Cassettes
- Thread starter Kestasme
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Gluecifer
Member (SA)
That article/site is a load of rubbish trying to sell crappy software.
I wager magnetic recordings, if looked after correctly, will last longer than a burned CD 9/10 times.
To answer the original question, there is a degradation that occurs on tape when it is recorded on time after time after time.
But you'd be looking at probably 5 or 6 recordings on decent quality tapes for this to be discernable.
The biggest misnomor about tape recordings is that people think they were sub-par quality across the board.
This is only the case if you use crappy quality tapes on crappy quality equipment. Using good quality cassettes
and a high end componet cassette deck will result in wonderful quailty recordings.
I try to never record over a tape more than three times. Of course you get some wear and tear on tape if it's listened to hundreds
and hundreds of times, but again this massively dependant on the cassette quality and the quality of equipment you're listening to it
on.
Rock On.
I wager magnetic recordings, if looked after correctly, will last longer than a burned CD 9/10 times.
To answer the original question, there is a degradation that occurs on tape when it is recorded on time after time after time.
But you'd be looking at probably 5 or 6 recordings on decent quality tapes for this to be discernable.
The biggest misnomor about tape recordings is that people think they were sub-par quality across the board.
This is only the case if you use crappy quality tapes on crappy quality equipment. Using good quality cassettes
and a high end componet cassette deck will result in wonderful quailty recordings.
I try to never record over a tape more than three times. Of course you get some wear and tear on tape if it's listened to hundreds
and hundreds of times, but again this massively dependant on the cassette quality and the quality of equipment you're listening to it
on.
Rock On.
jaetee
Member (SA)
That article is extremely alarmist. I have Maxell, Fuji, TDK and Sony cassettes that have been in my possession for over 30 years, with recordings on them that sound like the day I made them. And some of those tapes have been recorded over multiple times.
As long as you have a good deck, and keep your tapes in a dry, climate controlled environment.... don't worry. You should be able to re-use that tape over and over again. One exception might me if you record a very hot signal (levels too high) onto a Metal bias tape, there may be some lingering "print-through" that is the result of the erase head not being able to fully erase the tape prior to the new music being recorded on top of it. You might hear some of what used to be on the tape during quiet passages or between songs. But, for normal or chrome bias tapes, there is no set limit that I know of as to how many times you can record over and over again on the same tape before you notice a drop in performance.
Sticky Shed Syndrome is MUCH more of an issue for open reel tapes than for compact cassettes.
I am an active participant on another forum dedicated to tape recording (http://www.tapeheads.net) and have done some extensive reading on this issue, not to mention my own personal experiences. I have had open reel tape disintegrate on me and make a mess of up the heads and transport on my R2R, but it was tape from the '70's and I have no idea how it was stored. Considering I'm in Florida and that tape came from a flea market, my bet is that it was literally in someones non-air conditioned shed.
Cassettes that I've heard about (on tapeheads) which have developed SSS were stored in damp environments for prolonged periods or were limited to specific production batches where the hypothesis is that the chemical formula was probably not 100% correct.
I still buy quality used tapes from thrift stores because most the "good" tape models and formulations haven't been made for upwards of 20 years now... And I record on them regularly with stellar results.
As long as you have a good deck, and keep your tapes in a dry, climate controlled environment.... don't worry. You should be able to re-use that tape over and over again. One exception might me if you record a very hot signal (levels too high) onto a Metal bias tape, there may be some lingering "print-through" that is the result of the erase head not being able to fully erase the tape prior to the new music being recorded on top of it. You might hear some of what used to be on the tape during quiet passages or between songs. But, for normal or chrome bias tapes, there is no set limit that I know of as to how many times you can record over and over again on the same tape before you notice a drop in performance.
Sticky Shed Syndrome is MUCH more of an issue for open reel tapes than for compact cassettes.
I am an active participant on another forum dedicated to tape recording (http://www.tapeheads.net) and have done some extensive reading on this issue, not to mention my own personal experiences. I have had open reel tape disintegrate on me and make a mess of up the heads and transport on my R2R, but it was tape from the '70's and I have no idea how it was stored. Considering I'm in Florida and that tape came from a flea market, my bet is that it was literally in someones non-air conditioned shed.
Cassettes that I've heard about (on tapeheads) which have developed SSS were stored in damp environments for prolonged periods or were limited to specific production batches where the hypothesis is that the chemical formula was probably not 100% correct.
I still buy quality used tapes from thrift stores because most the "good" tape models and formulations haven't been made for upwards of 20 years now... And I record on them regularly with stellar results.
Lasonic TRC-920
Moderator
jaetee and glucifer are absolutely right...in face CD's DVD's and Hard Drives will all go corrupt over time. Professionally burned CD'DVD's will last longer, but they too will fail. Hard drives sitting as well as cd's burned at home might last as little as just a few years.
ONLY Magnetic tape holds up if stored properly, in fact, to date it is believe this is the ONLY way to store data and audio / video for purposes of long term archive.
Like jaetee, I have tapes that I have had for over 30 years, still play fine.
Also remember, if you do proper maintenance on your cassette decks, clean the heads, drive wheels, this will help prolong the tapes as well because you have less debris coming in contact with the tape it's self.
Good luck!
ONLY Magnetic tape holds up if stored properly, in fact, to date it is believe this is the ONLY way to store data and audio / video for purposes of long term archive.
Like jaetee, I have tapes that I have had for over 30 years, still play fine.
Also remember, if you do proper maintenance on your cassette decks, clean the heads, drive wheels, this will help prolong the tapes as well because you have less debris coming in contact with the tape it's self.
Good luck!
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