Tape Project-Any reason so many tapes are showing

Mikelavigne-I hope you are correct about more audiophiles joining the tape arena. I feel the Tape Project is a great idea but do wish there were more offerings n the Jazz and Blues categories. I would join in a heartbeat.

If anything TP should allow a potential subscriber to chose ten tapes from all of their offerings and not limit a subscriber to a set group of ten. Hopefully as they ad more titles maybe this will be an option

For now I've been lucky enough to buy four titles I was interested in from the first set and assume a partial subscription for another five tapes in the current set offering. So far I'm very happy with everything.

Ed

Ed,

i think you are not alone in your perspective on Jazz titles. there are 'rock' guys who want more classic Rock, Jazz guys like you, and hard core Classical guys......personally i like e'm all and actually look forward to expanding my musical hoizons. there is no wrong perspectives on music choices. and people moving in and out of tapes is normal.....and that happens for many different reasons.

the following is a quote from DocB (Dan Schmalle) from the Tape Project Forum.

I'm not a member over there so I'll add my comments here and folks can take them there if they wish. Three sets of tapes is 1.5% of our total licensed production capability of 200 copies (of which we don't have very many Series One titles left available). I don't think that is a particularly significant fraction in terms of being able to determine why the tapes are being sold. The simple fact is the economic crunch affected a lot of folks - though we seem to be coming out of that and subscriptions are really up lately. Earlier in the year we had very remorseful calls from a few Charter subscribers who were in financial straights and who could not renew for Series Two, and I can imagine those same folks might be the ones who were selling their Series One tapes.

so the selling of a few tapes on the goN is pretty much a normal occurance.

the big issue here is that if we are serious about allowing RTR to develop as an 'ultimate' format then all us tape-heads must support The Tape Project as best we can until the musical selections expand enough to become viable. once there are 30-40 titles out there then more fence-sitters will join in and the momentum The Tape Project began can sustain itself. we need a larger core of people wanting to hear the best possible sounding tapes. we don't need 2000 people, but 500--1000 would be enough that the various types of music will be reasonably represented and a person can get into tape and have the music that they want.

i think we are damn lucky that a group of people made the commitment to create The Tape Project. there is zero chance i would have got into RTR without them. to me it enriches our hobby having licensed legal master tapes you can buy and listen to.

Times are tight and discretionary spending is way down - tapes are probably being sold because some people need the cash. As far as the quality of the TP tapes, they are superb (I am a first series subscriber)and the sound shines through on any 15/2 machine you play them on. You don't have to go crazy or spend lots of $$ with the playback unit. I mostly use an OTARI MTR-12 that I picked up from a NYC jingle studio for $250, had an EE friend go over it, and paid him $100. The machine may not have the pedigree, but the overall sound blows away most any SACD, CD, or vinyl I have.

I'm glad to see the support for Tape Project. I just happen to notice in the last few weeks that the tapes were showing up and I never thought there would be a chance to purchase a few without a subscription given the very limited production run.

I'm technically a subscriber as I did take over another members remaining second year subscription. Just kind of back doored my way in to it

This was a great idea and I do look forward to year three's offerings. I will most likely sign up directly

Good listening

Ed

I purchased a few Tape Project tapes to see what all the hype was about. I'd say... they're O'kay. I wasn't blown away. I can make much better tapes in my own studio... but then again, I don't mass produce them like they do. I can take a day to prepare the decks, set levels, calibrate and make multiple runs to make sure the best copy is available. Most people that have heard these tapes were very impressed. As Mike says... if more people pull out their wallets and support ventures such as "The Tape Project", you'll see more mainstream releases. Money talks.