Cassette Tapes

[lufbramatt]

qube_TA said:

beanbag said:

qube_TA said:

My old deck wasn't bad in its day, a Denon DRM800



Might play some old Friday Rock show tapes tonight now.

"ROCK, WITH TOMMY VANCE!!!!!"

They were all good back in the day but compare that against even the crappiest MP3 and the MP3 will win hands down.

You should still play your Rock show tapes anyway.....with a beer. And a truckers hat. In 80's gear.

Yeah, in its day you could record a CD and be convinced it sounded identical to the original, however doing so now reveals how limited the format was.

Still, miles better than MiniDisc and DCC

hah, my dad had one of those denon decks. Loved it as a 6 year old watching the dancing bars of the graphic equaliser. I remember he used to have drawers full of tapes recorded off vinyl and CD to listen to in the car. Then they were replaced with slightly fewer drawers of minidiscs of the same stuff. Now they've all gone too to be replaced with a single Ipod. Back in the days when serious hifi consisted of a huge stack of amps, cd player, tuner, tape deck, turntable, all big black boxes, and a big pair of KEF or Mission speakers . Don't see that any more, just an amp hidden away somewhere and a pair of slimline speakers fed from a hard drive.

[NDA]

qube_TA said:

I wonder how good these sound now, were very desirable back in t' day:




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nakamichi-Dragon-Cassett...

]

That brings back memories..... Moist ones.

I think of the HOURS spent compiling cassettes! I used TDK SAC90's, had hundreds of them.....

If (those of a certain age) look back, pre digital.... It was quite hard work!

[briang9]

I just spent some of the weekend coverting some of my old tapes to MP3 to play in the car, some of them had been taped from vinyl, some from radio concerts etc. Problem I see when converting vinyl or tape is that it needs done in real time so is very time consuming, I have over 300 vinyl albums and even more tapes, dont think I will live long enough to convert them all

[qube_TA]

NDA said:

That brings back memories..... Moist ones.

I think of the HOURS spent compiling cassettes! I used TDK SAC90's, had hundreds of them.....

If (those of a certain age) look back, pre digital.... It was quite hard work!

Ah, now I'm getting nostalgic about the particular brands of cassette I used!





guarantee my Dad would tell me off if he saw me with one of these:



120's are thin, they'll snap and ruin your deck!

Endless Top 40's and Commodore 64 games on these:

[Bullett]

ahhh the lost art of making a girl you fancied a compilation tape. Took hours!

I have ripped all my CD's to the PC now. I was going to start on the tapes but it takes an age and the quality is awful. Much easier just to buy the CD 2nd hand. Some stuff is so obscure though it will have to be done.

wow. Just discovered you can still buy players!

[beanbag]

Bullett said:

ahhh the lost art of making a girl you fancied a compilation tape. Took hours!

I have ripped all my CD's to the PC now. I was going to start on the tapes but it takes an age and the quality is awful. Much easier just to buy the CD 2nd hand. Some stuff is so obscure though it will have to be done.

wow. Just discovered you can still buy players!

Funny you mention that. I've been chucking out all my old things and have just finished converting all the CD's I want to keep to 320kbps AAC audio. It took an age but I've saved a stack of room in my home.

I don't even remember the last time I bought a CD. I get everything through Spotify these days.

[Prawnboy]

dont waste your time converting tapes, buy an old car with a tape deck in it and go for a drive to listen to them,sureley thats the PH way.
i was listening to a tape on the way to work this morning.

[Prawnboy]

qube_TA said:

I wonder how good these sound now, were very desirable back in t' day:




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nakamichi-Dragon-Cassett...

Edited by qube_TA on Monday 20th May 17:30

and here is a way to play your cassetes for half the price of that tape machine....

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C378754

[Dr Interceptor]

I love cassette tapes ... and eight tracks, and CDs I have a 'den' up in the 3rd floor attic room above work, just popped up there to snap these for you all (excuse mobile phone pics).

Pioneer stacking system - twin tape decks... plus a few eight track players which are wired into it. Dad bought this system back in the 80s when he first went self-employed, it was his first gift to himself when he earned a decent amount.


