Hi everyone. During these difficult times I find myself listening to to a lot more music than I usually do. I'm rotating my units on a daily basis now- tape walkmans, portable discmans and mini-disc players. Today I am going through all the Bruckner symphonies I recorded on to metal tapes back in the early nineties. On a lighter note what have you all been listening to and on what portable devices. What are your favourite types of music?
One of my favorite bands KIX and the Cool Kids Release from 1982. I got this a couple years ago and paid up for it, a lofty $4.00 USD. It's kind of a rare find and the album has a huge backstory (I'm going by memory), after their first album, KIX was on the national radar and the record company wanted full control of the next album. The band hated it and thought it was too goofy, outside songwriters were used and the music didn't fit their rock-n-roll style. The album was released and didn't do very well, the record company wanted their advance back which was over a million USD and the litigation was the stuff of legends back then. I can see how they weren't happy, at that time some of the "sound-effects" were starting to get stale but I listened to the entire tape again and it's not bad, it is different but they still sound good on it and most of it is enjoyable. Right now my Sony TC-PB10 is my goto tape player, tapes sound really good on it, the Sanyo is just for show.
Hi Mr X. Have heard of kix and the Cool Kids but have not heard them. That Sanyo looks rather interesting although I've never listened to any at all. Have always been a Sony fan because my first unit was a Sony. Have recorded all sorts of music over the years but my favourite has always been Classical. Please take care over there.
Unspectacular (long) post ahead: I caught myself listening more to my DATs when I stay at home (that appeal and quality!), but ever since I have to fix up my favourite tape less so, only occasionally again. Using my WMD-DT1 and TCD-D8 for this, depending on where I do it, as my D8 is "stationary" on my desk (requires cable, lacks battery compartment). DAT's mostly for classical and instant-classics for me. My favourite tape had Nirvana's Nevermind and Jamiroquai's Return of the Space Cowboy on it. Right now I'm mostly listening to my analogue tapes with self-recorded soundtracks (mostly from shows I liked) on my WM-2011. They're all type 1s, the new kind of Maxell UR, so, really, nothing extraordinary. I'm lacking proper equipment to record nice sounding chrome tapes for the time being, but even the occasionally muddy quality can have its own distinct charme. As for MD, I have a stack of MDs I got that I intend to listen through in the near future, will probably do that on my MZ-R30 since (guaranteed) none of those records is an LP recording. That unit is nicely quiet and has a neat audio quality in my opinion. Will be a musical surprise experience. Otherwise here and there an occasional listen to my MZ-R500 MD-walkman (see avatar, although its state there is before repainting) just so it will not decay. It's like new on the outside, but its insides have seen far better days given how high chances of a hiccup can be when it's not constantly in motion (which is why it's my preferred go-to walkman: small, mechanical yet digital and requires minor movements). That's mostly for music from the early to mid-2000s. My NW-A100TPS on the other hand is still in "preparation stages". I'm still looking for more lossless (or at least high quality) files to listen on before I put it to full use. I want to make use of its potential and not cram it full of lower quality mp3 files. That wouldn't do it justice... Regarding favourite music... well, I'm constantly rotating, from playback-media to its contents, so I can't really answer that to be fair! Whatever I feel like, most of the time soundtracks during this part of the year. Long story short: So yes, like you, rotating through my units to make sure they get their deserved usage time and for variety reasons. Oh and never forget to remove batteries from your units when not in use, if you're not using rechargable batteries! For your digital units, make sure to keep that battery charged up to prevent its battery's decay. I actually haven't listened to my vinyl records in a while, intending to do that in the near future again. My vinyl records are mostly hard rock, oldschool metal, a bit of electro, bit of blues and classical music. Gary Moore offers a nice mix from metal to blues so many of his records made its way to my shelf/box.
Ho Sly. Interesting read. Never listened to any dat. Was thinking about buying one when the first Sony came out. How does dat tape compare in price to a metal tape? With regards batteries I only use a adaptors at home. The only unit I use outdoors is the Sony mze-900 player only mini disc player. Take care.
