what was the last year that Pre recorded reel tapes

The last tape in my collection is from 1983, The Pretender`s "Learning To Crawl"....CDs were making a big splash right around that time, and LPs, as well as RTR and cassette tapes were taking a hit. I recall a lot of people selling off their vinyl collections to finance a new CD replacement.
 
I just picked up Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66 " Fool on the hill" And the Quincy Jones "Roots" both factory sealed. Off the bay, for a total of $20. Where people find this stuff is a puzzle to me. Wish I could find a stash of still sealed never played pre recorded reels.
 
I have that Doors reel too. Do you like it? I never have played it yet.

its good for a 3.75 tape, but I wish it were 7.50. Ive played mine three times. Ironicly, I found an 8 track of it, and I got a cassette for a dollar at a yardsale and I have the lp ha-ha a rare 4 format release.
 
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1974 was the last year for new open reel tape releases to be sold at retail record and tape shops. They continued on through tape clubs and specialist outfits like Barclay-Crocker and The Reel Society into the middle 1980's.
 
Not necessarily. Who outside Japan issued Pink Floyd on Open reel tapes? Nobody I know of. No USA open reel pre-recorded tapes exist. Realistically it's worth nearly $1000 in good condition. Few were manufactured. A Pink Floyd collector holy grail.
 
Not necessarily. Who outside Japan issued Pink Floyd on Open reel tapes? Nobody I know of. No USA open reel pre-recorded tapes exist. Realistically it's worth nearly $1000 in good condition. Few were manufactured. A Pink Floyd collector holy grail.

$ well I don't know how rich of a guy you are Kent, but $ 1000 to me is a lot less money than $5000 :D
 
I think Kent has a good point -- for the Floyd fan, this is a Holy Grail. Wonder what it would go for if he just put it up for auction? I bet you maybe even slightly more than $1k! But $5k... I, too, find that very unrealistic. Also, if Columbia House was offering reels through the club back then, why didn't they release all those Pink Floyd albums, too?!?!?! Missed opportunity :(
 
I wasn't around yet to witness this first-hand, but I will tell you I've actually owned reel tapes of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (released Nov. '82) and Paul Simon's "Greatest Hits, Etc." (released Nov. 1977). So the end in stores must have been some time in between. Wikipedia (which actually reliable sometimes!) says reels were available through Columbia House until 1984, but usually only a very popular selection. So maybe look for "Born In the USA" or Culture Club as the end via mail order from a major label. Barclay-Crocker (makers of the high-end classical tapes) ceased in 1986. In-stores, though, I'm not sure. I feel like I saw a Crazy Eddie commercial from 1980 on YouTube, and you can still see pre-recorded reel tapes in the background.

Ha, Crazy Eddie. His prices were insane! Great times.
 
Which may have been remaindered older titles too. P.S. Columbia House never issued any Pink Floyd pre-recorded reels. May well have been a licensing issue and the band's management needing to sign off.
 
There are two Japan Toshiba, pre-recorded versions of the Beatles '62-'66 "Red" album: one at 7 1/2, the other 3 3/4 (both legit). A 7 1/2 one sold for $550 earlier this year.
However, for the only latter-era reels worth looking for, domestically: Ampex stopped duplicating reels at Elk Grove Village after 1972; MAGTEC (later "Stereotape") stopped in 1977; the seven-inch, Dolby-encoded Barclay's in 1980.
Columbia House duped at 120ips and often used the CASSETTE MASTER across the board --- one of the reasons for the eq sounding so bad (when played on a different format).
For all intents and purposes, though, the last great Rock title with a dedicated rtr release of "golden age/7 1/2 quality" was/is: Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.
 
The latest-date R2R tapes I own are both from 1983....John Mellencamp`s "Uh-Huh" (Polygram, 3 3/4 ips), and The Pretenders "Learning To Crawl" (Columbia House, 3 3/4 ips)

Sonically, both are typically average, all things considered.
 
I think the last year I owned several of was 1982. Have one up on auction now (J. Giels) but owned many more from 1981. Never owned many 1983, but some cool titles listed in this thread. I do still have The Police Syncronicity which was 1983....will have to check what else I stashed from that year. Too bad they don't mass release albums in this format anymore, it was sure fun for awhile being the only friend having the reel tape when everyone else was excited about owning the LP. Then again, I was the only nerd in college (early '80s) with a reel deck in their Freshman dorm. I made damn sure my 3 kids entered University (in 2010, 2014 and 2016) equipped just the same!
 
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1977 as posted earlier really is correct for last retail pre-recorded reel tapes. Which was the last for Magtec/Stereotape. Columbia House and Barclay-Crocker did continue later than that.
 
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