This is an S&B question, but I figure you guys will know :BI hooked up my S&B stereo for the first time in several years. Put in a cassette tape and it was promptly eaten. Put in another (foolish me). It played, but I noticed the timing was off, would slow and speed up a little. Then it was eaten.I managed to find one album on cd, but for the other I had to buy another tape(!) on ebay. Problem is, I like obscure music.Anyway, my question: Should I do something to try to fix cassette player? Should I use its second deck? Should I get another player at goodwill? Is the problem really that my tapes are from the 90s, do they degrade? I know nothing about these things, but I have a bunch of wonderful music on cassette that may not be replaceable, and anyway $$.Thanks for any suggestions!

There are many commercial services that will transfer them to CDs, or whatever medium you like. Better do that soon.

your player has a second deck but you keep jamming them into the first one? bumpy

Its a long slow process, but start building a digital collection on a MP3 or other player. Years ago I bought all albums, played each once to ensure it played well, then recorded over to Casette for regular listening, and I had a nearly perfect album for when I needed to make another copy. Problem was that in time through multiple moves , some got damaged, then the turntable broke, and eventually I just started going digital. Cloud copies through apple, amazon whoever you want, but they are where ever you want them. I know its not the answer you wanted , but if it makes you feel any better, I just threw away a couple of boxes of 8-tracks, wanna guess what its like finding a player for those on a melancholy evening.

Bumpyroad wrote:your player has a second deck but you keep jamming them into the first one? bumpyYes that is how dumb I am. I thought the first one was a fluke.

Tapes can degrade, depending on how they were storedBut also the drive belts, in the player are probably stretched and taken a setChanging transport speed as it moves, can create WOW and flutterThe drive controls the speed of play back, a strong drive can stretch a tape that has dragging reelsDegraded taped will have drop out or scratchy sounds

Cassette tapes! | Good Sam Community

MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Jun 24, 2017
Bumpy, you are allowed to rip those tags off with your teeth. The store that sold you the mattress, isn't.

This is sorta like the "Have You Stopped Beating Your Wife?" question.

The artist makes more money in 5 seconds than I will in my entire lifetime. Music is played 24/7/365 over the air for free. Myself, I cannot afford to pay ten dollars for one album of which only one song in a dozen may appeal to me.

Agonizing over trivial points usurps reality IMHO. There is a lot of fraud out there that hurts people a lot worse than this, and it gets zip publicity.

Robbing an artist of their income ain't cool. However hurting an innocent person is like what (?) thirteen to the thirtieth power more important (?)

Like old Billy Boy said...

"It all depends on the meaning of the word 'is' "
Naio
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
I rode my bike on the sidewalk today. The traffic lane was very narrow, and a city bus with a patient driver was behind me. I wanted to get out of the way.

I am not worried about obscure folk music of the previous century. The bands and publishers probably don't exist anymore.

As stated in the OP, this is mainly about stuff that is not available new or on cd any more, if it ever was.
Naio
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
I DID first search for a way to buy the replacement albums memtioned in the OP direct from the artists, but no dice. Both turned out to be the only album ever issued by the artists.
delwhjr
Explorer
Jun 24, 2017
Bumpyroad wrote:
and I started tearing the tags off my mattresses
bumpy

How will you know you passed 8 years and time to get another one:B
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
It's not like Hatfield and the North or Henry Cow are easy to find on CD :)
2oldman
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
Read the tag.
Naio
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
Bumpy is totally going to jail for the mattress thing. At least it's a cushy jail.
Mortimer_Brewst
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
Naio wrote:
Bumpy is totally going to jail for the mattress thing. At least it's a cushy jail.

As Gomer would have said: Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!
kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
Jun 24, 2017
Naio, you would be amazed at the music available on you tube. I have found 70 year old Blues recordings that I wanted and copied that way.
Naio
Explorer II
Jun 24, 2017
Yeah, I do listen to some stuff there. Fell down a rabbit hole of 80s pop the other day -- Adam Ant FTW.

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