What on earth is this?
Posted by internbrad@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 38 comments
Picked up this tape to have a blank to use while fixing a player, and i can’t figure out anything about it! Can’t find anything that looks like it on the internet, no identifying number or anything, this is all of the text on the box. There’s a rounded rectangle on the back and that’s it. Information on Memorex computer tapes (which this might be???) from this part of their history seems to be sparse, so I’m hoping someone knows more. I suspect that this isn’t the right kind of tape to have in this box but i don’t really have any way of knowing for sure.
Stock-Plane7980@reddit
1/4inch reel to reel tape
Pura9910@reddit
it looks like magnetic tape for an old reel-to-reel machine. is it real tape, or is it fake, like a display piece for employees or someone with memorex??
the note about them "not" making audio tape is throwing me off.
TarzanOfTheCows@reddit
I suppose there might have been a time when memorex didn’t sell retail audiotapes but it couldn’t have lasted long. There was a famous tv ad with a soprano breaking a glass — “Is it live or is it Memorex?”
I may have had some Memorex reel to reel audiotape but it was mostly TDK.
(Extremely personal note: took all my ham radio license tests in the Redwood City Memorex cafeteria.)
Girderland@reddit
But was it live or was it Memorex? I guess it was live as I never even heard of glass breaking from a singers recorded voice.
TarzanOfTheCows@reddit
Oh, I’d guess that between using a zillion watts of amplification and slewing the playback speed until the resonance of the glass is hit, one could break a glass with a recording.
TechSwitch@reddit
73 bud!
DeepDayze@reddit
I remember that commercial...it's just as rad as the Maxell one!
Vinylmaster3000@reddit
Not to mention Memorex does make tape, including reel to reel.
Pura9910@reddit
I was pretty sure they did, at least at some point. maybe this was from very early on in the market, when they just sold to certain partners or big studios or something.
Vinylmaster3000@reddit
If that's the case then that would be quite early since they've been making tape since like, the 60s. So either it's some weird bootleg / misprint or OP has seriously old reel2reel tape
DeepDayze@reddit
Memorex cassette, r2r and 8-track tapes were most likely not made BY Memorex but most likely made under contract/license by OEM makers. I still have some Memorex tapes I recorded 40 years ago that still play.
Souta95@reddit
I suspect the not manufacturing note may mean they repackaged tape made by a 3rd party, but I could be mistaken.
Either way, it is audio tape in that box.
SirTwitchALot@reddit
Digital audio media is subject to a 3% tax due to lobbying from the RIAA. They probably didn't want to pay the tax on this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act#:~:text=For%20digital%20audio%20recording%20media,importers%20pay%20a%203%25%20royalty.
internbrad@reddit (OP)
there’s a real tape in there, wasn’t sealed or anything so i’m not expecting it to be the original. From what i’ve read they started off making tapes for ibm computers but this certainly isn’t one of those. the reel to reel player i have works well enough that i might try to play it on the off chance this is some sort of sales tape.
TarzanOfTheCows@reddit
Some of these old tapes shed a lot of oxide, probably won’t hurt your deck but might think about cleaning heads afterwards.
Kl0neMan@reddit
If you decide to place this tape onto an audio tape machine to play it, be sure to turn the volume way down., If it does have digital data encoded, the amplitude could be quite high - you do not want to damage your speakers or amps. I don't think it can hurt them at low volume. As others have stated, these old tapes may not have the best oxide binders, so may leave your heads in need of cleaning afterwards. When I encounter such things, I digitize them on the initial play, in case I never get a second chance.
molotovPopsicle@reddit
The reason they were called "Memorex" had to do with their making tape for computer purposes. They started selling audio tape in the 70s.
Individual_Agency703@reddit
How does that help explain the name?
GeordieAl@reddit
Their name is a combination of Memory and Excellence, the memory part being a reference to data storage/computer memory
MWink64@reddit
Those are two of the last words I'd associate with Memorex. I don't think I had a Memorex product that wasn't terrible.
GeordieAl@reddit
Memorex were the posh tapes when I was a kid… I was buying the pack of 5 unbranded tapes in the local petrol station 🤣
molotovPopsicle@reddit
yeah, sorry i thought it was kind of apparent. i guess i just took it for granted because i grew up with memorex floppy disks and so knew them primarily as a magnetic memory medium
help_send_chocolate@reddit
It's a tape. I can't tell the size (where's the banana-for-scale?) so I can't tell if it's a 9-track data tape (usually used for data storage) or an audio tape (which pre-dated compact casette).
There are also other kinds of tape too, for both audio and data.
DazedinDenver@reddit
9-track computer tapes had bigger "hollow" hubs and much more sturdy reels since they were started and stopped a lot. 9-track tape was 1/2 inch wide and what's in the box here really looks like a 7" audio tape. For laughs, 9-track tapes stored a whopping 800 bits per inch, later upgraded to 1600. Since there were 9 tracks (8 + parity) that made for 800 or 1600 bytes per inch. A 2400' tape could store about 23 or 46 MB.
CompuDocUt@reddit
It is an audio reel to real tape holder and box they made this tape in that format the normal audio is made. Audio tape is more a brown ish color this looks too black . It looks like it was produced from the media used to produce data tape probably a promotional gift
KeyTell1746@reddit
I work for memorex twice and their follow on Unisys once. That is a reel to reel tape. Width should be be about 1/4 inch and carries four audio analog tracks. Hope that helps
Gamer7928@reddit
Here is Wikipedia's entry on Magnetic-tape data storage. Here is an excerpt:
dobe33@reddit
Might have one arround here of my Fortran IV code library on it.
nmrk@reddit
This appears to be a 1/2" B&W reel to reel videotape. I used tapes like this (it IS 1/2 inch right?) on a Sony Portapak video recorder.
internbrad@reddit (OP)
It’s 1/4 inch, but for all i know it could be something similar.
nmrk@reddit
Darn it. Well I took a shot based on my personal experience in obscure hardware. A little more research online indicates it is probably an audio mastering tape, used in pro studios. I know almost nothing about audio tape.
DeepDayze@reddit
Mastering tapes usually are 1/2" or 1"
DeepDayze@reddit
I've seen Memorex tape used in data centers as once worked as a tape librarian as well as system operator in both small and large shops. For the most part these tapes were pretty darn reliable for backups and dataset storage.
GoodZookeepergame826@reddit
Is it live?
Souta95@reddit
Audio tape for a reel to reel recorder.
These came out in the 1950's and we're fairly popular going into the 1960's, but kinda fizzled out after that and we're replaced by the Compact Cassette and 8-track.
It was the first way for a consumer to be able to record hi-fi stereo audio at home, but a lot of equipment was low fidelity and mono, designed just for dictation (think voice memos and recording church sermons). The mono, lo-fi stuff replaced the earlier steel wire recording equipment.
There were wider versions used for recording video, and some data storage versions as well, but the one you have pictured is an audio tape.
FWIW, there were some commercially recorded albums sold on R2R tape as well, I have a couple Andy Williams albums in that format.
rpocc@reddit
I just wanted to take the screenshot of the second picture and highlight the words “precision magnetic tapes” as a form of sarcasm but unfortunately this sub doesn’t allow pictures in comments.
Probably, the third photo of a spool full of tape speaks even better.
Yep, that’s a data storage.
nixiebunny@reddit
This must predate the millions of blank cassette audio tapes they sold in the eighties.
dominus_aranearum@reddit
LNHO 3-wheel 7" reel to reel recording tape.