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Re: [ARSCLIST] Longevity of half-track reel
On 23/03/05, Steven C. Barr wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Warren" <richard.warren@xxxxxxxx>
>> Quarter-track tapes on 1/4-inch tape have such narrow tracks as to be
>> little better than audiocassettes for longevity and are extremely
> sensitive
>> to head alignment and differences between machines. So they are
>> certainly less reliable than half or full track tapes.
> I'm not an archivist (though I might qualify considering the stuff
> I've accumulated)...but I have a fair number of cassettes I taped in
> the 1980-83 period, and even a few I taped back in 1968 or so (old
> Philips tapes from when that was all you could buy)...and they are all
> still playable.
Likewise I have a couple of hundred from the same period, and they don't
seem to have degenerated much if at all. There may be a bit of print-through here
and there, but basically they sound better now than when they were made
(because the playback machine is better).
Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx