Thanks to its massive storage potential, it looks like the good, old-fashioned tape is making a comeback.
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RayRay 1 year ago
I have cassettes I recorded in the 60s when they first came out that still work. in fact I still have the first cassette I recorded songs off the radio and it plays fine.
I resurrected a band that I played in at parties bars and basement rehearsals. I was able to remaster over 60 songs that are Originals off of the cassettes are recorded them on using an ambient mic. Here's a link to some of those songs.
https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandID=819253
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Michael Parlato 1 year ago
Tucson Jim out here reminding y'all that it's computer backup month.... He's doing God's work. I bet he sells backup tapes for a living.
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Tucson Jim 1 year ago
This has nothing to do with mp3 music files. It has nothing to do with audio files whatsoever. It should be about how computer owners increasingly fail to produce backups because they are morons. Just the fact fewer than 1 in 50 commenters watched the video before commenting proves it, sadly lacking the brains for tasks like producing and testing backups of their computer files. You all might sign up for virtual drives, but you rarely use them. Ironically, June is Backup Awareness Month. Bet less than 1 in 100 knew that. One third of computer users never backup. A middle-aged female living in the mid-west making over $100k is the most likely to do daily backups. Nobody here. LOL
Tape has always been the best way to produce off-site backups. Nothing has changed there. Still the highest capacity, best longevity, most portable and compact, and efficient solution. The past, the present, and the future of backups is tape. Not 9-track. That was dead long before last century's end. DAT, DLT, and QIC are still used. Sony has AIT. But LTO is the common format today. Four out of five businesses utilize tape backup in 2023. There's still work to increase capacity. But while a common way to identify a systems manager last century was the large number of tapes on their home closet shelf, the only difference in the past three decades is the use of banks safes.-
Matt James 1 year ago
You remind me of the Chewlies Gum salesman in Clerks. You're out here literally peddling fake information and made-up statistics trying to hawk tape as the primary backup method for the world. You neglected to do any actual research. Yes, companies located throughout the third world are all using tape but that doesn't make it the right choice for companies who need instant access to their back-up storage.
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Snap Shots 1 year ago
"A middle-aged female living in the mid-west making over $100k is the most likely to do daily backups. Nobody here. LOL"
This is so on the nose 😂 I feel so seen. Jokes aside I don't think data storage tapes are making a comeback. The cost of cloud storage is dropping quickly, it doesn't make sense to hire staff to change tapes and service the equipment. Right now tape storage has a relatively low cost to entry and allows people to have their data physically on site. Cloud storage pricing is dropping and security is improving all the time.-
"I don't think data storage tapes are making a comeback."
Me either. With four out of five businesses already utilizing tape storage systems, there's nothing to come back from, right? External drives and SSDs have their place but not for any serious data backup requirements. Backwards compatible LTO-9 tape storage sales are booming. I don't care what you think. This is a FACT. Tape storage sales have gone up every single year. Last year was the greatest increase since 2006 (the reason for this video). Tape is also lower power, easier to maintain, and again provide a LONGER reliability than HDDs and SSDs (30 years). LTO tape is the lowest-cost, simplest method of achieving ransomware recovery best practices... period.
"Tape storage has a relatively low cost to entry and allows people to have their data physically on site."
More important is having it off site. There were 17,000 homes burned down last year just from dryer lint. On site tape backups wouldn't have been useful. It would seem, however, you are making the case for tape storage. ???
"Cloud storage security is improving all the time."
Says who? The Twitter files prove any suggestions of security are nothing more than delusions. The increase in working from home due to Covid has placed even greater pressure on better backup solutions and security. Can / should you risk trusting all your data to one cloud service? The 2020 SolarWinds attack proved the answer is "no." That same year, Garmin was locked out of their data. Not having offline backup cost them millions in ransom. China managed to own Europe's Internet backbone. Online storage there makes no sense at all.
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Jon Green 1 year ago
backup what though, like photos and stuff? that's all on google. If google goes down i will have bigger worries
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It might be your death would have a minimal impact on the world, but most people need to have multiple backups (life insurance, God Parents, etc). In the same way, your computer data might be insignificant. Not the norm. I was shocked how John Oliver proved how common it was (after his famous interview with Ed Snowden) for all kinds of people to have sent dick pics. If you have sensitive photos, I hope you don't trust Google (often located in foreign countries). When you upload files to Google Drive, you grant Google certain rights and permissions to your data. Duckduckgo's popularity is a measure of how many people do not trust them. Moreover, the service isn't 100% hack-proof. If your computer is down, how do you access backups? And there are file size and usage limitations. Google outages occur almost annually. The August 16, 2013 outage caused a 40% drop in net traffic worldwide.