I miss my turntable and hi-fi separates very much. Use to have the Sony ps-x7 turntable, Sony tck 777es tape deck and Sony G-5 speakers. I taped quite a lot of vinyl back in the late eiighties/early nineties.
It depends what the recording (and source) is as DAT can be recorded both in SP and LP mode, but even LP records on DAT (2x duration) can sound pretty good compared to your average mp3 or streaming file in my honest opinion. Opinions differ on that, but I find the compression to be fairly good sounding still. My TCD-D8 can make a 48khz SP recording, so if you got a lossless audio source you can hook up to it and in theory can get better than CD quality. Though most people wouldn't notice the difference. Overall it seems to be somewhat cheaper to metal tapes. I've seen local offerings for around 5 digital tapes for around 14-20€ or less before, but it really depends on luck if you come across fair prices or not. Some tapes can be pretty run down and most offers have contents on it. Prices on ebay for tapes are insane, in my honest opinion (just like Walkman-prices), especially sealed virgin tapes. I've seen as much as 12-16€ or even more for one tape when I was still looking on there. Ditched that though and went for smaller listings on different sites. The big downside of DAT can be if you got a tape or machine with its odd copy protection mechanism, but even then there are workarounds to that I guess. Getting "real DAT" is rare too, you mostly come across DDS tapes. Basically same thing, but depending on DDS type, the tape thickness can vary from real DATs. I've actually been thinking of getting an adapter for my WMD-DT1 to save its battery compartment's hatch, in theory it needs a 3V one, but I'll have to look for more specifications. Maybe my MZ-R500's adapter is compatible with it, but I don't want to wreck this gem of a walkman either... The turntable I have is a new one, DTJ301-USB by Dual. I can hook it up to my PC and record its playback through Audacity, pretty neat. There's Technics turntable somewhere around here as well, though it doesn't belong to me. PS: The greatest charm of DAT for me is having clear CD quality and watching an insanely slow spinning tape in my Walkman. This, trackmarkers and its tiny size is what primarily motivated me to give it a shot.
Interesting that a dat tape was cheaper than metal. When I first started recording I was using the Sony ES metals and then for some reason changed over to the TDK-MAX 90 TAPES. Cannot remember why but I could not hear any audible difference. Is your dat player the second or third model that came out? The MZR-500 is a very good model as I had the chance to listen to my friends player. I've now only got about 6 mini discs left now so I have to be selective with what I want to record. I agree the prices for just one metal tape is ridiculous but I did manage to find a few type 1 and 2 tapes in charity shops over here. May have to try and record on to them using the d-6c Walkman but have never used that for recording before- play back only.
It's a good thing MD can be rewritten fairly often before you get to see any sort of failures - at least according to my experience. I just checked on a local site I frequent from time to time (ebay Kleinanzeigen, despite the name a separate site and as far as I know they just got purchased by ebay allowing them to put/link auction ads on it but are mostly independent) and saw offers like this: 9 DATs 39€, 6 DATs 29€ (2x), 1 DAT 9€. For sealed double the prices. Bit more expensive than last time I checked but still okay-ish. Whereas checking ebay it was: 1 used BASF DATs 30€, 3 BASF DATs 19,90€. Clear difference in price ranges in my opinion. Comparing with metal tape: 3x Maxell MX110 50€ ebay: 1x Maxell MX60 55€ So yeah, metal tapes are insane but if I had to get them, I'd look for smaller sites and avoid ebay at all costs... It's just too much. The first one was the TCD-D10 (1982, big one), the TCD-D3 followed (1990) according to my research. The WMD-DT1 came later (1993-94) and is a playback-only model, same with the TCD-D8, which is a DATcorder. I think the TCD-D8 was the fifth(?) portable DAT-device by Sony. The last consumer one was the TCD-D100 (1997).
That's where I was getting confused. Did not realise the tcd-d10 was the first one. I've got a pamphlet about the tcd-d3 which I thought was the first one. Are you able to repair your dats yourself because I've read from various threads that they are extremely complex and difficult to repair. There seem to be a lot more dats over there than here. I just see the occasional one come up on the bay here but no idea about their reliability.