I've got around 1500 tapes, these are my 'Now' cassettes, have a few missing but would like to complete the set.


Eight tracks... have around 600 in total.

[daveydave7]

Dr Interceptor said:

I love cassette tapes ... and eight tracks, and CDs I have a 'den' up in the 3rd floor attic room above work, just popped up there to snap these for you all (excuse mobile phone pics).

Pioneer stacking system - twin tape decks... plus a few eight track players which are wired into it. Dad bought this system back in the 80s when he first went self-employed, it was his first gift to himself when he earned a decent amount.


I've got around 1500 tapes, these are my 'Now' cassettes, have a few missing but would like to complete the set.


Eight tracks... have around 600 in total.

Pioneer S2 I think that midi system is maybe an S3 ?

[Dr Interceptor]

daveydave7 said:

Pioneer S2 I think that midi system is maybe an S3 ?

The main unit is a DC-Z81, CD Deck is a Po-Z81M... Probably purchased new around 1987/1988. Even still have the original remote control which when you press the volume control makes the motorised volume knob on the stereo rotate - I still think that's

[Morningside]

I always wanted a DAT recorder.

[daveydave7]

Dr Interceptor said:

The main unit is a DC-Z81, CD Deck is a Po-Z81M... Probably purchased new around 1987/1988. Even still have the original remote control which when you press the volume control makes the motorised volume knob on the stereo rotate - I still think that's

Yes they were given generic names on top of those though I cant remember the differences between the 3 models though

[Dr Interceptor]

daveydave7 said:

Yes they were given generic names on top of those though I cant remember the differences between the 3 models though

Not got a clue I'm afraid, I was only 4-5 years old when it was new!

[jmorgan]

Just found some blank cassettes looking for something else. Gold mine methinks, then find out they are £5 for a pack of 5 on Maplins. Oh well. Back on the shelf for another 10 years.

[Dr Interceptor]

jmorgan said:

Just found some blank cassettes looking for something else. Gold mine methinks, then find out they are £5 for a pack of 5 on Maplins. Oh well. Back on the shelf for another 10 years.

You can buy proper branded ones in £Stretcher too... Will be a long time before they're valuable.

I do however have 40 brand new sealed blank 8-track tapes, and a recorder - so I can put anything onto 8-track, within reason

[cirks]

Prawnboy said:

dont waste your time converting tapes, buy an old car with a tape deck in it and go for a drive to listen to them,sureley thats the PH way.
i was listening to a tape on the way to work this morning.

The same tape has been in the player in the 450 from just after I bought it - that's nearly 17 years. When not listening to the induction noise or sometimes the iphone through the radio, it still plays and shows no sign of deterioration (unlike me or the car )

[robsa]

Yes, cassette quality did vary considerably. I remember paying about £5 each for TDK metal cassettes - which were actually made of metal! They had clear plastic panels each side with a solid metal chassis. I still use my AUREX tape deck occasionally. Of course, nothing was more irritating than when I would record an album onto cassette for someone - my mate Paul from school, for instance - using a nice Sony or TDK cassette, then get a tape back from them, which was one they sold in job lots down the Sunday market.

I believe the two worst culprits were "Lion sound" with bright blue sleeves with a blurry red lion imprinted on it, and CHIEZA. The quality of these was so bad it was quite astonishing.

Of course, without the cassette we would never have mad the Mix Tape would we? When I think of all the girls I made mix tapes for... I still have many of mine at home.

I would love to see cassette keep going, even if it is as a niche market. If you have a classic 70s/80s car then it would be ace to have the original tape player in it, and a box of period tapes... although they will never be as desirable as vinyl, of course.

The Now! That's what I call.... are worth money these days you know!

[Sprouts]

qube_TA said:

My old deck wasn't bad in its day, a Denon DRM800



Might play some old Friday Rock show tapes tonight now.

"ROCK, WITH TOMMY VANCE!!!!!"

I have a cassette still to this day with Krokus on one side and Magnum on the other recorded at Reading 1980, which TV on the radio played on the wireless back then. I can't bring myself to chuck it out even though I've nowt to play it on.

[jmorgan]

Anyone else try to record top of the flops on a portable with the mic dangles over the TV speaker.......