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Brandon Michael Garc... 1 year ago
Yea, so, I see others commenting that people did not watch the video, and, while that is true, I don't think that should matter as much as others seem to think. The real problem is that this story, like so much other clickbait, uses an image known to provoke interest or strong opinions when that image has nothing to do with the actual content of the story.
While I only watched the first 5 seconds of the video, the story is about tape storage devices for computers—not about audio cassette tapes as the misleading image of the headline and the YouTube video would have you believe. Why present such a visual lie about the content? Because the amateur YouTube journalists who created this do not have the journalistic integrity of ensuring that headline content actually relates to the content of the video article.
Engagement only matters. Thus I too have fallen for the lies and trap here because I wasted too many minutes to rant about journalistic integrity—and thereby boost this fraudulent article's engagement.-
I only read the first five words of your post "Yea, so, I see others." I get the idea you don't really have much to add, right?
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John Donehower 1 year ago
Digital recording formats use mp3 compression which sounds distorted especially at higher frequencies , while magnetic recordings sounded much clearer. However magnetic recordings are subject to fade & material malformation. A new,more efficient data storage technology ought to be explored.
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"Digital recording formats use mp3 compression which sounds distorted especially at higher frequencies, while magnetic recordings sounded much clearer." No. First, not all digital recordings are done in one format. There are dozens. Second, digital recordings have error correction info not available in analog. Third, you are talking about records, from centuries ago, the very worst storage medium ever... because it was the first. The first CD sounded brash because they were nothing but copies of the music inhumanly twisted to sound less bad on LPs.
There is no "vinyl revival." The increase in vinyl was based on nothing but fake statistics. There's no reason for anyone to be so confused concerning the advantages of digital: greater dynamic range, less surface noise, less mechanical noise, less speed variation, better channel separation, as well as longevity. Friction causes heat, which softens plastic and makes it easy to deform. This means every time you play a record, the smallest peaks and dips in the high frequencies can get shaved off. 41% of people who buy vinyl have a turntable but do not use it and 7% of vinyl buyers not owning a turntable. It's a total joke about the mindless masses.
Facts provided by Tufts University - https://phys.org/news/2016-07-music-vinyl-cds.html
This is your system, right?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1980s-Radio-Shack-Amplified-Speaker-System-40-167-Excellent/223481588401
It's like the mindless myth of tubes. Are you familiar with when Bob Carver built cheap solid-state amps back in the 1970s and added just the right amount of distortion so that they would sound exactly like the top tube amps of the day, costing more than ten times more? Carver set up a wager with an editor at Stereophile he'd not be able to discern the difference between messed up $200 electronics and the best tube amplifiers. Carver had for many years been bemoaning the religious like fanaticism of audio idiots (a third of them) and their ideas about bad audio equipment and thought it might help advance his company. The editor readily accepted the bet as he had that same religious fanaticism. The editor could not tell any differences. Carver proved the fact analog is likewise outdated and overpriced. Is he famous for this? No, it was heresy! Thus, Carver gave up, prostituted himself, and started making overpriced tube amplifiers. $$$
Finally, this had nothing to do with audio but computer backups. Didn't watch the video, huh? Didn't follow my links either, right? Ignorance might not be bliss but it's certainly MUCH easier. Nothing (for another century) will be better than digital tape for computer backups. Do you have a computer? Do you do offsite backups? NO? You really should rethink that decision.-
Karoly Vaczy 1 year ago
Please watch this before you make statements like this ‘more dynamic range’ and so forth. I just did a test with teenagers to which sounds better, material on tape from the 80’s or Tidal. They clearly chose tape 70% of the time;
https://youtu.be/-4BLWR2E2wg-
Don't Call It a Comeback: Cassettes Have Sounded Lousy for Years (And Still Do!)
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/cassettes-comeback-sound-lousy/
"You're not going to hear me say that cassette tapes sound better than digital music."
-- Lory Gil (2020)
"Digital is natural, pure, mathematical. Cassettes have clear limitations (hiss)."
-- Alpha Audio (2020)
"Cassettes don't sound as good because their frequency range is limited to under 15k."
-- John Richards (2020)
"Professionally recorded cassettes are likely inferior ferrite tape and have a poor frequency response. CDs just sounded SO much better."
