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The problem with any method that does not leave the
tape pack intact before treatment is that oxide may stick to the next leaf
as it unwinds, pulling off jigsaw puzzle shaped sections of the
tape.
As to cassettes.
Real brands use a different formula for the
soup that, when spread on plastic sheets and slit, becomes the cassette
tape. Lubricant issues at slow speeds are different, among other
things.
Have any tapes not back-coated developed
sticky-shed? As far as I've been able to determine, no cassette tapes were
back-coated.
Some white box cassette tapes were slit from
regular reels designed for other uses, including instrumentation tape where the
rods are aligned differently than on audio
tape.
Tape formulations changed without notice. A
given brand and number, manufactured at different times, may have had minor
changes made to the formula that has now shown significan
consequences.
It would be useful to know what cassette brands and
product numbers have developed sticky-shed. If there is a date of recording as
well, that could contribute to identifying those at risk. Of course, this does
not "date" that tape but gives some idea of when it was in use.
Steve Smolian
Dear Nigel, first of all I want to thank you for your response. It is thoughtful and helpful. On occasion, I do find some residue on the playhead after I have run a tape. I have not run any tapes twice, so I do not know if it is enough to residue to damage the tape should I desire to play it a second time. Of course I clean the heads between every transfer. I am continuing to find that this method does work and would also advise caution. If a test tape proves that the play head contains too much residue, my method may not work. But for many, the squeak is more serious than replaying the tapes over and over again. By the way, I am transferring to both a dat recorder and to CDROM. My tapes contain primarily spoken word. Which would you advise? Best regards, David Hoffman |