Reel to reel

Benjie , you hit the nail dead on the head.  

Next, I'm going to download 15 IPS to computer hard drive, and evaluate the playback.

I run a RT-707 in my office system and am enjoying it. I can vouch for ATR as a tape source in terms of customer service and quality. Haven’t had any issues.

YMMV, IMHO, etc.

I purchased an R2R on eBay for $1100, a nice Revox B77.  Plugged it in operated for about 30 seconds before a 7-Up can inside the unit opened (pitsssstt) and smoke came out of the top of the unit. UGG!  The seller gave me $300 to keep it. I invested another $200 and had the unit lovingly restored in Denver at Electric City Repair. Wonderful! I had never owned a reel to reel before, although I bought my first hi-fi in 1983.  I am rank amateur musician, I play synthesizer.  I have had a nice Tascam CD recorder for many years. I had purchased it to record LPs. They sound terrible even when recorded from a really nice turntable directly to CD, harsh, and so do my synth recordings.
I purchased the real to reel because of its abilities to dampen that harshness. With all the other stuff that goes with it I paid about $2000. 
It works very well, sounds great, and I’ll soon have an entry on SoundCloud.
@luvrockin do it!  It’s fussy. But the result is fantastic sounding. Everyone else already answered your questions about tape availability.

Bent

The results of recording reel to hard drive was not worth the effort.