Tricky question, but what I can say for sure is that if my devices break on me I guess I'm pretty screwed (no repair-pun intended). I don't think I could repair them given how small and crammed they are, but I would certainly never throw them away. I've grown fond of these little boys. I have a deck I wanted to attempt to repair but simply haven't found the time to do yet. Since the electronics are bigger I may have much better chances, especially since the issue seems to be just a loose contact somewhere. With broken tapes however, I think chances are better to do so, but I have yet to try. As I've written in my earlier post, my favourite tape tore, right after the leadertape, so it can be fixed. I just don't have the tools to do it properly right now. Still going to be lots of fiddling since they're so small. This is on my to-do for after-global-restrictions-times though, just like the deck-repair. I think salvaging a recording from a tape that tore somewhere in the middle might be a big issue and result in quite some glitching due to the crumpled tape and lack of data after reconnecting both ends. It's digital after all, so you're definitely going to hear that interruption one way or another just like scratches and skipping on a CD. Analogue still got an edge over it there. I generally set myself the rule not to buy tapes that look like they've had a vivid lifetime to spare myself the need to dispose or resell "unusable junk". Besides I don't intend to jam my devices. One can use DDS1 and 2 tapes with DAT devices too, but I heard anything beyond that might be critical, could tear easily or the device could have troubles grabbing them as they're thinner than DATs. DDS1 should even be merely rebranded DATs with pretty much the same tape content as far as I know and in fact I got some here as well. Didn't notice any obvious difference so far.
I'm very careful when it comes to buying any tapes that I do find. Fortunately I have only had one faulty tape that broke just after the leader. The best tapes I found were in a charity shop in a nice case and all chrome but still haven't had time to try them out. Maybe soon with all the extra time on our hands. O obviously cannot comment on dats because never persued with that option. Would like to hear one though. Certainly don't discard any of them if the unthinkable ever happened. The more I read about your dats makes me wish I had bought one years ago. Nice to talk- no pun intended- to you.
I have to admit i have not been anywhere near my portables since i have been working from home, to be honest i never use portables at home anyway. I have been working from home since 12th of March, i am loving it. My office is now my listening room. I get to play nice tunes all day long, i have been catching up with records i have bought lately but not had a chance to listen to. While at home i have been sorting out my music database, while doing it i have discovered some old gems i had not listen to for a long time. In among the gems i have found some albums that i forgot i had and when i played them, i think what the hell possessed me to buy such Sh!t but i guess i must have liked them at the time. I do laugh at my own tastes at that particular time. On the whole, i am enjoying this time. Everyday when i get up the first thing i do is go out for a bike ride before breakfast and then work. As eating / drinking / sitting around is not going to be funny when we can get back out and about, i don’t want to be the size of a small car.
Hi Chris. Did not realize you never listened to your portables at home. I know you have a great system at home but never listen to portables? I think you're listening to that D-3 on the quiet.
Hiya Derek Hope you are your wife are keeping well and safe? D3 . No at home never headphones. All my units are all cleaned and ready for when i get out and about again.
@TooCooL4 At the beginning of the pandemic I haven't really used my portables either. That came after a while when I started longing for them, didn't want them to catch dust. @Derek marshall Thanks, was indeed a nice talk! I'm not throwing away any torn tapes. Pretty sure there's always some way to fix them or at least a part of it, results may vary, that's all. I actually noticed a couple days ago one of the tapes I got with my WMD-DT1 is actually torn and not just crumpled. It looks like there's some jazz on it, wish I could easily access it, but that's right in the middle of it. Same brand and type of tape as my torn one, maybe just a serial issue of that producer. I'll have to see how the repair of my favourite digital tape goes, and then I might attempt to recover that one too. I might just try to reconnect it and scan the playback output with my computer in lossless format and then transfer that over to a new tape. Would be a bummer to have its contents be lost.
