Archive of tapes - Reel to Reel and Cassette.

[trellis]

A view of the top edge of the "Verbatim" data cassette, showing the 'flippable' record protect tabs, and the offset notch (presumably used by a computer drive to determine which way round the cassette has been inserted).

[Jim Davies]

Hello

Here's a Maxell UR90 cassette I found recently that seems to be rusting - look carefully inside the little window and you can see something on the windings of tape.

I've never seen this before but I am guessing

a. it's the result of being stored in very damp conditions?
b. it's not really safe to play in a cassette deck without whatever that "rust" is falling off and mucking up the deck?

Any thoughts/explanations would be most welcome but since this is not a discussion thread you are welcome to post to my Flickr page

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6733059...in/photostream

Jim D

[ben]

That's mould, it can spread and contaminate other tapes played subsequently, so you might want to try and clean the tape before playing it on anything. Run it in FF over a tissue moistened with alcohol and clean out the shell.

[paulsherwin]

Ben is right. Similar moulds are a big problem with old video cassettes. There's no agreement as to what actually causes it but one thing is for sure - don't play it on anything unless the contents are extremely important to you.

[ben]

For those who like to keep the tapes in order here are some scans of the inlay cards to print out and replace those that have been written on or missing!
In no particular order.... more to come.

[Masala_J]

National Tape RT-7 Standard Tape by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd

Length 370 m, 1,200 ft.

Front and bottom edge shown. Paper and Dymo labels were applied. Used as a home "mix tape".

[Masala_J]

National Tape "Golden Tape" RT-7G by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., LTD

Length 555 m, 1,800 ft. Made in Japan.

Was used as a home mix tape, has some paper labels affixed. Front and bottom edge views shown.

Notice how the colours on the front face vary from the RT-7 "Standard Tape" shown in prior posting.

[Masala_J]

National Tape RT-5G "Golden Tape" by Matshushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd

Length: 277 m, 900 ft

Showing front and back faces (image a), and bottom edge (image b) views. The tape itself in image c.

Was used as home mix tape, adhesive labels, plastic and paper, were applied.

[Masala_J]

National Tape RT-3G "Golden Tape" by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd

Length 93 m, 300 ft.

Showing front and rear (image a), corner view (image b) and the tape itself (image c)

Was used as a home mix tape. Some ink writing on the packages.

[jascha]

Hi, do you have a picture of the spool of the RT-7?Does it differ from the RT-7G that has the golden sticker on the spool? Thanks

[Baguette]

Trying to avoid duplicates

Maxwell UD 25-120, Japan
Radiola RA3953, France
Kodak but with an ORTF sticker, the french agency in charge of TV and Radio from around 1960 to the late seventies, so probably broadcast quality.

What is this strange tape? It's dark blue. When played I only hear small crackles. Oxidation perhaps?

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by Baguette

What is this strange tape? It's dark blue. When played I only hear small crackles.

I believe that Racal used to make tapes with a blue backing - the magnetic side was a dark grey-ish brown.