Anybody still using tape?

[Trawlerman]

Or Compact Cassette to give it it's correct title?

I have a few Cassette decks lying around the place. A Three head Sony TCK-661 sits in the living room system, a TC-FX211 sits forlon on top of my wardrobe but the two that i'm really proud of are my Teac V6030s.

Back in the mid 1990's I was very musch into recording cassettes. I worked on security and spent many long night shifts working on my own so I often listened to tapes of LP's, CDs and Radio that i'd recorded earlier.

I decided that with the decline of cassette being immininet due to the rise in popularity of Mindisc and CD-R, now was the time to invest in what would be my last cassette deck - the one's that would last me a lifetime.

I decided that I would go with the best and went looking for a Nakamichi. I wanted to get a hold of a Dragon, ZX9, CR7 or one of the other top-end decks from them. I spent 6 months looking for a decent one and came up with nought. I finally decided that if I couldn't get a Nak then the next best thing for me was to get a TEAC.

So that's what I did, I got a pair of the v6030s 3-head decks and haven't looked back since.



However, I have now gotten the itch to get a hold of a vintage Pioneer CT-F1000

So who else is still into this sort of stuff?

 

[Old Pa]

I maintain cassette capability with a 3-head dual capstan drive Yamaha K-1020 and enjoyed a similar long career assembling mix tapes until the Alesis MasterLink came on line last year. Both cars now have CD players, and the sound quality (especially on signal to noise ratio for the noisy vehicle environment) is beyond comparison. I went looking for a Nakamichi too late. Still, with some good old tapes and a fair amount of history, it's hard to abandon the medium. During my salad days, having 45 minutes of uninterupted music was very, very good to me.

 

[fewtch]

I look back on cassette tapes with a tad bit of nostalgia (just because I used to use them so much), but as far as SQ goes... nix. I've never heard "wow and flutter" with a turntable like I've heard it with cassettes. A very marginal format as far as SQ goes, in my opinion... and I believe specifically designed and intended for portability and convenience, nothing else.

IMO, any lack of digital issues are more than made up for by wow, flutter, dropouts, broken tapes, machines eating tapes... uggh, what a mess. Nope, no cassette deck around here -- CD-R is infinitely better in my opinion.

 

[Budgie]

Kyocera D-811 in my equipment stand. One of these days I will crack it open and start tweaking.

 

[soundboy]

I have over 300 albums on pre-recorded cassettes that I collected in the 80s. And I too have fond memories of making mix-tapes or recording "off the air" recordings from my local public radio stations. Like vinyl, there's a certain amount "tweakability" with cassettes....the bias setting, the blank tape used, 2 head vs 3 head decks, etc..... Anyone remember the wand type demagnetizier? I had one of these plus a TDK drop-in type. Also the Allsop one that demagnetizes the entire tape path.

Despite the relatively low sound quality, well recorded cassettes sound smooth, and dare I say, analog.

I still have 3 head 3 motor Sony TC-K670 cassette deck stored away. Once I get my component rack, it will be pressed into service. Of course, after a complete tune-up.

 

[Lando]

Tape would be fun, but with no reliable source for metal or ceramic tapes, I'd rather put money towards getting started with vinyl.

 

[Trawlerman]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lando Tape would be fun, but with no reliable source for metal or ceramic tapes, I'd rather put money towards getting started with vinyl.

Vinyl is good. I got that bug also

Where oh where does it all stop though

 

[soundboy]

Trawlerman,

It never stops.

Over the weekend, I was looking for some spade connectors for my temporary speaker cables at Radio Shack (Tandy, I suppose, across the pond) when I came across some blank reel-to-reel tapes. They were clearance items, but they are still available!! Goes to show that there are still interest out there to keep these things in Radio Shack's catalog until now.

No love for 8-tracks?

 

[Steve754]

I personally think film type media's still have a while before they are phased out. Has anyone heard of digital vhs? I heard it will be coming out soon and have a much better quality picture than dvd's.

 

[soundboy]

D-VHS has been out awhile already. Even with pre-recorded software. However, I believe the tape media is on the way out. CD recorder/burners are extremely affordable now, and it looks like DVD recorders are heading that direction. DVD camcorders are out as well.