Denkyosh is putting out limited quantities for around $8 USD, maybe Japan only? They also recently put out the Maxell Portable Tape Player. Tapes made in Malaysia so it might just be private labelling of an existing brand.
I am curious what drove the decision to make UD cassettes instead of say the XLII-S or even a metal tape. I assume the greater availability of Type I formulation tape versus Type II or IV?
Any of you reading maxell-online pages? All of these short-run UD 60 tapes are long gone now. All sold out. Or is there some other source selling these? I am also sure they are nowhere near to the old tape formulation tapes so it is safe to say it is nobody's loss. ;-)
I have seen them on eBay. I'm sure a bunch of them were bought by flippers, hoping to resell them for a higher price.
If they ever actually stopped making them, Maxell URs were the last tapes readily available here. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maxell-108562-UR-90-Normal-Cassettes/dp/B00006IAAL/ref=sr_1_1 200+ sold in the last month suggests huge stocks or current manufature. I guess the difference between making UD and UR isn't huge.
This boombox popped up on their website, why do they insist on going for the unliked designs? https://www.maxell.jp/consumer/mxcr-100.html
Unliked designs yup... almost as nasty as that new WeAreRewind boombox. But at a tiny fraction of the cost. For old non-audiophile geezers who wouldn't know a good deck if it bit them... and who have a ton of tapes they want to play again... good enough
From what I can read, Denkyosha aquired the rights to reproduce the tapes, it sounds like it's name only, maybe some secret ingredients but just another tape with a name to make some short cash.
I also posted this on Tapeheads and see if anyone can chime in. Haven't been able to find anything anywhere other than similar high-priced originals.
The originals are definitely going to be much better, but why bother when even better tapes can be had, sealed for less? Unless you want them for a collection (which is perfectly fine, as I collect as well), there is little incentive to buy for actual use. The whole reason to make them was to work the nostalgic look of the shell and label, with the tape definitely being either old stock UR, or some non Maxell stock. And it worked, as they sold out immediately for a ridiculous price, imho.
I was looking around for USA Maxell's, these guys have a bunch of UR's, oddly the 60's are more expensive than the 90's. https://www.malelo.com/Maxell_Blank_Audio_Cassette_Tapes_UR60_UR90_UR120_XL_120_s/148.htm
I’ve seen them before. $2.20 for that gen 90min UR is high, in my opinion. That last generation UR is acceptable for people that just want to tape and have to have new tape for as little cost as possible. But it is a far better deal, performance and cost wise, to buy gently used cassettes from the heyday, if serious recording is the end game. I've got a bunch I’ve decided to sell as it is just a fact that I have to face that I have way too many tapes that I will never use. I prefer to record on TypeIV & probably even have more metal tapes than I will ever use, much less the scores of TypeII & I that I like the look and sound of.
