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Where Do I Find Blank Cassettes

T

Teddypaw

New Member
Cassettes are become an extremely rare commodity these
days. I still enjoy listening to cassette tapes:music:....Particularly,
those metal ones. Those types were the best cassettes have
ever been, just didn't stay around long enough to be enjoyed:(

So now, my question is......Where can I find any decent blank
cassettes:worried:
 
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Teddypaw said:
Cassettes are become an extremely rare commodity these
days. I still enjoy listening to cassette tapes:music:....Particularly,
those metal ones. Those types were the best cassettes have
ever been, just didn't stay around long enough to be enjoyed:(

So now, my question is......Where can I find any decent blank
cassettes:worried:
Click to expand...

Why the internet. Particularly Ebay though if you want Hi-Bias than there are a few other places like Batteries and Butter.
 
I buy mine on eBay. Look for TDK-SA or -SAX, Maxell UDXL-II or Sony High Bias.

Fred
repairing audio gear since 1972

* * * * *
 
Ebay is your best bet for any tape of quality. But be prepared to spend a lot for them. Metal tapes are much higher in price now since they are more in demand and less of them out there.
 
I just stopped in here the other day:

http://tapewarehouse.com

There's still the shelf where they used to have just about EVERY brand of audio cassette at every length (this was at least 20 years ago), but I didn't see much this time, two or three brands and a couple of types and lengths each. They had TDK SA 60 and 90.

I recall the early-mid '80's, there was a Denon model of cassette, I forget if it was normal or high bias or what, but it sounded a lot better than the TDA SA. I proved it to myself recording a 1kHz tone on the tapes. The TDK had noticable dropouts every few seconds (a drop in volume, as well as a dip in level on an oscilloscope) whereas the Denon was much more stable and consistent. I don't recall what model that was, but I suspect the vast majority of what used to be widely available isn't made anymore.
 
amazon has some.

I recently got back into cassettes and was digging out my old stash of music and found I had several maxell II hi bias still in the wrapper. Should've stashed away more.
 
benb said:
I recall the early-mid '80's, there was a Denon model of cassette, I forget if it was normal or high bias or what, but it sounded a lot better than the TDA SA.
Click to expand...

Sounds a lot like the HD-8 which sold by the bucket loads Im sure.
 
braxus said:
Ebay is your best bet for any tape of quality. But be prepared to spend a lot for them. Metal tapes are much higher in price now since they are more in demand and less of them out there.
Click to expand...

Sure you can pay a lot for Metal tape if you don't shop 'em wisely, heck you can overpay for everything in life if you're a knucklehead, but this continued demand is UP and supply is DOWN is the typical tapehead's baseless rhetoric. Prices are all over the map, quality tape of any formulation is showing up all over the place in continued & regular fashion - and buyer patience is KING. The naysayers keep forgetting just how many of the various lines of tapes were mass produced in the MILLIONS and that surplus material ended up in warehouses, basements, bottom drawers & closets of the consumer. Production far out-grew the demand for many years and production cost of the cassette medium was low enough that no one really paid attention to the OVERFLOW of material actually being produced. Supply-chain management wasn't really a forethought back in the compact cassette era, at least not to the degree SCM is regimented these days.

This kind of skewed nonsense only serves to bolster the pricing of the hoarders and online merchants. The usual suspects on eBoy, and the like, love this type of expert analysis offered up by Brax. They manufacture a "collectors" market from the ruins of what was once fun to what has now become something more important, something profitable.

Don't buy into it, literally and figuratively.
 
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Sure Blaze prices can be all over the map. But chances are if you live outside a main city or further away, chances to find such cheap tapes don't come often. Which leads one to search online sources such as Ebay (I don't have a problem calling in Ebay) where pricing is higher on average. Sure even there you can find deals, but you have to constantly look for them and most people don't have that kind of time. This is what Im basing my opinion on. And yes its just an opinion as is yours.
 
braxus said:
Sure Blaze prices can be all over the map. But chances are if you live outside a main city or further away, chances to find such cheap tapes don't come often. Which leads one to search online sources such as Ebay (I don't have a problem calling in Ebay) where pricing is higher on average. Sure even there you can find deals, but you have to constantly look for them and most people don't have that kind of time. This is what Im basing my opinion on. And yes its just an opinion as is yours.
Click to expand...

Playing the "time investment" card doesn't work Bro. There's no constant searching required to get prices BELOW the high watermarks of the eBoy sellers or even the forum-clown idjiots like Matt of TH. But you're right, arguing about it on the internet is pointless, opinions are like - well you know the old saying - everyone has one - some just ring true more than others. Just keep in mind what Matt and others postulate as the GOING PRICE, for whatever in their minds, ultimately affects their judgement and actions. And while all that BS is going on, the level headed search a little every now & again and score the beyond reasonable NOS. It's out there to be had, you know it. Others need to be aware of that fact too, and that the impending doom scenario on quality tapes is mumbo jumbo.

Were not talking about tapes for nickels and pennies here, were talking NOS in small chunks that are between a few and several bucks for each tape - tops. Watching for deals is childs play Bro, requires little time if you search with common sense terms and is somewhat rewarding like any bargain shopping can be. And one last thing, most people that complain about not having ANY time for patient bargain hunting are lying through their teeth because they are either lazy and/or blinded by the fact that they spend an inordinate amount of time complaining on internet websites about not having enough time to do this or that. To those people I say get a life, because more than likely, they aren't even audio enthusiasts anymore - but rather internet no-lifers.

Oh, and btw, I call it eBoy because it's fun to call it eBoy.
 
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Several months (or maybe it was a year) ago I picked up a few good deals on sets of Maxell XLII 90 tapes -- all Japan-made.
 
You can buy used ones for a quarter or less per tape all day at garage sales. Pick out good tapes like Maxell UD XLs or TDK SAs and reuse them.

Invest in a tape demagnetizer if you're that worried about background levels and it will wipe them way clean; what it doesn't get your tape deck erase head will pound down.

You might also find some interesting compilations out there. I've got a lot of Grateful Dead bootlegs, blues radio shows and just blues mixes that I've acquired this way.

I've scored some metal tapes this way too; that's about all I buy these days unless I see some intriguing titles. There's a sealed Scotch Black Watch C-100 sitting right here as I type :D
 
Blaze,

I've rarely found the killer deals people toot as scores. I've been to thrift shops and scoured Craigs list, etc. Only thing I haven't done is go to garage sales. But to find sealed NOS tapes (not used) it hasn't come my way much yet. Only NOS tapes I found were bottom of the barrel TDK D and Memorex DB tapes. Best deal I found was 15 Maxell XLII-S 90s from 1985 used for $25 and it included a brief case tape holder. But I have yet to find these great deals people keep digging up on NOS tapes. And I've looked.

Now used tapes are cheap and easier to find, so yes in that regard prices are cheap.
 
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