What to do with 250+ cassette tapes?

[Starbond]

My father was a big fan of recording music off radio (and recording his LPs to tape). He recently passed away, and I have his collection of 200-some tapes from I would guess early 70s to early 80s. There's a variety of brands and generations here. A lot of MROX3s, and HBIIs from memorex, then a random assortment of Scotch and 3M tapes. Tapes One-Fifty Four are taped off local radio stations while the rest are LP copies I beleive

Sentinmentalities aside, once I pick the ones I feel would remember him best by, is there really anything else I can do with the other tapes? I doubt collectors would want used taped with pen and labels all over the case and tape. Some have missing felt pads, some are being held together with tape etc. There isnt anything rare I've come across. Even his tapes off the radio cut out the DJ and local commercials.

 

[zedex]

You could easily sell the tapes. Or take them to goodwill. The ones you want to keep. Play them. You would be surprised that 1 song he recorded would take you back in time if you were around .

 

[benricci]

You could easily sell the tapes.

I disagree. I think he's gonna have a difficult time unloading these. The tapes themselves (at least the ones I can see) aren't really desirable to collectors and they're written all over. Most tape collectors wouldn't be interested at all, especially in the condition that the OP is describing them (missing pads, held together with tape, etc). Sealed chrome and metal tapes, you'd be talking a different story.

Or take them to goodwill.

Again, I doubt Goodwill can do anything with them, either. They'll likely throw them away since they aren't commercially released, pre-recorded tapes.

The the OP, enjoy the ones you want to keep, give away the rest to anyone willing to take them, and as much as it might pain you to do, you may end up having to junk the rest. So sorry about that.

One thing you might want to do, just for sentimental reasons, is to individually photograph each tape (front and back) in hi-res, then have a custom photo book printed through a company like Shutterfly or someone similar. That way, you have a unique keepsake that documents his tapes, without having to physically store them any longer.

Uploading photos and laying out a nice hardcover book takes VERY little time and effort once you've got the pics taken. I've done it before and having that book to flip through every now and again might put a smile on your face in the years to come. They're also pretty affordable.

LINK (no affiliation): https://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

 

[Rey1]

There's some great music there. The tape itself isn't the best, but it may sound good. Did you listen to any of them?

 

[illinoisteve]

I recently bought a lot of 20 used cassette tapes, most of which I will record over.

People do buy used tapes. Why? Because other people can charge some ridiculous prices for blank tapes.

Anybody with a brain can replace the old labels on the tapes and the inserts in the plastic tape boxes. If you are content with buying used tapes, you expect to deal with the former owner's labels.

People interested in buying the tapes to record over will want to see pictures of the tapes that show what make and type the tapes are. In fact you could separate them into groups of that have the same Mfr and the same type, as in Type I, Type II, or Metal. I, for example, wouldn't be interested in any Memorex Type I tapes, since I never bought any that held up for very long. Their Type IIs and the other companies' tapes might be more interesting to me. Somebody else might love Memorex and want to buy all of them.

If you group them by make and type, and list them on the auction site, customers will find them. Some might even want them for what is recorded on them. If you don't want to fool with ebay, you could list them on your local craigslist. Offer them in the FREE category if you want. Somebody will want them.

Feel free to PM me.

 

[twiiii]

My cassettes were either made from LP, or CD's to be played on my auto players. The ones that were dubbed were replaced by CD's. The ones I recorded live I dubbed to CD using a DBX 3 bx expander and a DBX 119 to control the peaks. I also had a program EQ to touch up here and there where needed. Then I tossed all the Tapes.

Today I disconnected the 582Z Nakamichi from the system and the JVC model 9000. S-vhs machine. So no more tape machines after 56 years. The last Reel to reel was retired 12 years ago, the B-77 HZ Revox along with the Sony ESS DAT machine. Some where about the same time the Sony Beta, Super Beta and U-matic VCR recorders and editors were retired, too. Tape was a big part of my life. But its all gone now. Its either Lp's or Digital. OOPS I still have a laser disc player, too. But 8 more replacement DVD's and the Laser player will be gone, too. You can see where the new turntable goes .

