Will Magnetic Tape Eventually Go Full Circle


I was born in 1959. I have seen many technologies go full circle. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, tubes were pretty much pronounced dead. In the mid 1980s turntables were a thing of the past. Reel to reel tape was replaced by cassettes.

In pro sound, acoustic pianos were replaced by electric pianos. Hammond organs became too "big and bulky" and could be purchased for less than a thousand dollars or, were literally given away. Synthesizers took the place of Rhodes and Hohner pianos promising "one keyboard can do it all". Studer and Wollensack "consoles" were replaced by 64 track digital mixdown boards.

Now? Tube amps are some of the most highly sought after amongst audiophiles. There are now more manufacturers of turntables, tonarms, cartridges and analog "tweaks" than ever before.

Hammond organs in fully restored condition are selling in excess of $10,000. The most respected Rhodes pianos are the 1966 tube amp models now selling for $2500+. And, both Hammonds and Rhodes pianos are in extremely high demand and highly sought after. Hell, even Steely Dan recorded their latest release insisting on analog tape, and they had to search high and low to find studios still skilled and capable of using such technology.

Will tape eventually find it's way back? Don't laugh. If I told some of you older audiophiles back in the mid 1980s that by the year 2000 turntables would experience a major regain in popularity, would you had believed me?

Let's consider a few things: You can record ANY two channel format onto magnetic tape, analog or digital. Copy protection? Would become an irrelevant point. Near the tail end of cassette recorders being produced, some extremely impressive machines were available. 65db dynamic range, 20hz-20,000hz frequency reponses, Dolby B,C,DBX, and HX (headroom expansion) noise reduction systems were regularly installed on the higher end recorders. Signal to noise ratios were far superior to ANY analog rig.

My last cassette recorder, a Sony ES TC-K870 (which I still own), would actually calibrate, bias and EQ, (automatically!) to any tape being used on that particular recording. It even had "CD direct" inputs and would make tapes almost indistinguishable from the original recordings.

And the funny part about all this? "Music piracy" was unheard of back then. Music companies focused no efforts on "copyright protection", because then, it was not an issue.

O.K. So tapes only lasted about 10, 15, 20 years before sonic degradation set in. That would be about the only fallshort I could think of. Cassettes were small, at least smaller than a CD. They played in portable players, car players and home systems. Blank cassettes, even the best (remember TDK "MARs" with their "aluminum laboratory reference tape mechanisms") were very inexpensive to purchase.

Is this whole thread THAT far fetched? Will music companies eventually find ways to incorporate copy protection onto LPs also?(shudder) Is Buscis2 off on another crazy ass rant?

In 2010 will we all be raving over the latest Tascam 3 head, dual capstan, auto reversing, outboard power supply, self calibrating cassette machines? Stranger things have happened.

What are your views?



128x128buscis2
I don't think so. Much as I would like this to happen...

Tunrtables ARE moving -- but, THEN, TTs were part of the mass market, now they're more "lifestyle" or "specialist" products (i.e. a niche market). OK, there ARE LP's coming out now, all of a sudden! Remember, however, that while cutting LPs USED to be capital intensive, machinery became cheap when large corps (like DG) switched from vinyl to cd and smaller Cos could now have that machinery: the process shifted from capital intensive to labour intensive...

Cassettes were a mass product, and convenient -- later on, cd's came & they were MORE convenient (to use & sell). CD's alone are easier to store than LPs & cassettes. Plus decks have too many mechanical parts that are difficult to produce cost effectively. Plus mechanical devices can be maintained, if you have tape heads -- i.e. they can last forever marketing-wise. That's no way to make money! A cdp is cheap to produce and can be thrown out --i.e. it's expensive to repair vs the cost of a new one. A new one can now take the place of the old one -- hopefully a "multiplayer" that steers consumers into buying more and different new software.

Reel to reel were once the ONLY long-playing medium. But they're bulky, expensive, mechanical, and need a lot of accessories and maintenance. So who's going to mass-market these -- would anyone buy them (other than professionals -- i.e. NOT mass market)?? Unfortunately, these machines were, arguably, the best reproduction medium under certain circumstances (hence their use by professionals)...

And think of music: go back to cassettes??? Where's the constant "innovation" touted by the industry? Why would large corps go BACK to a medium that has already generated income... when you can keep your R&D people working on new things that your marketers will market and consumers will (hopefully) buy...

Isn't it better to come up with a NEW medium, that's allegedly innovative and "better" (more convenient, looks/sounds better, or whatever the USP the brand manager can think of) and make some extra money RERELEASING existing music/ films (i.e. no producer, mastering, etc, cost). And you put your marketing $ into creating a "new market": generating income with minimum cost.
Now THAT's something SE (as in NYSE) analysts like to see... and helps raise share price...

Contrast that with the image of, say, the CEO of Sony Corp announcing a return to magnetic tape. Huh???

I'm sounding like an old-timer full of nostalgia for things past:)
But a old copy of a master tape heard on a pristine Studer in my system sounded better than my TT. Oh well..
Some relevant factoids (specific to reel-to-reel rather than cassette):
* On the Yahoo reeltoreel forum, someone is floating the query/concept of producing a new reel-to-reel deck, and getting positive responses.
* I've bought at least 30 prerecorded reels on Ebay in the last six months and, believe me, the price is going up. Only one of these, BTW, has been in any way defective, and that one was clearly defective when new.
* 25-to-40-year-old decks are going for VERY healthy sums on Ebay.
* In most cases where I have R-R, vinyl, and CD versions of the same disc/tape, the R-R version is the clear winner, sonically.

God knows you don't buy a tape deck for convenience, so the continued interest in these things bespeaks the realization that they offer something pretty special. In any event, they don't seem to be going away any time soon, even as the decks and the tapes themselves get older and older.
Greg and Dopogue, you both make some very valid points. But, point/counterpoint. Dopogue, in response to your last statement, you also don't buy a turntable for it's convenience. We all know it's a giant pain in the ass to have to jump up in the middle of a musical performance to flip the record over.

Greg, your comments regarding corporate profit were extremely insightful. Although, the music industry is presently grasping at straws with the multi format SACD, DVD-A, HDCD, etc. in order to establish multiple income streams. Do you think that just possibly, if the music companies were to have the slightest hint that the public would embrace magnetic tape technology, that they wouldn't be back on that bandwagon also?. I mean, several of the biggies are now producing records once again!

I think copy protection would once again be their biggest fear.

I have had discussions with several retailers regarding the renewed interest in turntables. They have explained to me that even the non-audiophile individual wants to "listen to their records again" because "they like the way they sound".

And Dopogue, you hit the nail right on the head regarding the appreciation in the values of R to R. Obviously prices are appreciating because of higher demand. These buyers could very well be people thinking outside the box. Cassette vs. R to R? That's an issue in itself. The point being, there are many of us who still consider older, and as some feel, "antiquated" technology is still far superior. Hence tubes , records, and turntables. And........ R to R.

Bottom line? if the music companies felt that there was profit to be made, they would be all over it. All they would need to see is an opportunity.