RU recording LPs on Reel to Reel ?

I have a large collection of music and currently use a Tandberg reel to reel, Fostex Pro DAT and Fostex Pro CD Recorder for recording. It has been my experience that the best analog reproduction comes from the reel to reel. DAT and CDR are going to play back digital and though quite good doesn't have the warm analog sound to my ears. As far as tape bleeding with reel to reels, you would need to use good tape, store your tapes properly and play them or at least rewind them a couple times a year. It is getting harder to find new reel tapes and they are expensive, I buy them in lots of 10 and play about 22.00 each. I also buy recorded tapes and erase them and record over them. E-bay is a good source for these. You can purchase a good reel to reel here on Audiogon, there is currently a Tandberg for sale. There is also a number of folks who still service reel to reels. The only company that I know that has new reel to reels in production is Tascam and it retails for over 2 grand. I don't think you could go wrong with a reel , DAT or CDR. They all have their strong points and weakness. Good luck.

Kublakhan-- The tapes are not mine, but if you are interested email me and I'll give you my father's phone #- if he's given up on some magic bullet to save his tapes, he may sell them (I'm assuming you want them to erase and re-record)

Rec: The tapes used were excellent quality, but you've hit the issue right on the head-- many of them were not played for years (a decade?) and that's most likely what killed them. The tape manufacturers intimated the same thing when he resurrected the reel-to-reel, found the tapes unlistenable, and called them demanding someone's head on a pike.

I have ~750 reels dating from the late 60s to mid-90s. The original reason for recording was to preserve the LPs (particularly when having company over like a party) and they've stood the test of time fairly well. Some of the cheap tape has shed its backing leading to squeal, but for the most part they are still eminently listenable and - in some cases - sound better than the CD version.

As far as finding things on tape goes, I made a database to track everything using the tape number and the tape counter and can cut to the start of any album in a minute or so.

While we are @ it are there any brands of tape that are considered to be of higher quality?

Good sources for pre-recorded tapes (LA area) are the county library book sales. Though they have not been rotated many look to have never been checked out (played) and @ the least they have been stored in a climate controlled environment (power outages aside).

The last blank tapes I picked up were 7" reels of Memorex promo/gift packs for non-commercial use. Not certain if they are 1200' or 1800' (they run to within 1/2" of the outside of the reel and still have the sponge holders intact). If it were not for the Inter'l Orange boxes I would have passed them by (mixed in with a pile of old magazines @ a local thrift).

what about cassettes
I have several Nakamichi tape decks that mke quite good tapes with that analog quality all over them

Tom