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Old 4th Mar 2019, 11:39 am   #61
stevehertz
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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The best solution for cars was an 'Allsop 3' wet / mechanical cleaning action cassette head cleaner - fun to watch at the time (in a standard tape deck with good viewing window) - like a windscreen wiper for tape decks!
Does anyone remember those?
Still got mine and some new, spare felt tips.
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Old 4th Mar 2019, 12:00 pm   #62
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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"My Dad tried to buy the better quality blank take, TDK CDing was a type he used a lot"
My favourite is TDK AD ……...However,the prices now for Sealed NOS are becoming astronomical !!!
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Old 4th Mar 2019, 12:39 pm   #63
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

I wonder if the hero in “Guardians of the Galaxy” being addicted to his Sony Walkman has anything to do with the revival of cassettes

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Old 4th Mar 2019, 2:47 pm   #64
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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Back in the days of the HIFI Choice proper lab test (A5 size) books, TDK SA and Maxell UDXLII generally came out with excellent results and listening tests.

Maxell and TDK were certainly the best brands to go for, I seem to remember you could go for more expensive versions such as chromdioxid or metal, they did certainly sound better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orvW4wllxAk
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Old 4th Mar 2019, 7:43 pm   #65
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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Originally Posted by whiskas View Post
The best solution for cars was an 'Allsop 3' wet / mechanical cleaning action cassette head cleaner - fun to watch at the time (in a standard tape deck with good viewing window) - like a windscreen wiper for tape decks!
Does anyone remember those?
I must still have mine somewhere. And a Tandy/Radio shack copy of it (which worked just as well).

There was also one with internal bevel gears that rotated the pad on the face of the head rather than moving it back and forth. Does anyone remember that one? Can't remember what it was called.

There were also 'cassettes' that claimed to demagnetise the heads. Some were purely mechanical (I assume they moved permanent magnets around inside), some were electronic (needed a button cell or two). Does anybody have any of those, if so, did they work at all and what's inside?
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Old 4th Mar 2019, 9:09 pm   #66
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

I don't think the "pinwheel" demagnetiser cassettes -- using a revolving magnet with alternating North and South poles around its perimeter, spun by the head cleaning tape passed around it -- could possibly have had any effect besides giving the head surface a gentle wipe.

The revolving magnet would necessarily have come to a stop at the end of the tape and stayed there until the cassette was ejected; so it would have left the head magnetised at the end of the "demagnetising" cycle!
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Old 4th Mar 2019, 9:43 pm   #67
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

At the other end of the spectrum, one of the best-sounding cassettes I ever came across was a bog-standard EMI ferric from (I would guess) the early 70's. My 1975 Sharp cassette deck made beautiful recordings on it - a nice smooth sound with a well extended treble. I may have kept it, although I don't have a deck to play it on now.
The worst IMO were Memorex. The tape may have been OK, but the mechanical noise (a shuffling and scraping sound as the reels turned) put me right off.
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Old 4th Mar 2019, 11:48 pm   #68
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

Those EMI ferric tapes were almost certainly one of the best value for money tapes in there day.
I have got some recorded ones and they were played a couple of years ago and still sounded good.
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 12:08 am   #69
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

I avoided Memorex after one folded its tape neatly down the centre, spoiling a favourite recording. They were bad for dropouts too, which isn't surprising because there was so little oxide on them even the C90 tape looked transparent. "Is it real, or is it Memorex?" Who cares about that if the blasted things are going to self-destruct? That said, their 1/4" tapes were fairly good.
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 12:39 am   #70
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

The 70s memorex tapes suffered from poor pressure pads, they did not use a springy metal strip but a piece of foam sponge stuck into the housing which lost its strength very quickly. Poor tape to head contact and even creasing on some decks became inevitable. A pity, as the actual tape in the first, grey mr02 ones in the L shape flip box wasn't too bad.

Another problem with Memorex, especially in the later ones, is that you never knew what you were getting. The company was sold a couple of times including once to Tandy. Some of their 80s cassettes like the HBSII were made by SKC, (who also made for Fuji and Scotch) others were by Saehan. I even have one early 80s memorex dB (FE tape) with what looks to be an Agfa shell!
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 12:44 am   #71
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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My vote for the most hideous quality cassette tape of the 70's / 80's goes to Kingsonic from Hong Kong - truly dreadful quality - the oxide looked dull and was probably great at wearing down the heads ten times faster than normal!
Hell's teeth, I remember those. Used to get them 3 for 50p in local discount store. They had about three different shell designs and all were terrible- some achievement, looking back! You were lucky if they didn't jam up before the end of the first side, and even to my pre-teen ears sounded appalling, hissy and weak audio. I doubt anyone other than the terminally deluded ever bought more than two packs. Then you also had Melsonic and Kaytape, more of the same crap basically!
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 12:45 am   #72
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

I've still got all my old cassette tapes.

