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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

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Old 5th Jun 2020, 12:14 am   #1
garry71
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Default What do you do with your NOS tapes?

I bought three tapes still in their original wrappers recently, and I can't bring myself to unwrap any of them. Two AGFAs, and a BASF.

Part of me thinks that it'd be nice to slap an unused tape on to see what it'd be like, and another part thinks it'd be a shame to destroy the original wrapping on something that's probably knocking on for 50 years old. Plus there's no guarantee about the condition of the tapes now, anyway.

I'll probably end up trying one of the AGFAs seeing as I'll have one left over.

So what do folk on here do if they get an NOS tape? Use them, or keep them as an unspoilt item?
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 2:32 am   #2
TIMTAPE
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

The tapes themselves will probably be fine except that perhaps the tape splices at each end may have dried out and will give way. TBH these these days they're becoming more collectors' items for some. Even the shrink wrap if it's original just adds to the collectable value, which probably won't be a great deal. What can be really valuable is what's recorded on them!
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 10:05 am   #3
DMcMahon
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

Only have a few sealed NOS tapes and I must admit am somewhat hesitant about opening them (not sure why really), I have opened and used one of them and it was good condition, a 7" Maxell XLI-35-90B
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 11:36 am   #4
jamesperrett
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

I've got a few Ampex 407 7" reels still in their wrapping. I tried one of them a few years ago and it had started to go sticky so I'm not really sure why I'm still keeping the others.
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 12:03 pm   #5
llama
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

Pour encourager les autres?
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 12:59 pm   #6
Restoration73
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

I had a load of NOS boxed (sealed via paper label) 5" BASF LPR35LH tape that we used
on the Uher 4200s. Using heat, I released the label. The splices were ok but there was
some bleed of the adhesive to next layers. One or two were a bit sticky.
Recorded tapes should always be spooled if free of sticky shed, and to avoid pre-echo spooled tails out, i.e. the outer tape should be the end of the recording.
You won't have any trouble with Maxell or TDK in my experience.
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 10:47 pm   #7
WreckTangle
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

If I’ve bought NOS gear to use then I have no qualms about opening it, although I will do so carefully. I have bought and used a few NOS BASF and Philips blank tapes in the past and also the occasional shrink-wrapped pre-recorded reel from the USA in order to listen to it. However, mostly I have bought much newer Zonal blank tape for recording use and I stocked up while Zonal Media were still trading.
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Old 6th Jun 2020, 5:48 am   #8
ricard
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

I guess there's something fascinating about a pristine, unopened shrink wrapped package that looks like it was bought from the store yesterday, even if it actually was 50 years ago. Plus the added fascination that nobody has actually used it for that length of time.

I've got some NOS tapes too, if I have two of the same I tend to open one to see what it looks like (and experience that even wind that is hard to achieve afterwards), but leave the other one sealed.
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Old 6th Jun 2020, 11:53 am   #9
Lucien Nunes
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

I would leave them sealed, because opening them turns something unusual into something commonplace. If there were no surviving examples of usable recording tape anywhere else on Earth, that would be different. It would be more worthwhile to open and use these to document and demonstrate tape one last time for eternity. But there's lots of tape about, so I would use that instead and keep these as show pieces.
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Old 7th Jun 2020, 7:29 pm   #10
ben
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

I'd also be tempted to keep 'em wrapped unless I were really desperate for a tape! I have a load of cassettes still sealed in their original packaging, plus some EMI reels, they're really hard to find like that and as there are dozens of perfectly usable opened ones I see no need to unseal 'em.
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Old 7th Jun 2020, 9:38 pm   #11
arjoll
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ricard View Post
I guess there's something fascinating about a pristine, unopened shrink wrapped package that looks like it was bought from the store yesterday, even if it actually was 50 years ago.
Not tapes, but I opened a box of Verbatim 5.25" HD floppies last weekend - I was making some boot disks for a Sord M68 to send to a guy in Germany, and considering he'd been quite generous in paying for them in advance thought I'd better use new ones! I bought four or five boxes from the distributor for $0.50 each about 16 years ago when they were on run-out "just in case."
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Old 8th Jun 2020, 5:19 pm   #12
hillmanie
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Default Re: What do you do with your NOS tapes?

Yes, there's something special about a 50 yr old unopened package . Reminds you of when you were poor. ( I ) It seems that the quality is not guaranteed as some of you folks were satisfied while other tapes came out dodgy. You could compromise by buying a few, opening some and keeping some. Right now they're on the E auction site from maybe more than one seller. One is badged Zonal a brand I haven't used though
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