 

[Starbond]

There's some great music there. The tape itself isn't the best, but it may sound good. Did you listen to any of them?

My dad sure loved his (now) classic rock. I've listened to a handful from each "batch" All the ones recorded before the mids-80s are warm and fuzzy at best. A few jazz albums on TDK Type IIs from the 80s tapes sound crisp. Some of the early 70s ones on Scotch/Highlander tapes have periodic flub/treble drops. Not sure what deck he wouldve used back in the 70s but based on old photos it was some silverfaced Kenwood with colored tape deck buttons. The collection would make a good gararage/basement/workroom listening set. I just cant keep them all. My dad had A LOT of things when he passed away, hundreds of VHSs, records, audio tapes, bookcases of books, cabinets full of documents from the early 70s on etc etc. The best I can do is cull down all his collections to the "essentials" which isnt easy but I'm getting there.

I recently bought a lot of 20 used cassette tapes, most of which I will record over.
People do buy used tapes. Why? Because other people can charge some ridiculous prices for blank tapes.
Anybody with a brain can replace the old labels on the tapes and the inserts in the plastic tape boxes. If you are content with buying used tapes, you expect to deal with the former owner's labels.
People interested in buying the tapes to record over will want to see pictures of the tapes that show what make and type the tapes are. In fact you could separate them into groups of that have the same Mfr and the same type, as in Type I, Type II, or Metal. I, for example, wouldn't be interested in any Memorex Type I tapes, since I never bought any that held up for very long. Their Type IIs and the other companies' tapes might be more interesting to me. Somebody else might love Memorex and want to buy all of them.
If you group them by make and type, and list them on the auction site, customers will find them. Some might even want them for what is recorded on them. If you don't want to fool with ebay, you could list them on your local craigslist. Offer them in the FREE category if you want. Somebody will want them.

Feel free to PM me.

Good point Steve. Once the quarantine issues ease up I might do some batch listings on CL here in Chicago. There seems to be about half Type IIs from Memorex and TDK and the rest are various Type Is. (No Type IVs). Physical tape inspection has been good so far, although one tape split off the reel during rewinding. Biggest issue on most of these is missing felt pads so the tapes play muddy in the deck.

 

[oldvinyldude]

Felt pads are easy. Get yourself some self stick felt pads or dots, sold in hardware stores (as anti scratch pads for table lamps, etc.) Take an old pad to match up the thickness to be close.

Cut the material to the desired size, pull a loop of tape out so you can get to the metal spring, and use some tweezers to carefully position the pad on the spring. I can do it in about 2 minutes a tape now, but the first ones took maybe 10. Careful, the adhesive is very strong-I misaligned a couple, and when I tried to pull it off, I wound up pulling the spring right out!

 

[Starbond]

Something interesting I've found, I've decided to "adopt" a few of the discard pile tapes for my own. Some tapes record/play fine in my Technics M236x deck, and some have this weird issue where the tape path gets crinkled on the edge as its playing, once every full revolution or so, like its not going through the transport properly. I read it could be a pinch roller issue, but of the dozens of tapes I've played so far only 2-3 have has this random issue. Both are memorex high bias tapes from 1978-1982 era.

 

[Bone Yard]

Cool collection and it's similar to how a lot of us started, taping music off off the radio to hear those singles! There's some value for the tapes, I don't know if they're worth a lot but now that tape decks are back in fashion and thrifts aren't selling as many cassettes anymore, somebody will grab them to listen to. The cassettes look to be standard issue department store specials, it's no surprise the Memorex don't want to play but it would be a shame to toss them. It's too bad the DJs were cut out, that can be some really interesting listening but I used to do the same thing, try to edit it on the fly, I hated having anything but the song.

Some guys want to get rid of their tape decks, too much of a hassle, I love the technology and looks, I've been collecting tapes forever and still love cranking them out on my boomboxes and Walkmans.