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The Original Cassette Collective Thread


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I have a small collection of 'limited edition' tapes, but I am afraid to play them in an old cassette player that will eat the tape. Happened a lot as a kid, from what I recall. I actually took a few pics of my tapes recently, but the quality isn't great cause its on a cheap cell phone camera. I left 1 tape out and I have one on the way so maybe I'll take some better pics later on.

Also there is a 'Cassette Collective' thread, maybe I'll post pics here or there... 1 sec...

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Uploading some pics in a moment in case anyone is interested... my collection is modest, and pretty much half of them are NES soundtracks that were sourced directly from the NES cartridges. The only one I didn't photo is a tape from a band called The Holy Fucking Ghost, it's a green tape and the packaging is a brown paper bag with green ink on it. It's actually really cool, I'll try to remember to snap a photo when my next cassette comes in. I'll take better photos of the whole collection or something.

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Are those NES soundtracks officially released or bootlegs? I've never seen them before.

Hey man, thanks for asking... They were a small run done by a label called Auris Apothecary. Really cool obscure label. They specialize in weird formats (like cassette and even floppy discs) and odd packaging (one cassette included a packet of seeds to plant.) They do everything top-quality, they put a lot of thought and care into the releases they put out. But yeah, they are sourced from the actual NES cartridges, but they are unofficial, not sanctioned by Nintendo, or any other devs.

When they first went up they did some cool thing where it was something like, if you bought the whole NES tape collection you were entered to win a refurb, like-new NES that had a custom blue LED, I think it also included a controller and an NES Zapper.

If you check out the catalogue #s you can see I am missing some. (AAX 143 and AAX 148) One that I am missing is Dragon Spirit and I don't recall the other(s), and there might be one or two more tapes in the whole series. I actually bought 6 and he sent me 2 more for free, but wouldn't send Dragon Spirit cause he said that one cost the most to produce, I think due to the running time and possibly other factors I cannot recall at the moment.

Metroid soundtrack is one of my all time favourites, of anything, ever.

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I have a small collection of tapes, but I prefer vinyl

 

I still have to buy a tape deck ...

 

Is the durability of cassettes good? Do you guys play your cassettes a lot? Or do you just like collecting them?

 

I've noticed that in some cases the cassette release of an album is more limited than the vinyl release ... I've seen cassettes on discogs for way to much money (40-60$) ...

 

The tapes I have are also very rare and limited ... so if I buy a tape deck ... I don't think I'll play them to much ... I'm a little bit scared they'll get destroyed or damaged ... since i'm not that familiar with the medium.

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Appreciate that, Allen! It should be coming to you soon (I sent it out a week ago or so).

I picked up my order from Fleeting Youth from the mail sorting office on the way to work this morning. Thanks for the extra's atxmonk. I know my little girl will be blagging the dinosaur.

 

I also collected a parcel at the same time from Burger with some cassettes in so todays haul is 10 cassettes to listen through, all in all a solid cassette mail day.

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I have a small collection of tapes, but I prefer vinyl

 

I still have to buy a tape deck ...

 

Is the durability of cassettes good? Do you guys play your cassettes a lot? Or do you just like collecting them?

 

I've noticed that in some cases the cassette release of an album is more limited than the vinyl release ... I've seen cassettes on discogs for way to much money (40-60$) ...

 

The tapes I have are also very rare and limited ... so if I buy a tape deck ... I don't think I'll play them to much ... I'm a little bit scared they'll get destroyed or damaged ... since i'm not that familiar with the medium.

Cassettes are quite durable but one mess up can snap or stretch a tape so cassette and cassette deck care are very important.

 

Good stand alone cassette decks are peanuts now unless it's a Nakamichi or one of the higher end silver Pioneers or something similar.

 

There is a good vintage cassette deck site that gives all the specs so if you search a particular model on google the page on that site will usually show up giving you all you need to know.

 

Simple rule of thumb though try and get a 3 head machine that has had new belts, all the money went into the 3 head machines but any of the better made decks should not cost a lot and as long as it's been looked after you will be fine, the belts wear so new belts are always a plus.

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Guest Timbo_Slice

yo just go to a thrift store and buy a fucking tape deck that'll plug into your receiver. tapes are tapes…they don't sound the best and they are cheap as fuck, you don't need an expensive setup to play them. 

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Guest Timbo_Slice

Anyone have those Napa Valley tape holders? I have one mounted on my wall that holds ~100. almost full though so my stock needs some weeding out. 

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yo just go to a thrift store and buy a fucking tape deck that'll plug into your receiver. tapes are tapes…they don't sound the best and they are cheap as fuck, you don't need an expensive setup to play them. 

It don't need to be expensive but it does need to work, a snapped tape is a pain in the arse unless you are good at tape splicing and a stretched spaghetti one is a pain most places.

 

Done right they sound great but no a good cassette deck doesn't need to be expensive. Yard sales are also good but never put a rare tape in a machine until you are happy it won't make cassette spaghetti.

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About playing tapes:

Everytime you play the tape it gets stretched slightly which actually creates variation in pitch. like a wow and flutter type effect. Using FF and RW is even worse for stretching tape so I'd advise that if they are rare and you do listen to them but have reservations, to use a pencil or pen to rewind your tapes manually.

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thanks for the info guys !

 

At the moment I have an old yamaha natural sound set ... so i'm thinking about buying the Yamaha TC-720 cassette deck ... is anyone familiar with this deck?

I have some more modern KX Yamaha's which are very good and cost me next to nothing. The TC-720 is nice looking deck but i've never tried one but I will say most Yamaha stuff I've encountered is well built and works well.

 

What's the model number of the one you have now? if it was good in't sa day and in good condition why change it?

 

Have a look on

 

http://www.vintagecassette.com and http://www.hifiengine.com for specs and inspiration.

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Has anyone here listened to Tabs Out?  It's a cassette podcast.  The episode I listened to was focused on experimental electronic, noise and ambient material.  I kind of got the impression that's primarily what they feature all the time.  I liked one artist so much I bought the tape immediately and there were two or three I'm going to check out in the next few days.  Definitely worth listening to if those genres interest you : http://www.tabsout.com/

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