No!!!

[Mr. Lin]

I just got an email from WM sales that they're unable to complete my order for TDK Pro SM and Maxell Pro MS tapes because they've been discontinued, and WM's supplies have been "depleted." Now I'm ticked off.

[Des-Lab]

Who is WM?

You sure that the tape have been DC'd by the actual manufacturers and not simply 'no longer carried [because of poor sales and/or profit margins]' by whoever you are buying them from?

A quick check on the Maxell web site still shows them available.

http://www.maxell-usa.com/index.aspx?id=3;23;422;426

[Mr. Lin]

Who is WM?

You sure that the tape have been DC'd by the actual manufacturers and not simply 'no longer carried [because of poor sales and/or profit margins]' by whoever you are buying them from?

A quick check on the Maxell web site still shows them available.

http://www.maxell-usa.com/index.aspx?id=3;23;422;426

It's WM Sales, http://www.wmsales.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc. Here's exactly what their email said:

Thank you for your order. The TDK high bias tape has been discontinued, as has Maxell and Sony. Our stock has been depleted. I'm sorry that we're not able to fill your order.


I ordered some of the Maxell Studio type tapes from them a couple weeks ago and they did fill that order.

[Des-Lab]

Unless they know something that Maxell et. al. doesn't, it's more likely that they simply chose to stop carrying them. And they gave you that dog and pony act about them being DC'd rather than admit their slumping sales.

Two minutes of searching showed them still available at several reputable sites:

Tape World

http://tapeworld.com/search_products.htm?producttype=Audio+Cassettes+Hi gh-Bias+Type+II&sortby=price%2C+brandname&submit=Search+for+Products

US Recording (XLII only)

http://www.usrecordingmedia.com/profaudcas.html

Batteries And Butter (also XLII only)

http://www.batteriesandbutter.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ta

[Web Police]

It wouldn't surprise me if they were discontinued, but if Des found them on the Maxell website they they are most likely still in production. I bet there will be fewer and fewer retailers offering them though. I would suspect as Des explained that the retailer you ordered them from ran out of stock and they have no intention of ordering more.

[Mr. Lin]

Thanks for the links, I had found that tapes.com carry the TDKs, as well as one or two others. There is another site, forget the name at the moment, that says the TDK Pro SM tapes have been discontinued. I don't think that the fact that Maxell still shows them on their site necessarily means they haven't been discontinues either - keep in mind I'm only talking about the Maxell Professional MS studio cassettes.

[Web Police]

Yeah anything is possible. The one thing you know will happen with type II tapes is that sooner or later they all will be discontinued and you will have a hard time finding anyone who has any left in stock. :(

[Mr. Lin]

Yeah anything is possible. The one thing you know will happen with type II tapes is that sooner or later they all will be discontinued and you will have a hard time finding anyone who has any left in stock. :(

I know, it's inevitable, that's why I'm stocking up now.