Chuck or Keep?

[P. G. Tipps]

,

I hope that there are no magnetic fields in your electric cupboard that have wiped the tapes.

[french frank]

Interested to hear cloughie is a minidisc fan. I agree, back in them days they were very easy to use (had some difficulty last night remembering which way round they went into the machine - but a skill soon mastered!). I think I have a lot of unused ones too … For speech, they sound pretty good (I tested about 10), except for one which had a bit of hiss.

As I'm currently in freecycle mode, I got rid of several small boxes that would have been useful for storing them in this wery week - you may see them on some Channel 4 drama, as they went to a 'set decorator' for an office set. So look out for a green baize pinboard and storage tray with small boxes on it. And a wicker waste paper basket …

[Flay]

The Shakespeare productions Much Ado and Troilus were excellent. Please keep them. I still treasure my (poor quality) recordings.

Chuck out Pinter's Voices; but if you have them, don't dare get rid of Moonlight and Betrayal.

[edit] Oh, I see from #10 that you do have Betrayal

[french frank]

Chuck out Pinter's Voices; but if you have them, don't dare get rid of Moonlight and Betrayal.

[edit] Oh, I see from #10 that you do have Betrayal

Yes, I have Betrayal - not Moonlight. Of the Shakespeare plays I enjoyed Cymbeline too, which I hardly knew. I don't seem to have kept Richard III - I didn't think that production was so good. Can't remember who played Richard.

Pinter's Voices, hmm, yes. It was one of those which I did test for the first few minutes, just the introduction … archived.

[Richard Barrett]

Chuck out Pinter's Voices

... a fascinating collaboration, IMO, with James Clarke, one of the most worthwhile composers of his (my) generation, and one of the few British productions that tends clearly towards the kind of stylistically innovative radio pieces (Hörspiele) common on the continent. Don't chuck it out, listen to it!

[cloughie]

Interested to hear cloughie is a minidisc fan. I agree, back in them days they were very easy to use (had some difficulty last night remembering which way round they went into the machine - but a skill soon mastered!). I think I have a lot of unused ones too … For speech, they sound pretty good (I tested about 10), except for one which had a bit of hiss.

As I'm currently in freecycle mode, I got rid of several small boxes that would have been useful for storing them in this wery week - you may see them on some Channel 4 drama, as they went to a 'set decorator' for an office set. So look out for a green baize pinboard and storage tray with small boxes on it. And a wicker waste paper basket …

Yes I recorded many a concert using the half speed facility 160 minutes usually long enough then edit out unwanted bits then use for fill ups. Also very good for recording LPs and doing compilations. They also take up less space and easy to record onto than CDs, but they don't have the universality for in-car use that CDs and memory sticks have.

[Nick Armstrong]

Think about this logically, fellow-members!
my old cassette tapes are neatly stacked away in a mains electric-switch cupboard for instance .

Illogical, Captain!!


EDIT: I see cloughie has had the same thought as me about the desirability of storing magnetic tape next to mains switches!

[Richard Barrett]

PGT, you might also like to think about not propping up your LPs against a radiator.

[Nick Armstrong]

PGT, you might also like to think about not propping up your LPs against a radiator.

[P. G. Tipps]

PGT, you might also like to think about not propping up your LPs against a radiator.

Member Barrett, they never got that chance as I got rid of them some years ago, and have lived to regret it, hence my sage advice to french frank.

There is nothing quite like an attractive LP cover which a CD case simply cannot match, in my ever-humble opinion.

Cloughie & the rolling-on-the-floor Caliban might be interested to learn that my tapes ... mostly 20-30 years old ... seem to be doing okay as I tested some about a year ago. I'm loathe to discard them as they are all personal recordings of radio concerts, so cannot possible be replaced, and, in any case, are of some sentimental value to me, being the sweet old thing that I am ...

A dark, cool and dry place is ideal for cassette storage and my tapes are stored quite a bit away from the mains equipment itself ... apparently a mere 2" away from electrical gear should be enough to avoid possible damage to the tapes. So, I think mine might just manage to survive, probably even longer than myself ... ?

So there!

[Nick Armstrong]

So there!

[Bryn]

Member Barrett, they never got that chance as I got rid of them some years ago, and have lived to regret it, hence my sage advice to french frank.

There is nothing quite like an attractive LP cover which a CD case simply cannot match, in my ever-humble opinion.

Cloughie & the rolling-on-the-floor Caliban might be interested to learn that my tapes ... mostly 20-30 years old ... seem to be doing okay as I tested some about a year ago. I'm loathe to discard them as they are all personal recordings of radio concerts, so cannot possible be replaced, and, in any case, are of some sentimental value to me, being the sweet old thing that I am ...

A dark, cool and dry place is ideal for cassette storage and my tapes are stored quite a bit away from the mains equipment itself ... apparently a mere 2" away from electrical gear should be enough to avoid possible damage to the tapes. So, I think mine might just manage to survive, probably even longer than myself ... ?

So there!

While awaiting their inevitable diffusion of magnetic information, why not back them up to digital media?

[P. G. Tipps]

While awaiting their inevitable diffusion of magnetic information, why not back them up to digital media?

Good point, and one that I'd considered ...

I did exactly that with old VHS tapes to transfer to computer and DVDs, but I simply never got around to doing the same with my audio tapes.

Certainly the best long-term bet, I agree.

[umslopogaas]

That reminds me of the time in my last job when I changed my car (this is relevant, bear with me). The old car had a cassette player and I had recorded a lot of my LP collection onto cassettes to play in the car. The new car had a CD player and, having no further use for the cassettes, I put them in a box on the tea room table and a note that said Help yourselves. By mid afternoon they had all gone. I remarked to our department secretary that I was impressed by the musical taste of our employees, since there was some fairly heavy stuff on those tapes - the whole of Wagner's ring for one thing - and I didnt expect such enthusiasm. "Ums" she said, "I expect they have just taken them home to over record Radio One." I fear she was right.