[HN Gopher] Tapedeck.org
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       Tapedeck.org
        
       Author : bookofjoe
       Score  : 103 points
       Date   : 2021-08-14 17:45 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (tapedeck.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (tapedeck.org)
        
       | incanus77 wrote:
       | Ok, I wasn't expecting this to be as nostalgic as it was for me.
       | Less for music, but more for my first programs in BASIC on the
       | TI-99/4A. All I could remember was "red" -- and then there is a
       | color search. Ahh, it was Kmart.
       | http://www.tapedeck.org/400/k_mart.php
        
       | sandworm101 wrote:
       | >> triggers memories of particular pieces of music.
       | 
       | It triggers my memories of scanning for songs, using toothpicks
       | to extract broken tapes from car dashboards, and spending
       | afternoons rewinding loose tape back into cassettes. Cassettes
       | (8-tracks included) were a horrible bridge technology between
       | vinyl and CDs. I'm glad people can find joy in their external
       | appearance. That is their only redeeming quality.
        
         | transitorykris wrote:
         | Mixed CDs never quite created the same joy as mixed tapes for
         | me
        
       | 123pie123 wrote:
       | I was asked by a younger person how many giga bytes does a
       | (magnetic) tape hold?
       | 
       | I had to decribe the concept of analogue/ digital, A2D process,
       | error rate, even the home computers of the 80's. all this whilst
       | completely and utterly drunk
       | 
       | the conversation latest for ages - no idea whether he fully
       | understood or if I was talking rubbish.
       | 
       | But it it made me realise how much life has changed
        
         | sprash wrote:
         | I used my 16-bit 192 kHz sound card to determine how much data
         | can fit on a cassette by "prolonging" the length of each bit
         | until I got an acceptable error rate. I found that the absolute
         | best you can do with a decent old Technics tape deck is 8-bit
         | at 12kHz which means for a 90-min Tape you can fit about 60 MB
         | on one tape.
         | 
         | I noticed however that switching between bits produced a
         | "ringing artifact" oscillating at about 60 kHz. If this is
         | caused by my particular setup I don't know. With a better
         | modulation than just PCM this could be compensated and you
         | could pull probably more data out of the stream.
        
         | JohnJamesRambo wrote:
         | My Uncle had some big Atari adventure games on tape and they
         | blew my mind back in the day.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_the_Mindmaster
         | 
         | I haven't seen that cover art in decades wow. Still frightens
         | me now.
        
         | forinti wrote:
         | I had games in tapes which were very short. 7 minutes a side
         | comes to mind, but I can't be sure. They were long enough for
         | just one game.
         | 
         | The micro could do 1200 bauds/s, so 150 bytes/s. In 7 minutes
         | you'd load almost 64KB (no game was ever that big).
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | ajsnigrutin wrote:
         | Not sure about audio tapes, but video tapes could hold a lot of
         | data... there was even a D-VHS standard:
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-VHS - 50 gigs
         | 
         | also some standards worked with normal tapes:
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUS0Zv2APjU (1.5gig)
        
       | theklub wrote:
       | I started buying tapes again recently. They are a good size to
       | collect even if the music quality is suspect.
        
         | apelapan wrote:
         | Are you collecting pre-recorded tapes or recording your own
         | stuff to them?
         | 
         | After not having actively listened to a tape for twenty years,
         | I was recently exposed and really surprised by how good the
         | sound was. With some half-decent tapes and a half-decent deck,
         | I was struggling to make out the difference between cassette
         | and CD during A/B testing.
        
           | hbgngkkgk wrote:
           | If you struggle to tell the difference between cassettes and
           | CDs maybe you should upgrade your headphones/speakers to
           | something worth more than 5 bucks :)
        
           | WalterBright wrote:
           | I could easily tell the difference 20 years ago. Now I can't,
           | but that's due to some hearing loss of mine.
        
         | motohagiography wrote:
         | Can see the appeal of tape. Recently bought an old stereo reel
         | to reel from the 60's to turn into a delay and general filter
         | effect as well.
        
       | SubiculumCode wrote:
       | Cassettagram: Send loved ones an audio greeting on a cassette
       | tape for the vintage vibe. One of my worse 'startup' ideas (none
       | of which have I ever acted upon).
        
         | brewdad wrote:
         | Love the idea actually but the finding a customer base would be
         | a bear. Might as well offer video messaging on Betamax to round
         | out the market. :-)
        
           | jacquesm wrote:
           | Laserdisc. Good luck finding a (working) player.
           | 
           | And for an encore, 2" AMPEX :)
           | 
           | That might be a bit costly with shipping.
        
       | ArekDymalski wrote:
       | Wow. You even have Stilon in this collection.
        
         | wiredfool wrote:
         | I always liked the TEAC mini reel to reels.
        
       | akudha wrote:
       | Do they not have copyright issues?
        
         | extra88 wrote:
         | I expect the site owner took the photos themselves. I assuming
         | copyright would even apply to the appearance of most cassette
         | tapes, why would the copyright holders sue, what would they
         | expect to gain? The web site itself could likely use a fair use
         | defense, maybe not the T-shirt business.
         | 
         | They're more likely to have trademark issues with the T-shirt
         | business. A consumer might reasonably assume a t-shirt with an
         | image of a Sony cassette tape on it was made by Sony. Maybe
         | they were careful in their selection of which tapes are on
         | t-shirts on their own, the links to the actual store (on a
         | German site) don't work for me.
        
       | jacquesm wrote:
       | Funny how that works. I had a huge collection of cassettes at
       | some point (I was pretty active in the dutch pirate radio scene
       | and making mix tapes was a great way to while away the long
       | nights), and just seeing the images of some of these cassette
       | shells immediately triggers memories of particular pieces of
       | music.
       | 
       | I still have one weird piece of disco music that I've never been
       | able to tie to a particular artist, pretty good mystery that one.
       | I managed to recover it from the tape after not playing it for
       | decades.
        
         | siquick wrote:
         | You could try the World of Echoes Facebook group ran by
         | Francois K, would be surprised if you didn't get that track ID
         | in there.
        
         | slim wrote:
         | There's a set by Sven Vath, I've downloaded it circa 2003 and
         | lost the mp3 since. Every now and then I take a few hours to
         | research then listen patiently to the sets in hope to find the
         | one I'm looking for.
        
       | codeulike wrote:
       | I've got good memories of these very 90s memorex ones
       | 
       | http://www.tapedeck.org/400/memorex.php
        
         | kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote:
         | Same! Man, what a blast from the past.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-15 23:00 UTC)