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Why don't you use long play cassettes in the 1530?

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generic486

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I have a whole shoebox full of vintage 80's NIB cassettes, mostly 60, 90 or 100 min cassette that I was hoping to use when I get a C64 and 1530. I only have two actually datasettes (10 min ones). I read somewhere that long play cassettes were generally not used with the 1530 for some reason. Can anyone tell me why?
 
generic486 said:
I read somewhere that long play cassettes were generally not used with the 1530 for some reason. Can anyone tell me why?
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I have no experience with using audio cassettes for digital, but I can tell you about audio. This may apply to your use. The thing about the "long playing" ones is that they are 1/5 mil which is not mechanically good. They tend to screw up because they are so thin and flexible. This is particularly bad if you are winding them quite a bit. They also tend to stretch which is bad for audio. These thin ones should generally be played from end to end without winding. The shorter ones are 1 mil which is much stronger. Generally the 60 min ones are a good choice for reliability and they are easily available. In fact, the 30 minute ones (15 min per side) are often a good choice if you can get them. Oh, and another thing about the 1/2 mil is that you get print-through which might be an issue with digital use where you would want to record to saturation.
 
Well, I have a drawer full of C60 and C90 used with Commodore 64 in the late 1980s, early 1990s. The writeup on only using C10 to C30 tapes was to sell more media and reduce amount of fast forward and rewind. Indeed sometimes we got the tape tangled up inside the drive, but it was rather an exception than a rule of thumb. We also recorded on both sides of the C90 tapes without any bleed through, and even used the cheapest quality tapes most of the time.

C120 however I've heard are much too thin to be safely used for this purpose, but we're probably hundred of thousands people around the world who used C90 to the max with our vintage computers, so for all matters go on using them.
 
Same here; I used C60s and C90s with no unusual issues, IEC type I normal oxide and the cheaper the better (within reason); 120's and 180s will work of course but are much more prone to getting tangled and stretched in back-and forth computer use.

And stay away from non-type I types (i.e. Chrome, Cobalt, Metal etc.)
 
generic486 said:
No special tapes, hmm. I think I had some old BASF tapes that used Chrome or something. I assume they would be no good.
Ebay has some speciallised tapes for computers but way over priced.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-...Home_Audio_Cassette_Decks&hash=item53eb09441e
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Waste of money IMO.

You might get away with non-type I tapes, but home computer tape decks are usually set up for the normal brown FeO tapes with regard to volume and equalization.

A lot of "computer" cassettes were just normal 30 minute tapes although some did have a slightly better quality shell, reusable write protect tabs, etc.

If it's not critical you can probably get away with whatever you've got.
 
Same here. I just did an inventory of a drawer full of C64 tapes, and all are Ferro Type I. However I think the main reason for that is better tapes were more expensive and not worth the cost.

Agfa Ferro Color 60 (High Dynamic)
Agfa Ferro Color 60+6 (High Dynamic 120 us)
Agfa Happy Tape C60 (Low Noise)
2x Agfa LNS 60 (Low Noise Special)
Agfa Super Color 90 (High Dynamic Low Noise)
2x Allma 90 (Professional Quality Low Noise)
4x Alme C60 Hi Energy (Professional Quality)
2x Ampex ELN-90 (Extra Low Noise 120 us)
BASF LH-EI 90 (Fe 120 us)
2x BASF LH60
2x Bigston C60 (Hi-Fi Low Noise)
Crown C60 (Hi-Fi Low Noise)
4x Luma Ferro 90 (120 us)
2x Mach C60 (Hi Energy)
Maxell UD C60 (Ultra Dynamic)
2x Maxell UR90 (IEC Type I Normal)
3x Philips FE I 60 (120 us)
2x Philips FE I 90 (120 us)
TDK AD90 (120 us)
2x Track 60 (Normal Position Superferro 120 us)
2x Tudor C90 (Low Noise)
 
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You can change bias and stuff even on a cheap machine if you get into it, but you are no recording audio so there's not point in even considering any of that. This is digital and extremely uncritical compared to the needs of audio. From what the experienced digital cassette users are saying here, it sounds like as long as you've got 1 mil you're good to go, and the expensive stuff won't do anything for you.
MikeS said:
Waste of money IMO.
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Probably more important than the tape is keeping your head and other metal parts in the transport path clean, and keeping the rubber in good shape with idler cleaner.
patscc
 
Maybe I should also add that about 99% of my tapes are recorded with Turbo Tape 64, double sided. The turbo is about 10X the data rate of regular routines, so if loading results depends on a combination of data rate and tape quality, even the cheapest no-name C90 Type I tapes seem to have worked (and I'm sure still work, 25 years later!) for this purpose.

But yes, perhaps multiple erases and recordings on the same bit of tape will work better with a thicker, computer specialized C10 tape. It is to consider the difference between active development and backup storage.
 
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