Just as I was getting used to digital...

[Anonymous]

To be fair, I started driving in 74 and there wasn't much in the way of high quality car cassette players, and that's where I listened most.

A far cry from today's in car music systems!

 

[Native_bon]

Yea but cassette decks in the 90's were in diffferent league compared to in car players in the 70's.

 

[MajorFubar]

Thanx for bringing my attention back MajorFubar.

My pleasure. I've been listening to more tapes tonight. Feel like I've taken a reality check. It really is that good.

 

[Al ears]

I never ever had a minced tape. Maybe it was partly luck, but mostly I think it was because I looked after both the tapes and the machines I played them on. Also I never bought or used cheap nasty cassette decks with substandard transports.

+1

I too have never had a mangled tape. Look after the machines and by decent quality tape in the first place and these accidents should be rare.

The only one that I had destroyed was by my dog when he was a pup!

 

[fr0g]

I must admit, I loved my cassettes. But I wish they had never existed. I wasted far too much money on them and in the end ceremoniously put them all in a skip a few years back.

Digital (backed up) lasts forever.

 

[shropshire lad]

Digital (backed up) lasts forever.

How do you know ? We haven't had forever yet !

 

[Al ears]

Digital (backed up) lasts forever.

How do you know ? We haven't had forever yet !

By 'forever' I think he is implying 'slightly longer than the life span of the average cassette'

 

[MajorFubar]

Digital (backed up) lasts forever.

You'd think so, but you may also be surprised to learn that it's not uncommon for professional recording studios to back-up their valuable digital masters to high-quality analogue tape, to make sure that they have at least one copy outside of the digital domain. This is because to date, there has not been one solitary digital back-up medium which has truly proved itself to be reliable for archive-purposes. Digital backup more often seems to rely on the principle that if you make ten million copies of something one of them must survive, which is not exactly an inspiring approach.

 

[CnoEvil]

Digital backup more often seems to rely on the principle that if you make ten million copies of something one of them must survive, which is not exactly an inspiring approach.

Ah, but this system is derived directly from nature - then I suppose you could argue that it is estimated that 99.9% of all species that have ever existed, are now extinct! :shifty:

 

[relocated]

Very pleased for you Major. I was lucky enough to get one of the very first Nakamichi DT600 2headed decks back in the 70's. At the time the performance was really jaw-dropping. It is still going strong in a friend's system.

Back in the 90's I was fortunate enough [sort of] to own a Nak Tri-Tracer 1000 [no not the Dragon] and in the midst of decent cd players it was a really stand-out listen. Sadly the tape eq switch would not work properly between TDK SA and Maxell XLll[?] so I had to invoke sale of goods and return it.

I loved it in my system, the most highly regarded piece of kit I have ever owned. :cheer:

 

[MajorFubar]

Sometimes I think the most reliable (yet wear-prone) back-up device for audio is the vinyl LP. I read a report many years ago which estimated that the potential life-expectancy of a vinyl LP stored in normal conditions is over 1,600 years. This is in contrast to tape and digitial storage which basically just sits there and rots no matter how little you use it.

 

[Al ears]

Sometimes I think the most reliable (yet wear-prone) back-up device for audio is the vinyl LP. I read a report many years ago which estimated that the potential life-expectancy of a vinyl LP stored in normal conditions is over 1,600 years. This is in contrast to tape and digitial storage which basically just sits there and rots no matter how little you use it.

Interesting that Major. Did the report say whether or not you would be able to recover 'data' from it after that length of time or would it just be a blob of vinyl.

As far as I am aware vinyl would react similarly to glass and 'flow' over that sort of period.

 

[relocated]

Well it certainly isn't going to be cd, so I suppose also dvd. Am currently ripping cds to hard drive and have noticed that some are deteriorating. Some had gained little 'flakes' on the surface and some have small water/rust type marks under the top surface and so not cleanable.

I remember years ago hearing about cd "cancer" but that died away as quickly as it had been reported.

Have a check of your optical discs, hopefully yours will be ok.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I do know what you mean PP. It's a far cry from sitting in my chair and controlling iTunes with my phone app!

Like this one...?

I'm drolling...

Congrats!

That's the one!

Hi MajorFubar

Old is gold

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[CnoEvil]

Old is gold

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

That's what I keep telling Mrs. Cno....but she tells me I'm deluded!.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

I must admit, I loved my cassettes. But I wish they had never existed. I wasted far too much money on them and in the end ceremoniously put them all in a skip a few years back.

Digital (backed up) lasts forever.

so big and yet still so green

according to second law of thermodynamic there's nothing that can remain in steady state and everything will travel from a state of high order to high chaos (in essence).

this means; an LP will tend to wear out with use, an MC will tend to demagnetise with time, and digital devices are bound to fail at some stage. there are no things forever. the only advantage of digital is (as already mentioned) easiness to duplicate and store. survival through numbers.

just like a virus

 

[shropshire lad]

So in a few years time when cassettes have become the new vinyl we can all put it down to The Good Major and his purchase of a Nakerthingy tape deck . I could only ever stretch to a NAD , so maybe now is the time to buy a good one before prices start to rise again .

I hope you have many years of pleasure with your new toy .

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

Old is gold

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

That's what I keep telling Mrs. Cno....but she tells me I'm deluded!.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[MajorFubar]

Interesting that Major. Did the report say whether or not you would be able to recover 'data' from it after that length of time or would it just be a blob of vinyl.

As far as I am aware vinyl would react similarly to glass and 'flow' over that sort of period.

No it didn't go into that depth. If I remember correctly, it was about 20 years ago when the first CDs were reaching ten years old and a few of the earliest ones had already failed. The report may have even been in WHF, I can't remember. Some scientists somewhere had artificially aged CDs, tape and vinyl and calculated that barring damage and extreme conditions, vinyl records would outlast tape and CDs by over 1,500 years. They predicted that most tapes would be unusable at 50, CDs would last between 25 years and a century (one hell of a window...) but vinyl records would last about 1,600 years.

 

[MajorFubar]

So in a few years time when cassettes have become the new vinyl we can all put it down to The Good Major and his purchase of a Nakerthingy tape deck . I could only ever stretch to a NAD , so maybe now is the time to buy a good one before prices start to rise again .

I hope you have many years of pleasure with your new toy .

Haha I don't think there will be a cassette revival tbh. By far cassette's biggest users are now more than content with their MP3s and downloads. Which to be honest sound much better than the nasty cheap cassette players they were used to, so who can blame them. Weirdos like me who value the quality of the HiFi decks of yesteryear are too few in number to kickstart a revival.

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

So in a few years time when cassettes have become the new vinyl we can all put it down to The Good Major and his purchase of a Nakerthingy tape deck . I could only ever stretch to a NAD , so maybe now is the time to buy a good one before prices start to rise again .

I hope you have many years of pleasure with your new toy .

Haha I don't think there will be a cassette revival tbh. By far cassette's biggest users are now more than content with their MP3s and downloads. Which to be honest sound much better than the nasty cheap cassette players they were used to, so who can blame them. Weirdos like me who value the quality of the HiFi decks of yesteryear are too few in number to kickstart a revival.

I think your remark is SPOT ON!!!

 

[Al ears]

Old is gold

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

That's what I keep telling Mrs. Cno....but she tells me I'm deluded!.

Aren't we all matey, aren't we all?

Isn't that why we are on this forum??