--- Forwarded Message from Bob Majors <[log in to unmask]> ---

>User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.1.1.2418
>Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 11:28:54 -0700
>Subject: Re: #7242.1 the fate of those tapes once you've gone digital (!)
>From: Bob Majors <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information    Forum   <[log in to unmask]>
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
> We have seen reel to reel tapes recently that literally dumped their oxide on
> the heads of the last professional deck we have (purchased from eBay!).

For anyone desperate to recover audio from reel-to-reel tapes that are
having sticking  or shedding problems, some have found success in getting
such tapes into temporary playable condition using controlled baking. Use at
your own risk. Here are two pages I found using Google:

<http://www.josephson.com/bake_tape.html>
<http://www.masterdigital.com/24bit/analogtape.html>

or do a Google search using the following keywords (or similar variants):

tape bake oxide reel oven temperature

> So archiving the tape media to optical media really makes sense.

And making multiple copies, and re-cloning those periodically as time
passes, since optical media may not have the shelf-life some have claimed --
although many optical disks sold now have improved over ones in the past
that could easily self-erase with exposure to sunshine.

Bob Majors
Language Learning Center
University of Washington