For the analog purists, why is tape not viable or popular? I've never played it, or even played cassette tapes, but it seems to me that tape would easily allow resolution and frequency extension practically without limit. What drawbacks are there to tape that I'm not seeing? I'm just wondering out loud why reel-to-reel decks are practically unheard of compared to turntables.

You can go to the specific track you want with a turntable.

Dosn't the magnetism on the tape deteriorate over time?

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Ok, I totally forgot about that.

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I don't know, does it? Companies seem to drag up analog master tapes for remasters decades after the recording quite frequently.

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Yes and it is also affected by conditions such as damp, my dad had loads of old cassette tapes that got really manky and almost unusable.

Hiss?

Records can also hiss. Do tapes always hiss?

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Only if the stuff was stored in well controlled climatic chambers.
Lots of not properly stored master tapes are ruined.

Last month, a friend gave me a very nice Harmon Kardon cassette deck. I put it in my rig, and got to thinking about reel-to-reel. If you haven't seen them already, do a search here for reel-to-reel threads. There's one that's been active recently, and two older ones. The information in them is quite good.

I stasrted looking, and it turns out that good players are still plentiful and you can find a wide selection of music on eBay. I did some homework on the models I want, and have had an eye on eBay. Something will turn up in the next month or two, and I've already put money aside.

Thing is, you get excellent resolution on reel-to-reel, better than Redbook, and arguably better than vinyl. No artifical RIAA curve and a lot of reel-to-reel was dubbed off the master tapes.

My secret plan is to get a reel-to-reel deck and then rip the tapes with an Alesis MasterLink into CD24 format (24bit/96kHz). My DAC will handle CD24, so I'll be able to get almost all of the advantages of reel, but with the convenience of computer-as-source. And I'll do the same thing with vinyl, too.

Back when vinyl was king I use to used to record unto tape the first time I played an album. I have a significant library of tapes and they sound very good 20 to 25 years later.

I guess the answer includes:
-Start with a good tape no larger than 90 minutes
-Have a good deck to record with
-Have a good cartridge on the TT. I used Grado back in late 70s to early 80s.
-Properly store the tapes
-Dolby B or later C, HX Pro provided extended range and cleaned up some of the hiss as well
-Using a good expander from DBX helped a lot

Reel to Reel tapes actually are the best-sounding medium you could get on the analog end of sources, if I'm not mistaken. Those gigantic things were basically the same things as the master tapes themselves!

However, they are large, expensive, and were in short production, so they were never really viable.

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The last reel to reel I used was a remote controlled 4 track (two tracks or all four tracks could be recorded one way) NAB reel Akai with a Dolby 8 channel B.C and S pro unit (each channel had individual calibration) and hiss was not a problem.

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The main problem with tape machines compared to records is that they are way more complex and therefore difficult to maintain.
If you leave most record players in a loft for 20 years chances are with a few simple tweaks like an oil change and a new belt/idler they will perform as well as when they were new. The same cannot be said for Reel to Reel or Cassette.
These need to be used regularly and serviced every few years if they are to remain viable. Most cassette decks apart from the really expensive ones like the Nakamichi's were pretty disposable so havn't lasted. Most Reel to Reel machines, even the budget ones cost almost as much as a car when they were released so they are more likely to still be going strong although probably in need of a service.
All sorts of music was available on Reel to Reel from the 1950's - 1970's so there is a lot of it out there. It is less forgiving of poor storage conditions than vinyl but will last better than ANY other format if stored well, which is why the US government bailed out Ampex (the only US manufacturer still in business) last year.
Before you go out and copy all your music onto 1/4 reel though there is one caveat. It ain't cheap. Ampex/Quantegy 456 works out around 1 dollar a minute at high quality....

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Simply because the handling sucks big time. However, for real analogue purists, it's both viable and maybe even getting a slight revival now, especially as Quantegy and RMG Int. are reported to be back in production. RMG apparently bought out the old BASF/Emtec equipment and technologies, btw.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

Define tape. Casette or R2R. They both have down side of handling and ease of use compared to a CD, or even a record. The main commercial downside is fidelity, to get good sound you really need to spend money, and most people are not willing to do so.