[IRCA] Chaz's Rant about cassettes

[Charles A Taylor <MWDXer@xxxxxxx>]

Patrick (Griffith),

Find someone in whom you have some confidence (and I think the other
Patrick (Martin) may have volunteered, at least partially) and send
your cassettes for conversion to MP3 files.

When sending them, wrap them in aluminum foil. That will at least
mostly protect them from partial demagnetization by AC magnetic
fields.

Whomever has ultimate custody, I give the same advice as I have
received: SAVE THE CASSETTES!

Anyone who has paid any attention to MY fussing and cussing knows
that I finished converting my 30-some cassettes of DX from 1978 to
2007 into MD3 files. It took two weeks.

I may, at some future date, perform the conversion again and be more
careful in the process.

NOW my problem is getting the MD3s onto CDs. So far, I've been only
partially successful. While, in each case, I THOUGHT I had transferred
about 8 MD3 files totalling nearly 700 KB to CD, it turns out only the
first file made it. So now I have a bunch of CDs with only about 250
KB on them.

Clearly, I still have to learn the proper manipulation of my software.

In the meantime, all my DX files reside on four, 1-GB or 2-GB Intelligent
Sticks (flash drives). Two copies of every file. I've been using two
other 1 GB Intelligent Sticks to store all our finances, genealogy,
logbooks, correspondence, e-mail archives, and the like. One year of
no trouble....every file in duplicate.

I quit verifying stations back in the late 70s. Low return is one reason.
I actually do have some old reel-to-reel dubbed to cassettes of DX back
as far as 1969, but once out of the Navy I only veried a station
if it were of some special purpose. One reason was trying to verify all
active counties of Indiana.

My old cassette deck now sits unused. I may reconvert my DX cassettes
once again, but I think what I have on digital media is more amenable
to DSPing.

Just some thoughts.

73,

Charles



Charles A Taylor, WD4INP
Greenville, North Carolina 


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