes (I'm baking one right now) are disastrous, and baking only gives you a window of a few days to make the transfer. The hardest to recover, though, are tapes from about 1960-65 that had inadequate binders, and which literally fall to flakes as they run through the machine. There is just one chance to copy these, because you end up with a pile of rust and a reel of clear acetate! I have tapes in my own collection that I started recording in 1969, and only one (a single reel of Ampex that I happened to buy) has become gummy. (Anyone with tapes to recover is welcome to contact me. My services and rates are at http://maltedmedia.com/mmvermont.html) Dennis _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
