Why not magnetic tapes in stead of vinyl records?

My friend works for large recording studio. They got rid of all analog recorders long time ago. Before that they had people assigned to rewind constantly tens of thousands of tapes in the archives to prevent track to track copying. Don't forget hiss of tape itself reduced by Dolby B or C but still audible. CDPs have option of playing with "De-emphasis" to reduce master tape noise but almost nobody uses it since master tapes are digital.

Practical, flexible and easy does not
equate to best sound

To get absolutely best sound I could hire Symphony Orchestra
to play in my home, but it would be expensive and
impractical.

http://recordinghacks.com/2013/01/26/analog-tape-vs-digital/

Ralph, that's true, but practicality is important at home as well. I've heard opinion that best analog TVs were better than modern digital HDTV. I don't question that, but it perhaps was very expensive set in studio conditions, plus analog broadcast is gone - no interest to me. Same with the tapes. I had them before and do not wish to use them again. It is silly step backwards IMHO.

Ralph, where one gets analog recordings? Where to store thousands of tapes in proper temperature and humidity? How often to rewind them to avoid print-through copying? Ampex recommends rewinding within 3 years of storage (and to keep track of it). Bart Simpson said "Don't have a cow, man!".

On the other hand if R2R is only supplemental source isn't better to spend money to improve the system (amplifier, speakers etc) instead?

Kijanki, I'm not having a cow- its pretty apparent you jumped in without reading the rest of this thread:

The original question was "But, why don't they just copy the magnetic tape to other magnetic tapes and sell us those?"

I've tried to explain inconvenience of using R2R - nothing else. I don't have anything against analog but limited amount of available recordings made me concentrate on CD/computer playback. As for storing tapes in the attic - it is possibly the worst place to keep magnetic tapes since tapes are affected by high temperatures the most followed by temperature changes.

Ampex 1/2" might be nice sounding but it was in 50s. Servicing or repairing would be difficult today. Most people used 1/4" tapes running at 7 1/2 inch/s (half of the minimum studio speed). Prerecorded tapes were available but recorded with Dolby B (that was garbage). Dolby C and S (not to mention SR) or DBX never got to prerecorded tapes (at least I haven't seen them). Newer technologies like Akai HX-PRO (servo on the Bias) extending frequency range of the tape came to Compact Cassette machines when R2R was practically phased out. Again, where do you get analog recordings from?

Onhwy61, Do you expect to be alive in 2089? Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs data retention is rated 100 years. Same for SanDisk flash memory. I need only 30 years - no issue for me.

I guess baking and storage are different things since
recommendation from National Technology Alliance states:

"Storage at high temperatures ( > 74° F; > 23° C)
increases tape pack tightness. This results in distortion of
the tape backing and an increase in permanent dropouts as
wound-in debris is forced into the tape magnetic layer. Many
layers of tape before and after the debris can be affected
by impressions of the debris. Layer to layer adhesion, known
as tape blocking, also can result after long term storage at
elevated temperatures."

They also stated:

"Variations in temperature and humidity can cause tape
problems. Tape packs are wound under a considerable amount
of tension. This is necessary to maintain the shape of the
tape pack. A reel of tape can be permanently damaged if the
tape pack tension is too high or too low. If the tension is
too high, the tape backing can stretch. If the tension gets
too low, tape layers can slip past each other, resulting in
pack slip, cinching, or popped strands on playback (see
Figure 7). Relaxation of the tape backing can also occur if
the tape pack tension is not properly maintained.
Relaxation, stretching, and deformation of the tape backing
can cause mistracking of a videotape or sound distortion on
an audio tape. Every time a tape pack is heated or cooled,
the tape pack tension will increase or decrease,
respectively. The best way to reduce the degree of tape
backing distortion is to store magnetic media in an
environment that does not vary much in temperature or
humidity."

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/5premature_degrade.ht
ml

As I said before - attic is possibly the worst place for storage of tapes with excessive temperatures, big temperature swings between day and night and uncontrolled humidity. I would rather store them in my basement that has pretty much the same temperature thru the year and pretty low humidity. It is just my opinion, nothing else. If attic works for you - fine. Semiconductors are also baked in high temperature before assembly but it does not mean high temperature is good for their operation or storage.

Ralph, I agree. I was thinking of my air conditioned basement while others
have finished attic. Humidity is perhaps the worst followed by
temperature changes.