Music Tapes in 2016!

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1470469285' post='3106166']
"Digital" and "tape" are two words that should have never gone together ever.
[/quote]

Now hang on a minute. If it weren't for tape (paper tape at that), how else would programmers do their voodoo back in the day? Would you have them revert to cards?

[Dad3353]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1470469285' post='3106166']
"Digital" and "tape" are two words that should have never gone together ever.
[/quote]

Oh, I dunno; they kept me in good work for a while...



[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470470370' post='3106176']
Now hang on a minute. If it weren't for tape (paper tape at that), how else would programmers do their voodoo back in the day? Would you have them revert to cards?
[/quote]

One did not exclude the other. Sometimes, the cards were punched by hand..!

[SpondonBassed]

Indeed Dad. Don't let the whippersnappers grind you down. You can honestly claim to have hand crafted your code.

(Off-topic again! Oh well, partly my fault I suppose)

Edited August 6, 2016 by SpondonBassed

[BigRedX]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470470370' post='3106176']
Now hang on a minute. If it weren't for tape (paper tape at that), how else would programmers do their voodoo back in the day? Would you have them revert to cards?
[/quote]

Surely cards came after punched tape? IME cards (one line of code per card) were far more convenient because if you made a mistake it was reasonably easy to replace the relevant card(s) with updated ones. With punched tape you pretty much had to input the whole program again to correct a mistake, unless your geekiness was so great that you could read the punched holes well enough to be able to identify the problem areas and splice in new tape.

Edited August 6, 2016 by BigRedX

[Painy]

My dad still has his Nakamichi 1000ZXL Limited (gold front) and it does actually still hold it's own sound wise.
Mind you it would have been a very expensive bit of kit back in the day and what they sell for now is astronomical!

Edited August 6, 2016 by Painy

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1470474675' post='3106225']
My dad still has his Nakamichi 1000ZXL Limited (gold front) and it does actually still hold it's own sound wise.
Mind you it would have been a very expensive bit of kit back in the day and what they sell for now is astronomical!
[/quote]

Because it was a properly engineered piece of equipment designed to compensate for as many of the shortcomings of the compact cassette as a music delivery medium as possible.

[Painy]

"Engineered" is right! That thing needs a chain lift to move it off the shelf is on but you can really feel the quality, even in the feel of the buttons and the way it opens.
My wife has an early 2000s CD player with twin cassette deck in her work room and by comparison it feels like something that came out of a Christmas cracker!

[KingBollock]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470466870' post='3106149']


Off topic for a post entitled "Music Tapes in 2016"?
[/quote]
Oh, I don't know, have you heard Mathcore?

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1470485792' post='3106335'] Oh, I don't know, have you heard Mathcore? [/quote]

Oooooh! That's quite, er, niche. I had to look it up and I am none the wiser, sorry.

I wouldn't like for us to go back to tape formats but this thread coincided with my "rediscovery" of all my old recordings, some being over thirty years old. Deep joy. I remember always being fascinated by reel to reel decks, turntables and finally four track cassettes. I reckon it was because all of them had spinny things on or in them. I wont apologise, I was very young then.

Edited August 6, 2016 by SpondonBassed

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1470476319' post='3106239']
"Engineered" is right! That thing needs a chain lift to move it off the shelf is on but you can really feel the quality, even in the feel of the buttons and the way it opens.
My wife has an early 2000s CD player with twin cassette deck in her work room and by comparison it feels like something that came out of a Christmas cracker!
[/quote]

Exactly. Which is why I've been sceptical about the video in the OP, because as we've discovered getting the most out of the compact cassette format is as much about the mechanics of the playback device as it is about the electronics, and that means big, heavy units and not something that can be easily waved about as the bloke in the video does.

My Aiwa F660 from 1984 may not have Dolby S and therefore in theory shouldn't sound as good as a more modern high-end player, but it is so robustly engineered, that it is still functioning, unlike the model I bought in the early 90s which was supposed to replace it.

[SpondonBassed]

I think the term "over-engineered" might be appropriate.

Back in the day, there were less bean counters to account with and you didn't have to build down to a price so much. Now stuff seems adequate for the job in the main but once out of warranty... it's a nice trick that can mean the difference between being able to continue with a viable business or not.