Date : Mon, 27 Apr 2020 13:12:20 +0100
From : robert.simpson.lists@... (Robert J. Simpson)
Subject: Rescuing cassette tapes
I've had no problem getting data off tapes from the early 1980s. As has
been suggested, I do recommend ensuring they are completely free from
damp before you start and then I always fast forward and rewind a couple
of times before playing them. The tape deck I used is part of an old
Sanyo hi-fi unit. Nothing special but maybe slightly higher quality than
a portable tape recorder.
I used Audacity to digitize it and I was actually quite surprised how
high the quality was. The only issue was some very low frequency noise
(i.e. drift in the dc level) so I wrote a simple digital filter to
remove it and then it was very easy to decode. I've got some of my old
code running quite happily on Beebem.
I think there are a few open source projects around but if not, I can
probably get my program working again if anyone is interested.
Rob.
On 27/04/2020 12:40, A. Plevrakis wrote:
> I think it would be impossible to use an open reel2reel as a cassette
> tape player. For starters, the tape and the reading head is much
> bigger. 2nd, the axis of the spool is much bigger also. But primarily,
> I think it would not be compatible to read, magnetically.
>
> What I would do is connect a tape deck to the sound input of a laptop
> and use software like Audacity to record the sound uncompressed to
> computer files. If you don?t have a tape deck, it would be cheap to
> buy one. You could then even use the pc as a tape player for your bbc.
>
> Antonis, Crete.-
>
> 27 ??? 2020, 13:55, ? ??????? ?Michael Howard
> <mike@... <mailto:mike@...>>? ??????:
>
>> On 27/04/2020 10:25, Rob Malpass wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all
>>>
>>> I have just discovered what must be at least a 40 year old cassette
>>> tape.?? I played it for 10 seconds on a player ? long enough to
>>> determine that:
>>>
>>> 1. It had some BBC micro stuff on it and
>>> 2. That it sounded so bad I didn?t want it screwing up my hifi or
>>> BBC micro tape deck.
>>>
>>> So I need to get the data off.?? I would happily buy a new cassette
>>> deck (Argos are still selling them for ?30) and risk the tape
>>> mangling the mechanism or vice versa.?? What I?d really like (and
>>> this brings me to my question) is some sort of reel to reel device
>>> which plays standard cassettes which allowed me to easily fix (by
>>> cracking the tape open and just taking the spools) any problems.?? A
>>> better description would be a reel to reel player for cassettes
>>> tape.?? After a quick search, I?ve not turned anything up.
>>>
>>> Is there such a device??? Anyone had any success with other methods?
>>>
>>>
>> Could you not buy a reel to reel on flea-bay and manually load up
>> your tape?
>>
>> https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Vintage-Reel-to-Reel-Tape-Recorders/116868/bn_450877
>>
>> A bit fiddly but might work ...
>> --
>> Michael Howard
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