Re: [ARSCLIST] [AMIA-L] Storage of Acetate Magnetic Media

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Richard L. Hess" wrote:

> (1) Some reels of tape were shipped in plastic bags, some users
> re-used the plastic bags inside the boxes. I recently found one of
> four reels of Kodak tapes recording oral history interviews with old
> Shakers (a now non-existent religious sect) had enough acetic acid
> inside the plastic bag to cause my eyes to water and almost had me
> leaving my studio. It played fine, but clearly some breakdown
> products were accumulating in the semi-sealed plastic bag without any
> opportunity to be buffered (see below). We had an extensive
> discussion of this on the ARSC list and it seems that many people are
> wary of Kodak tape.

Gilles St. Laurent, recording engineer at the National Library of Canada (or
whatever it's now called), spoke to CAPS a few years ago and reported that
plastic bags used as protection for tape reels were a known problem, and didn't
refer to Kodak tapes (which are considered problematic by 99.9% of the world..I
seem to be the only person who's never had a bad reel of the stuff). I avoid
plastic bags inside tape boxes and inside record jackets....even the expensive
plastic-lined record sleeves we bought in the 60s are failing, leaving discs
exposed to what remains of the glue used at the time. The Angel sleeves seem to
be holding up, so far.

dl