How to preserve an audio cassette tape already 20 years old?

Question

Ello all!

I have an audio cassette tape made by Swire Magnetics Co. made in Hong Kong. It is 20+ years old already and still sounds magnificent! I am wondering what kind of environment it needs to be in to last the longest. It is in the house, not outside in a box. And I plan to keep it inside. It is very important to me. My father who died when I was 2 recorded himself studying up on cars that he sold at a local dealership, 20 years ago. It is the only recording of his voice that I have and if I lost it would be crushed. Any help at all is good.

Sorry if it is in the wrong category the music category didn't seem logical. Thought I'd ask the brainiacks in electronics!

Thanks dudes!

K+1 for 54 more days!

Answer 1

If you plan on keeping the tape, it needs to be in a cool, dry place.  It needs to be vertical -- standing on a narrow edge, not on the large, flat side, so that inside, the edges of the tape aren't pressed against the cassette housing by gravity.

However, know that even under the best of conditions magnetic tape degrades and falls apart.  NASA has lost lots of data from their space probes because of this phenomenon -- and they aren't much older than your tape and were probably stored in better conditions.

NASA found that they generally could get one play of the tape, and as it played, the player wiped out the tape.  I highly recommend that you record it to a digital file and then make multiple copies.  I'd also recommend that you make the original digital recording a WAV file and then convert it into several other formats (MP3, CD audio, etc) so you might have a chance to continue to enjoy it into the future.  You should also probably try several different media storage options, like a CD, DVD, and flash drive, to make sure that future technologies can read one of them.  Of course, you can then re-copy the recording to cassette tapes as often as you'd like -- if you still want to listen to it that way.  Think you don't need to do this?  15 years ago, 5 1/4 in floppies ruled; 10 years ago, 3 1/2 in floppies ruled.  What will rule 15 years from now?  Think it will be the CD? DVD? Flash? or something brand new?

You should also store copies in several different physical places -- at home, in a safety deposit box, with a relative in a different city (and/or state and/or country) to make sure that if a local tragedy occurs, you can still get a copy again.

If you do your own recording (it's relatively easy with the sound card in your computer), don't use your tape to do the setup and practice recording (to make sure everything is good before you do the actual recording).  Use a different cassette so you don't wear out or break your good recording.  If you don't know how to do this, find a friend who does or maybe try the local university's media department to find someone.

You'll also have to remember to transfer the recording to newer media as it starts to replace today's media.  So, if everything goes to quad-layer DVD (doesn't exist yet!), you'll have to find a system that can read your old media and burn it on the new media.

Some of this sounds like paranoia, but if you are really intent on having a copy for decades to come, you have to plan for the worst possible events and still have the recording available...

Answer 2

You could convert it to mp3, using household electronics and a PC.  Then, you could wrap the original cassette in a ziplock bag, surrounded by aluminum foil, and stick it in the freezer until you completely forgot you had it.

But, the MP3 would still be there -- and you could listen to it, and enjoy your Father's voice....

I'd convert it soon - and store it, before the cassette is damaged.