I transfer tapes to .mp3 format and then burn CD's off them.

Just made one for my Mom, the Cincinatti Pops doing Old West songs.

1970s and 1980s?

The tape I just made a CD from is fairly new.

Just found it at Amazon, 2012.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007WMZTCI?keywords=cincinatti%20pops%20round%20up&qid=1444168894&ref_=sr_1_sc_1&sr=8-1-spell

but I don't bother converting the tapes. First of all, the quality is so poor since most of them are tapes I recorded off either vinyl or broadcast, double the "sssssss" in the background and second, CDs have their days numbered, too. I recently replaced my portable player and had a little trouble finding a new one, they're not as common as they used to be.

So I'll enjoy my hissy tapes just as they are until they wear out completely, then they'll go to my memories where they likely belong, anyway. My taste has changed since my 30s.

Besides a turntable, I've got a couple Nakamichi cassette decks, an AKAI 4-track cassette home studio recorder, and an AKAI stereo reel to reel. A friend of mine has a vintage wire recorder, like a R2R but an iron wire instead of tape. I want to tinker and get it working for her, but she won't let me Too bad, she's a folk/country singer-songwriter and I think it would be cool to record her in a vintage sound.

I have a 1/4" 2-track R2R and a 1" 8-track R2R. Once I get the calibration tape I need ($350-500 for the tape), I can finally start using the 1" to track my band.

Both my Nakamichi decks have what is widely known as "the Nakamichi idler wheel problem." One of these days, I'll do something about that.

Google "nakamichi idler repair."

As for Akai, I've read at a few places that they were considered quite good machines. Someone I used to hang out on Usenet worked his way through engineering school as an audio technician. He thought they had fewer problems than many other machines.

I've got a digital 24-track recorder that's had constant issues, and is a pita to use. For live sound I use one of my analog boards... Have an 8, 12, and 16 channel. Dead reliable, easy to use and set up. And if the 16 isn't enough, I'll sub-mix in one of the other boards and send it to the 16...handy when I'm miking entire drum kit.

Someone has spiked their $10 can of PBR with some nasty stuff.

they're nuts. They're $4 here in Minneapolis.

Also, magnetic tapes wear out. Go with LPs for lasting satisfaction.

The hipsters have just been out hipped by a middle aged man

That's how I used to listen to tapes in my first car

"I see a little..." click, whirr, click of switching...."....silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?"

Thunderbolt andlightningVeryveryfrighteningmeGalileo (massive speedup of lyrics then stop)...eject button and suddenly a magic trick of tape being pulled out from the deck.

If cassettes are antiques, I'm a freaking dinosaur. But, instead, I opted to correct the use of the word "antique." An item described as "antique" should be a minimum of 100 years old. Cassettes might be called "vintage," but it'll be a few more decades until they're antiques. (FYI - I'm an antique/vintage/collectibles dealer.)

I hated cassettes even back in the day, even though I listened to them. Try finding the start of a song you want to hear. Oops -- rewound too far. Fast forward. Oops, too far! Rewind again. Oops, too far! etc. etc. etc.

Pioneer super tuner III,its what I went to after 8-tracks.

And it would go right to where it started, if I remember correctly.

It was quite common on car stereos.

Higher end tape players had it also.

Trying to smooth it out so it didn't go through the little plastic thingees in a twist.

Good times, good times.

in the boombox or walkman.

Horrible medium. I tried recently listening to one of my old cassettes just for shits and giggles. Awful sound, a few of the songs sounded like a high-school projector.

Yikes! No thanks.

would last a few months to fix a break.

and when the tape got caught in the machine and you had to rip it out...

Not to mention the bouncing skips in the car...

an irretrievable mess of brown spaghetti at the first chance."

Sorry, analog-philes. I practically **** the first time I put headphones on and listened to Dark Side of the Moon on a CD.

of the best analog recording ever, so it's really not fair to use that as an example.


Front to back, Dark Side of the Moon is the most amazing all around recorded musical work ever produced.

I vividly remember sitting there listening to "any colour you like" when it zips from left to right and back, etc and going "haha!"

It was the first time i caught a whole ton of stuff in that album.

Anyway, i guess i can sort of see the point with old school LPs, but cassette tapes just sound like shit IMHO. And not good shit, just plain shit.

I just sent off my high-speed dual cassette dubber off to Goodwill. Oh well, I wasn't going to use it anyway. Maybe some newly-minted aficionado will get his or her hands on it and make a fortune. Or at least have a lot of fun.

Now THATS insane.

hey now I resemble that.
nice as new Sharp 8track recording deck in the entertainment center.
Vintage Otari 4 track just in case. 1020LH Pioneer for looks.
Few boxes of 8 tracks.

So, people can still listen to their stuff in the car. Otherwise, i'm with you 100%

I had an unlabeled promo tape of Nirvana's Bleach given by a friends cousin at SubPop that I'll never see again because my high school gf never returned.

I stood there mouth agape and the time ran out on the vacuum

I hear that it might finally be re-released soon. On CD.

iTunes is old fashioned. Spotify is the thing now.

Last edited Tue Oct 6, 2015, 07:48 PM - Edit history (1)

TDK metal framed, Metal tapes



DBX noise reduction, and my trusty auto reverse JVC home cassette deck.


Crap, I'm dating myself!

He likes how the old music sounds on them.

"sound system." I never used it, but remember all the magnetic tape that littered the roadsides in the 80s and 90s. People threw their trashed cassette tapes oh the window in frustration.

Most of which is not even available on CD or digital. Still played on a bright yellow Panasonic Take N Tape bought in 1972.

I am all for high fidelity and yes analog does sound richer then digital too but the fact is most people's speakers and amps don't even produce all of the sound spectrem it is clipped on the high and low end by most home amps and speakers.

Another thing to consider is most folks don't even know what good speakers sound like or what music should sound like and if one has bass boost or the bass turned all the way up one is distorting the music themselves.

another thing to consider is the QUALITY of the recording if the quality is bad and many recordings today are of poor quality, way too much compression of the digital signals in the media coupled with the quality of your average amp and speakers makes it sound even worse.

Me I hate the f-ing hiss and yes I am one of those weird people who hear nosies on recordings that most people do not and I will complain about it.

if you don't hear the difference you don't want a difference .

Guardians of the Galaxy has to do with the recent demand.
A mixed tape of 70s hits plays a big roll in the movie.

cherished friend and I loved receiving the same thoughtful consideration. MP3 mixes just aren't the same for me. I also loved recording the radio. I miss my old Dr. Demento tapes.

we are old.

Over time they kinda pile up. People see them and laugh for the most part but they bring back my childhood.

Nothing sends me back like Subhumans or Talking Heads on cassette. The familiar clicks and whirs, the lights, the grainy sound. If you grew up with it, I definitely get it.

what draws us to it is a need for involvement with dynamic range . ( sorry that sounded
ike some bullshit from Audiophile Magazine )

And tape.

Tape being the worst of the bunch. Too many things go wrong.

Me and a bunch of other live music "enthusiasts".



I dont know why apple discontinued the ipod classic.

After all, there is no replacement for Ella.

But there were handy for ripping copies of your LPs onto a portable medium. And it was important to always have a pencil handy

during the transition from vinyl to CDs.