2 track or 4 track reel to reel deck?

It's been awhile, but I don't believe that you can play a pre-recorded commercially released reel to reel tape (4 track) on a 2 track machine. You can, however, play a 2 track tape on a 4 track machine.

Egoss, three points:

1) There were actually 2 track machines that used a 30 ips speed (recording studio applications only).

2) I said that you cannot playback a 4 track recording (pre-recorded reel to reel) on a 2 track machine. Since a 2 track machine is not reversible, tracks 2&4 will be audible playing BACKWARDS, unless the 4 track tape was recorded in only ONE direction. Non-reversible unidirectional pre-recorded tapes were recorded at 3 3/4 ips, not a speed at which you want to record music.

3) There should be no alignment problem with a 2 track tape when played back through a 4 track machine. The output will be somewhat lower, though.