1 track out of 4 dead and/or mute?

[codyman]

On one of my prerecorded reels I just bought, Side A, left channel seems to be very mute (85% lower than right)... thought it might be my player but tested other reels fine... on Side B, both stereo channels are fine though... anyone ever encounter this?

[westgate]

you talkin' factory prerecorded or home prerecorded, not that it matters.
with old factory recorded tapes sometimes you never know what's happened to them in 30 or 40+ years or how they were recorded under what circumstances, etc. same with home made tapes for that matter.

[toddbailey]

75% functional, those my friend are pretty good odds, better than vegas.
a year ago, I purchase some tapes under similar conditions and none were very playable.

To fix the problem I had to rerecord the tapes using mp3 files I already had.