cassettes

I have a box of old cassettes in the attic (like a million other blokes). Rummaging through them, I noticed some are are metal (unclear which element), some CrO2, some plain vanilla (whatever that means). And differing cutoff

players which could recognize these various types. How did they do that?

And, what's the need for the filter options? Intuitively, there should be one optimal design -

Anyway, I plan to convert them to MP3, rather than trash bin the lot, and need to decipher these issues.

--
Rich
Reply to
RichD
Loading thread data ...

Am 02.06.2018 um 00:56 schrieb RichD:

Notches on top of cassette:

formatting link

Reply to
Newdo

Extra notches in the top of the casette, next to te write-protect notches.

--
     ?
Reply to
Jasen Betts

Are you concerned about the condition of the cassette tapes? An attic may not have been too kind to them over the years.

If the content is available commercially (music, iTunes, Amazon Music, etc...) I would be very tempted to just download the content online.

Of course, if these are family heirlooms, then...

Either way, best of luck!! There are tape decks out there that can write directly to MP3 format / thumb drives, etc...

Reply to
mpm

as said notches in the plastic shell

There is. One for ferric oxide, one for chrome, one for ferrichrome...

Some you can find already converted online. Some not. To get the best from them, use a play deck with auto-azimuth.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Notches, but a lot of cassette players you could manually chose which equalisation to use. There was also Dolby and other proprietory noise reduction schemes kicking around back then. Dolby ultimately dominated.

Chances are if they haven't been played for a very long time you will have bad print through on any transients so they may well not be worth the effort of digitising even if you have a good machine to play them on.

Unless they are rare irreplaceable recording of specific performances or lectures it really isn't worth the bother. Download a much better copy off Spotify or Youtube but without the wow and flutter of tape cassette.

I did that for my unusual stuff but already had vinyl copies and CDs of most commercial cassettes by then anyway. I first started out with a fairly high end portable Sony cassette recorder - so well built it is still going! It could give an open reel a run for its money.

I am a bit retro in that I prefer a physical CD. The new trend of selling vinyl disks and record decks in supermarkets amuses me.

--
Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

78s don't sell well though

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Collectors will pay very good money for ones in good condition with the original sleeve. Scratched ones make excellent Wimshurst machine disks.

Modern DSP can work wonders on precious old recordings of exceptional performances (though it isn't worth the effort on anything less).

--
Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

Techmoan did a decent video on this subject:

formatting link

Reply to
DemonicTubes

t?

ditto Technology Connections

formatting link

also Dolby NR

formatting link

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.