Cassettes becoming collectable?

I've been noting that early cassettes, notably the early Ampex
"clamshells," have been bringing some eye catching prices lately. A
"clamshell" Dean Martin brought $5 at auction, and a Moody Blues
brought...$16.06! These old cassettes sound awful, what with no Dolby
and a 160 nWb/M reference, allowing tons of hiss, and the oxides used
on cassette back then were little more than reslit standard ¼" open
reel tape. It wasn't until the IEC specs were updated in 1981 to
allow 250 nWb/M (same reference as tube driven Ampex studio recorders
of the '50s and '60s) and the oxides got better that cassette wiped
out cartridges and became a contender as an audio format, eventually
supplanting cartridges AND RTR altogether. Not just "old" cassettes
are bringing good prices...a ZZ Top cassette, obviously a later
ferrichrome with Dolby "B", brought $11, which is a bit more than the
same 8 tracks bring.

Although cassette are inherently a lot more trouble-free than any
cartridge, the same foibles of a used 8 track apply to a used
cassette, the biggest being partial erasure being caused by playback
on a magnetized machine. I've also seen my share of "melted"
cassettes that were carelessly left in a car (my wife was famous for
melting cassettes), so they're as liable to be trash as carts were.

If you've got 'em, don't throw 'em away...they may be the "next big
thing"...maybe.

Meanwhile, this group is obviously dying, as the new 8trackheaven "goo
goo groop" is doing quite well...and is "Nudo-free." Noodles,
meanwhile, tries to play "hide and seek" on Usenet with his auction
scams...but we see him.

Silly Noodles.

dB

If you've got 'em, don't throw 'em away...they may be the "next big
thing"...maybe.
Hope so, I have a nice cassette tape splicer I want to unload.
Meanwhile, this group is obviously dying, as the new 8trackheaven "goo
goo groop" is doing quite well
DBob, keep the porch light on, some may came back. In the mean time
this place is ours. Which sort of feels like the time my Great Auntie gave
me her clapped out 1960 Ford Frontenac (a badge engineered Falcon). "It's
all yours now, Billy!"
WWW

Always a pleasure exchanging posts with you WWW. Stick around. The
NG's always die down once the weather breaks.

"Meanwhile, this group is obviously dying, as the new 8trackheaven "goo

goo groop" is doing quite well"



WWW, this must be referring to that new group I was reading, on the
first page there was already 3 guys asking to be taken off the list !
It's too funny...

DeserTBoB wrote:

I've been noting that early cassettes, notably the early Ampex
"clamshells," have been bringing some eye catching prices lately. A
"clamshell" Dean Martin brought $5 at auction, and a Moody Blues
brought...$16.06! These old cassettes sound awful, what with no Dolby
and a 160 nWb/M reference, allowing tons of hiss, and the oxides used
on cassette back then were little more than reslit standard ¼" open
reel tape. It wasn't until the IEC specs were updated in 1981 to
allow 250 nWb/M (same reference as tube driven Ampex studio recorders
of the '50s and '60s) and the oxides got better that cassette wiped
out cartridges and became a contender as an audio format, eventually
supplanting cartridges AND RTR altogether. Not just "old" cassettes
are bringing good prices...a ZZ Top cassette, obviously a later
ferrichrome with Dolby "B", brought $11, which is a bit more than the
same 8 tracks bring.

well, at least i know what i can do with my old collection of cassettes.
i have about 25 of those early - mid seventies ampex cassettes, including
the original plastic labeled enclosures.




Meanwhile, this group is obviously dying, as the new 8trackheaven "goo
goo groop" is doing quite well...and is "Nudo-free." Noodles,
meanwhile, tries to play "hide and seek" on Usenet with his auction
scams...but we see him.