I've got three Walkman tape players that are at the moment just display items on a shelf unit in the living room. They all work and I really ought to put them away, as they tend to be dust collectors and it probably isn't doing them any good in the long run.

Someone mentioned the Shadows greatest hits - I seem to think that I may have got a set of these still sealed and never used which came in a job lot of radio related stuff from a local auction - I'm going to have to have a look for them and check them out.

My car is old enough to have a cassette tape player, which also has short wave on the radio and a ten disc CD autochanger in the back.
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 12:56 pm   #73
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

Typical. My last car had a cassette player. Now I've finally upgraded to one with a CD player cassettes are back in!

Surprised to find it worked I actually used it a lot. I recorded some favourite CDs onto to tape for entertainment when there was nothing to listen to on the radio.

I learned the hard way about cheap cassettes. Still at school, a cassette took a big chunk of pocket money. However, we regularly went to the Drayton Manor Radio Rally which was a huge event every May. Parents could walk the grounds and have and a picnic and I could wander the stalls looking for junk and drooling over unobtainable (to me) equipment. There were packs of unknown brand cassettes on a trader's stall at what seemed a bargain price. He must have rubbed his hands with glee as I handed over my cash knowing he would be down the M1 by the time I discovered my folly. Can't comment that much on the recording quality - the majority jammed hard after a few minutes. I took a few apart - unfortunately unlike the Philips ones they didn't have screws - but to no avail. I will have to have a look in my box of cassettes to see if any survive. In the latter days of recording - usually interesting radio programmes - I mainly used TDK. I never had a hi-fi system. My first recoder was a Philips EL3302, a 1960s Christmas present that I used for years and, later, small Sony boom box type machines of which I still have two.
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 1:34 pm   #74
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

Is there a cassette revival? Not in the same way as the vinyl revival.

Though vinyl certainly dropped off the public radar it never went away. Turntables at all price points were always being manufactured and when people started to realise that there was something in "that old black magic" the revival was and remains genuine. Heck my local Sainsbury's not only offers about 20 LPs for sale they even have three record players including their own brand! It's crap...but it's there.

With cassette, nobody makes a decent deck any more and it's unlikely they ever will. There is no high quality cassette transport currently being manufactured and possibly not even decent stereo cassette heads. Dolby labs refuse to license noise reduction. So we are left with vintage decks, which may not have been used for years....new decks which are worse than entry level decks of 1980....and people buying cassettes without intention to listen to them.

However there definitely is an upsurge in sales and no fewer than four companies are offering brand new cassette tape. That said, because decent quality new cassette decks and portable players are a pipe dream I think the revival will be limited.

I certainly enjoyed the "Guardians Of The Galaxy Awesome Mix 2" on my walkman during a recent flight.
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 3:32 pm   #75
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

Hasn't Dolby noise reduction fallen into the Public Domain by now? A patent only lasts for 20 years .....
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 5:36 pm   #76
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

Correct, any patent protection on the original systems will have expired long ago. Possibly they are refusing to licence use of the Dolby name: registered trade marks can be renewed indefinitely.
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 6:39 pm   #77
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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Correct, any patent protection on the original systems will have expired long ago. Possibly they are refusing to licence use of the Dolby name: registered trade marks can be renewed indefinitely.
Dolby has evolved over the years creating new licences for improved quality and innovations.

The last innovation I believe was Dolby Atmos designed for the home theatre systems .
Game of thrones on disc was the first to use it in the home (2014)
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Old 5th Mar 2019, 10:05 pm   #78
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Yes, but the patents on Dolby B and Dolby C must have lapsed by now. And it would be fair dealing to mention someone else's trademark just to point out that you had your own, interoperable system. You could probably implement a compatible system digitally using a 16-bit microcontroller with two A-D and D-A converters, and two digital inputs to select between B and C-type and record or playback mode. That's still only eight pins with two for power .....
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Old 7th Mar 2019, 10:31 pm   #79
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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Hasn't Dolby noise reduction fallen into the Public Domain by now? A patent only lasts for 20 years .....
There are certainly third party software implementations of Dolby A and Dolby B as well as dBx of both types. I don't know of any software for Dolby C or SR yet though.
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Old 8th Mar 2019, 1:52 pm   #80
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Default Re: Cassette tapes making a comeback?

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Quote:
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Hasn't Dolby noise reduction fallen into the Public Domain by now? A patent only lasts for 20 years .....
There are certainly third party software implementations of Dolby A and Dolby B as well as dBx of both types. I don't know of any software for Dolby C or SR yet though.
So a manufacturer of a new good quality deck could use a near-enough copy of a Dolby circuit and just call it Noise Reduction A and B.
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