Cassette Tape Lengths

[Web Police]

What is your favorite length cassette tapes?

I guess it would depend upon what you were recording, but to me the 60 minutes tapes were too short and the 90 minutes were too long. There were a few off brand and lesser brand tapes that made 74 and 76 minutes and some Japanese market tapes were 80 minutes. Those are the lengths I like best.

I am not big into duplicating albums on tapes, but rather making my own personal mixes. When I was recording and listening the 60 minutes tapes would end too soon for my tastes. However when the manufacturers went to 90 minutes tapes I found those to be longer than I like to record and listen too. I ended up putting fill tracks on them to use up the extra tape. :rolleyes:

Then the manufacturers started making 100 and 110 minutes tapes, which in my estimation are way too long. I guess they super-sized the tapes like they do with food portions. I can see for a party tape it is nice to have a very long play time, however for personal use I like 74 to 80 minutes.

[Rat44]

When CD's came out is when the 74 minute tapes became popular.I still preferred the 90 minute,you could usually get 2 complete albums on 1 tape.

[NAD613]

I have always liked 90 minute cassettes, because 2 albums could fit on 1 tape, i.e. "Dark Side Of The Moon" on side A, "Wish You Were Here" on side B, etc... I also use 60 minute cassettes on occasion as well. In fact, I just bought 2 boxes of TDK Pro Studio Master 60 minute cassettes.

Web Police, if you like 74 & 76 minute cassettes, you should check out www.tape.com & stores like that. You can buy bulk type I & II cassettes, custom order to whatever length you specify.

[Web Police]

Thanks for the link, but I will stick with brand name tapes. As I said I seldom want to listen to a whole album at once so the tape length is only important as I get older I am not patient enough to sit down and record both sides of a 90 minute tape. Instead I just record it over several days.

I have been tempted to open up some 90 minute tapes and toss about 10 minutes and then re-attache the leader and tape to the spool. :D

[NAD613]

A lot of those companies use BASF tapes. I'm sure they'd tell you what they use.

[braxus]

I stick with 90 minute tapes mostly because that size works with most records I tape. If its too long- I just put extra songs on it to fill them up.

[Des-Lab]

Yeah, I am a C-90 and C-100 guy myself. I admit it.

[vinyldavid]

I find that I often use C-90 and C-100 far more than ANYTHING else, myself....

that's prolly because all I do is tape off the radio full length albums that I want to keep.

I also do cassette mixes from time to time....

[Flyquail56]

Hi Gang,

Does anyone know where to find information on tape thickness for a given length? Seems that I have read that there originally were three thicknesses for C60, C90, C120, and that in recent years the C60 began using the same thickness as C90 for reasons of economy. But I'm mainly wondering if C100s use the same thickness as C90s or C120s. I suppose it could vary by manufacturer, too. Thanks!

Best regards,
Mike

[Scorpion8]

I always bought C-90's exclusively until CDs figured out they could stuff more on than an LP. Even though the 45 min/side was more than an average LP, I always ended the tape with my fav song off it appended again at the end to fill it up. Plus, C-90's made awesome compilation tapes.... just the right length.

[NAD613]

Fuji still makes a 100 minute type II cassette, the DR-II. I haven't seen them, but their website says they make them.

[NAD613]

The Fuji DR-II type II cassettes are available in 100 minute lengths. I haven't seen them, but their website says they make them.

[Mr. Lin]

I was about to start a thread with a similar topic. Unlike the majority here, I prefer very short tapes much of the time. I find 60 minutes to be a good standard, but I've made one mix of songs by two different acoustic guitar players on a TDK Pro SM20, just 10 minutes of each artist. Sometimes you might not want to listen to regular length album, so I can just pop this on and have a nice, quick listen. I'm pretty well-stocked with those 20 minute TDKs! So far they're my favorite kind of tape.

But it gets better. I've ordered some of the TDK tapes in 10 minute lengths, and I'm going to record songs from 7"s to these. Think this is going too far? I don't. It's probably only going to get harder to find 10 minute cassettes, I can't imagine very many people would have any use for them these days.

[Mr. Lin]

The thread didn't go to the top???

[Web Police]

It's probably only going to get harder to find 10 minute cassettes, I can't imagine very many people would have any use for them these days.

You may be able to find the shorter tapes at good prices as there is not much demand from musicians anymore for the shorter lengths. :)

[Jay Pemberton]

Hands down, the longest-ever cassette I've ever known or seen was the TDK D 180. 90 minutes a side. I've only ever seen one of them, and that back in 1982. The tape was so very thin you could see the pressure pad through the tape.

The people that owned it had some music they'd dubbed on it from an LP, on a Zenith all-in-one console, and the tape's volume level was very low--loud bits only hit around -15 or so.

And didn't TDK also briefly offer a 3 hour DAT tape too?

[Mr. Lin]

Didn't Memorex make 120 minute tapes in packaging with a really 80s color theme?

[Jay Pemberton]

I think I remember seeing some of those about 20 years ago. What were they called, DBS I or something?

[NAD613]

From what I gather, 120 minute tapes are best used for continious listening, meaning you record the music & let it play all the way thru; you don't do a lot of FF & RW. I always considered it something to use for background music, like in a restaurant or at a party, before the days of CD changers.

The reason you don't want to FF & RW 120 minute tapes a lot is because the tape is thin & is more prone to breaking if you do. Plus, all that FF & RW eats up the batteries on your Walkman!

[Web Police]

I have one Memorex Ferric Tape from the late 1970's. It is very very thin tape. :) I pretty much recorded it once and then listened to it all the way through as it took as long to rewind as it did to play. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't even want to try a 180 minute tape as I can see it wrapped around the capstans and pinch rollers already. :D