Silly Noodles.

this is a shame that this group is dying. the only way to keep it alive is
to post in it. usually, usenet groups will be removed off of nntp servers
if there is no activity within a certain time.

i went & checked out the 8trackheaven googlegroup & found that the interface
sucks. i set it up to send a daily digest through email & found that i
cannot respond to any post through email, which even sucks more.


anyway, i am glad to see that you posted here.

--
i have an 8 track mind

My other computer is your XP box.

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 05:06:18 GMT, "William W Western"
wrote:

DBob, keep the porch light on, some may came back. In the mean time
this place is ours. Which sort of feels like the time my Great Auntie gave
me her clapped out 1960 Ford Frontenac (a badge engineered Falcon). "It's
all yours now, Billy!" snip

....similar to the "Mercury" trucks, GM's "Acadian" (a Chevy II with
canuck names) and those fine Pontiac Parisiennes (Pontiac bodies with
Chevy engines and Powerslushes) and the fabled...ta dum...Astre! O
Canada got a bit of a bum rap from the auto industry down below from
what I saw, except maybe from Chrysler.

dB

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 09:31:55 -0400, 8 tracker from hell
wrote:

i went & checked out the 8trackheaven googlegroup & found that the interface
sucks. i set it up to send a daily digest through email & found that i
cannot respond to any post through email, which even sucks more. snip

"goo goo groopz" sucks in general. It's "Usenet for idiots", like
Noodles.

dB

DeserTBoB wrote:

I've been noting that early cassettes, notably the early Ampex
"clamshells," have been bringing some eye catching prices lately. A
"clamshell" Dean Martin brought $5 at auction, and a Moody Blues
brought...$16.06! These old cassettes sound awful, what with no Dolby
and a 160 nWb/M reference, allowing tons of hiss, and the oxides used
on cassette back then were little more than reslit standard ¼" open
reel tape. It wasn't until the IEC specs were updated in 1981 to
allow 250 nWb/M (same reference as tube driven Ampex studio recorders
of the '50s and '60s) and the oxides got better that cassette wiped
out cartridges and became a contender as an audio format, eventually
supplanting cartridges AND RTR altogether. Not just "old" cassettes
are bringing good prices...a ZZ Top cassette, obviously a later
ferrichrome with Dolby "B", brought $11, which is a bit more than the
same 8 tracks bring.

Although cassette are inherently a lot more trouble-free than any
cartridge, the same foibles of a used 8 track apply to a used
cassette, the biggest being partial erasure being caused by playback
on a magnetized machine. I've also seen my share of "melted"
cassettes that were carelessly left in a car (my wife was famous for
melting cassettes), so they're as liable to be trash as carts were.

If you've got 'em, don't throw 'em away...they may be the "next big
thing"...maybe.

Meanwhile, this group is obviously dying, as the new 8trackheaven "goo
goo groop" is doing quite well...and is "Nudo-free." Noodles,
meanwhile, tries to play "hide and seek" on Usenet with his auction
scams...but we see him.

Silly Noodles.

dB



--


maybe its cause i was born in the late 70s,
but i love cassettes, not the factory ones,
but high quality blanks. ever since i got
my hands on a couple of 3-head machines
i've been using them for mixed tapes,
radio broadcast recording, and even live
2-track recording, i love the different
textures of sound that can be achieved using
different kinds of blanks, and how they react
to various EQing and record levels.
i gathered a quite large collection of
blanks of all sorts, looking for strange and
unique designs and high quality.
some of my favorites (mostly for looks)
would be the XHE series from audio-magnetics,
sounds awful but looks great, the epilaxial
maxells and dark gray body tdks from the 90s
like the ar-x and sa-x.

i'm quite fond also of early type-1 tdks and maxells,
and the infinite variety of no-name and one-run brands.
but i usually end up changing the tape on the reels
for something a little more acceptable

i master on the computer first, then copy to cassette.
wich has brought me the wrath of some die-hard
mixed tape makers who seem to love the masochism of
baby sitty a tape deck for five hours
i prefer teh infinite editing capabilities
and compression/EQ options of digital mastering.