Cassettes still rock!

usual hifi and nostalgia virus. When had enough we dump the old media and recall when not satisfied from what we have (listen)!!!
Cassettes are compromised by width and speed, easily evident when compared to R2R and VHS, but is a very economic media, elegant to use in portable and different from norm. My experience in cassettes comes from 3 respectable machines i had in the past, Nak-bx300, Akai gx-f91, Sony tc-k990es, i have kept all the tapes and enjoy them greatly on my walkman, even though i regret selling my k990es. When i want to record a B77mk2 and a MDS-ja333es are better options.

@mofimadness 

Yes it was the 46 minute tapes and yes I likely paid a little too much but I made my final bid and hoped it was enough and it was.
I would have preferred less but still pretty fair price for the level of tape and each one should hold an album and then be similar in layout to a pre recorded tape, rather than the more common 90 minute tape with an album either side.

@uberwaltz...I prefer the 46 minutes tapes also. I have probably more of them than anything else. However, I have noticed that the newer albums tend to be longer.

Back in the day, most albums fit on a 46 minute tape no problem. I just recorded a couple that cut off the last song (or two). Even some 90 minutes tapes are too short for some of the newer stuff, (one full album per side).

IMHO, you did great on the price of those. Some were metal, so really not too bad. I had just bought that huge lot of tapes and really didn’t need anymore. That’s why I gave up.

You guys have motivated me to dig out my Nak 670ZX and set it up.  What are folks using to clean pinch rollers these days?

Nice deck Tomcy6!

Hopefully someone has a good answer for you.
I am still using a tape head and roller cleaning solution I bought probably 15 years ago...lol.
I bought 3 bottles and still only on the second.
Unfortunately it does not list content or ingredients on the label.
It is made by Vinyl Styl.
Good luck and have fun with that deck.

I still have some of the Teac (3) bottle kits. Head cleaner, rubber conditioner and Stainless Steel Polish.

I have tried this and found it works very well on both the heads/capstans and pinch rollers. Even the instructions say it’s safe:

https://www.americanrecorder.com/products/professional-tape-head-cleaner-2-oz?variant=1235336256

I have some of this too:

https://www.mgchemicals.com/products/cleaning-products-for-electronics/cleaners/specialty-cleaners/rubber-renue-408a-408b

They make a head cleaner also, but I really like the American Recorder fluid better.

https://www.mgchemicals.com/products/cleaning-products-for-electronics/cleaners/specialty-cleaners/audiovideo-head-cleaner-407c

Thanks uberwaltz and mofi,

It looks like the American Recorder Tape Head Cleaner is the place to start. The Rubber Renue sounds like heavy duty stuff.

I have a lot of cassettes that I recorded back before cds from vinyl for use in the car. It was also back before I had a good turntable, so I’ll see how they sound today.

I bought my first cassette deck for a car in 1965 I believe. ( maybe 66). A Phillips as I recall. Paid over $200 back then. All my friends had 8 track and the music stores had thousands of 8 track tapes and half a dozen cassettes. I guess I was an early adopter. Over the years I collected vinyl and cassettes. Then switched primarily to CD and SACD. About three years ago I hooked up a cassette player to my system. After listening to cassettes for an afternoon I threw them all away. Too much compression in my opinion . Now I primarily listen to vinyl with  a healthy dose of Tidal streaming to audition new music. Don’t miss
my old cassettes. 

Threw them away??
Criminal.... Lol.
Could have at least taken to Salvation Army!
😁😁

I listen to LPs at home for a number of reasons. Do I care that my LPs are not "digitized" and portable? Nah.... That's what Napster was for back in the day and what ripping CDs is for today....
Sound quality and the material in the LP jacket are two things digital can never equal..... Same goes for tape...
Taping from LP playback is an analog recording of an analog recording at a very high level.... How can that possibly sound like "crap"?
With this "quarantine" I am finding that making a tape of the "top tracks" I play for the day to be quite satisfying. They are great for playback while hanging with the family as every track is great and the sound is so damn good.... My young girls still cannot believe the tech and how good it sounds. If I get my hands on more blank tapes they will likely be making their own to play when they can finally have friends over.... :-)
This "new" Nak has made all the difference.

Although I have purchased over 50 big multi-box classical CD sets, the individual CD or small sets and most of my Jazz sets have an abundance of recording and historical information concerning the music and artists, more than the typical LP had.  Yes, the print is small but I'm nearsighted and can easily read the fine print.  Some of the rock and pop CDs have difficult color on color print which is difficult to read but usually have less information anyway.  Cassettes, not so much.  They rarely had much information if any accompanying them.  Long live the LP and CD.   

I have to agree on the paucity of liner note information given with the typical cassette, usually a single sided piece of very thin card with just a photo of the album cover was very common.
Of course there are exceptions and I do possess some that have big fold out notes although the print is very small for sure.
Definitely not one of the cassettes high points... lol