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Hello tape experts.
I have a large (several hundred) collection of cassette tapes that have just been sitting in dark crates at room temperature indoors for maybe nine years since my last deck died. Included are many concert soundboard tapes from before the era when the sound guys went directly to digital. Most are chrome or metal formulations, brands including TDK, Maxell, Memorex, Sony, JVC, and others.
I'm thinking about purchasing a new deck with USB output to convert them to digital, but I'm wondering after all that time in storage if most will even be playable. I know about print-through, and the probability of shrinkage/stretching causing pitch irregularities.
But what is the likelihood of the oxide coating crumbling off or sticking to the heads? Or sticking to the adjacent tape on the reel? I imagine it has to do with the adhesives used, so would some brands have this problem more than others? Would it be best to fast fwd/rewind each tape before playing it? Any other potential problems I should be aware of?
Follow Ups:
You are not going to be able to get a new deck that would do justice to your tapes.
Have a look on eBay for one of the better 3 head decks and get it properly serviced and calibrated (even when new, many would be poorly aligned and calibrated) although it is a risk that the heads may be worn although you can try to get them relapped. Denon DR-M24HX decks are still available at modest prices (around USD150 to 200) compared to the several hundred for the newer Pioneer decks and Naks. The pinch rollers are likely to need replacing, but fortunately the spindle is brass and therefore the rubber can be replaced. Any deck with a plastic spindle for the pinch roller cannot be replaced.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
this has mainly been a problem of reel-to-reel formulations than compact cassettes. That said, much will depend on the conditions in which you kept them. A visit to sites like http://www.tapeheads.net will probably yield more info.
However, while I would also recommend spooling through a tape first before playing it, I would suggest doing this manually with a handheld device rather then expose a precious tape to the relatively large and abrupt forces of a rewind/ff cycle on a machine (unless it has speed ramping). After a few plays, it may be safe to do so in a machine.
Just a precautionary thought.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Couple years ago I wondered the same thing. Bought a Nakamichi BX-300 cassette deck off Ebay and was amazed that every ancient cassette of mine, many featuring irreplaceable off-air recordings of live jazz performances from the 1970s, sounded just like they did back then. Well, actually, better, since I didn't have a Nak then.
Some of them sounded so great that I played around with dubbing them just for fun onto my Otari open reel deck and have astonished some of my audiobuddies with the result.
Go for it :-)
I'm not a tape expert, but I'd simply try playing one of the tapes and see what happens. I'd fast-forward and rewind it first just to loosen it up. Try it and see what happens.
Rather than buying a tape deck with USB, why not buy a digital recorder? That's what I'd do. TASCAM makes some nice digital recorders that are relatively inexpensive. The TASCAM DR-05 recorder costs only $100. It has a line input to connect your cassette tape recorder and it will record at up to 24/96 resolution.
Good luck,
John Elison
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