How old?

I have read/ heard from numerous sources that 40 is about the lifespan of a tape ( cassette) I can honestly say I have originals that are approaching 50 years.
I have purchased these myself and as for storage they have been everywhere/ gloveboxes/ garage shelves/carry bags etc. and to me they still seem to sound pretty good.
Is this 40 years a myth?
I surely can’t be that lucky.
How many others have the same experience?
And are they good for another 20 years? After that it won’t concern me as most likely I will be dead or tone deaf lol.
The only time that I have lost a recording is when it has been chewed up, not because it has degraded.
Cheers Kiwinut

 

I have had one pre-recorded cassette which wouldn't play. Two different Walkmans would stall or auto-stop. Quite puzzling as there was no problem fast forwarding or rewinding. I even went as far as transferring the tape to a new housing yet had the same problem. I can only think that the tape had got sticky and was sticking to the head.
However, that was one tape out of hundreds.

On the subject of sticky tape you could read how recording studios bake old tapes before playing them. You wouldn't want an original 1970s recording to stick or shed when re-mastering it.

 

In my experience NOS tapes have performed very well for both pre-recorded or blank ones. This was regardless of their age.

There are a few exceptions to this, like a 90s series of TDK SA which squeal from first use, but would run fine after first pass. Much older versions of the TDK SA don't have that problem, despite being used.
BASF LH had a similar squeeling problem and from what I've read it's a chemical binder problem. This is a manufacturing issue and can't be generalised.

In regard to prerecorded tapes, had quite a few used ones where the tape started to disintegrate and leave a lot of sticky oxide on the head, to the point it started to sound muffled after a few minutes of playback.
But also have a few NOS pre-recorded tapes which perform excellent and don't have any of the mentioned problems, despite being even older than the ones with issues.

Degradation just because time has passed is something that happens on pure chrome tapes for example.
Such tapes had much higher MOL when new, while now these typically can't be recorded hotter than 0dB (on a Philips scale) now.

Think how much a tape degrades (assuming there are no manufacturing issues) depends a lot on how it is used and stored.

 

All of my cassettes have always been kept in air conditioning comfort except for one one kept in the truck and it still plays fine when I take it out and play it. It's a TDK SA 90 minute

 

My oldest pre-recorded Cassette is from 1978 - it lost about 10 % from sound quality, and if i play it now here, it can be used fine for "music for the day".
If you have cassettes still sealed, there are some, they loose there usabilty completely over the years - the different types have been described in numerous forums, i remember a version of TDK MA-R with smeary tape material.
So it depends on the brand, and either on type and version. You can be a lucky guy with tapes, that make their job after 60 years, or you have tapes, they die after 15 years.

 

David Cassidy is dead?

 

David cassidy died 2017. 2 Mister X : prerecorded: 1972 ? Thats amazing. On a Compact Disc ? Or an 8-track-cartridge ?

 

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