-- Robert Ballard (2021)
I did own a Nakamichi 550 back in college (late 1970s) and still own a top-end Sony. But even my 1980's SVHS tapes sound better. Digital recordings (CDs) changed EVERYTHING. One of the most magical music moments was the first time I played a CD of Pink Floyd's Dark Side - in my new car in 1989. I wondered if the greater stereo imaging might have been a playback error and I ejected and reinserted the CD to check. LOL 7Digital, Bleep, HDTracks, etc all support FLAC files (my favorite format since SACD died). I assume you likewise prefer...
1) Using paper maps - ignoring Siri, OK Google, Cortana, or Alexa for directions.
2) Memorizing everyone's phone numbers (a half dozen), not using Contacts.
3) Preferring cash over digital mobile payment systems (starting with Paypal).
4) Using a physical encyclopedia and dictionary - not Google (not knowing how).
5) Walking across the room to change the TV, refusing to use any kind of remote.
6) Watching over the air TV, cursing when you miss a show at the neighbor's.
7) Posting here using your 1980's dial-up 300 baud modem over a fence wire.
8) Growing all of your own food, your own clothes, and your own candles. #GoAmish
9) Adding color to your photos by hand ... for that sense of accomplishment.
10) Abstaining from sex with others preferring to do everything yourself. -
Did you read the tech review at Tufts University? NO?!? Facts cannot change your mind if you don't have one.
Did you really think your anecdotal logic fallacy would be impressive to anyone but another intellectual child?
There's no question a lossless digital file provides the best of everything. Everything else is a distant second.
Did you read my Wikipedia link talking about how Carver proved digital better than analog in the mid 1980s?
My main listening room has 15 Magnepans and 4 subwoofers. Did my ebay link correctly identify your setup?
BTW, the president of Magnepan told me personally he'd never met anyone who owned as many speakers. lol
And finally, the discussion was supposed to be about computer data backup. ANYTHING relevant to that, child?
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GARY MIZE 1 year ago
Why would anyone want to go back to a information storage system that degrades over time and is subject to electromagnetic radiation?
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Avery-John 1 year ago
You do realize that hard drives are magnetic right? We still use them now. They do degrade over time, yes, but ssds lose their charge over time as well when unplugged, and after 20 years, lose their data.
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Lauren Doe 1 year ago
I'm sorry, tape is not for me. I used one with my Atari 400 computer, and I can't tell you the frustration I felt after spending 5-10 minutes loading a program only to have it tell me "Loading failed." Not once has this happened with a hard drive.
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This was not about tape versus hard drive, this was about the limitations of computers at the time. Even large data centers currently use tape because one tape can carry hundreds of terabytes of data as a backup and can read and write it at 100 GB per second.
It's purely sequential so it's mostly for a video and archives but...
Now, we have ECC such that by sacrificing 5% storage space, any 12% of the bits can be flipped and the entire thing is read perfectly.
These kinds of encoding and encryption techniques were not possible due to computational limitations of the past. Hard drives didn't even exist until computers got good enough to incorporate air correction code directly on magnetic media that small. That technology is what enabled hard drives, not the reason why tapes have failed. They just never Incorporated them onto tapes because it was such a huge leap that it was a lot more storage to put it directly on a drive. -
Pawel Kalinowski 1 year ago
The funny thing is few yeasts ago hackers found out it was because of a bug in Atari operating system. One or of 256 tape records would randomly fail. I had atari 800xl and struggled, too :))
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Fred Smith 1 year ago
I have 300 cassettes and 2 stereos with Teac 900s. Sounds great! Do not buy cheap. Buy refurbished.
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Diane Wilkins 1 year ago
That works for me. I still play tapes from the 80s and they are fine. What ever works.
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Todd Warner 1 year ago
I assume you are joking. (The news item is not talking about audio tape.)
But that is sorta the point. Tape stores more data in the same amount of space and lasts longer.
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Napoleon Lockhart 1 year ago
personally I liked the technology of DAT digital audio tape versus recordable CD. Both technologies from the early 2000s tapes are more durable than CD and cost substantially less per unit, the recording equipment is more portable, easier to record on in live environments. with digital amplifiers and digital source music audio quality is on par with any other recording medium it's time for tape to return.
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This news item has nothing to do with audio tape. You guys didn't watch the video. Heh.
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Bryan Davison 1 year ago
While I do think DAT offers a superior audio to the horrible compression algorithms used for CD audio...the long term degradation of DAT outweighs the audio quality benefits. I think tape should stay dead....it died for a reason.
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Charles Boyce 1 year ago
But... the reason CD albums are limited to 60-70 min is -because- they're not using compression..
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Michael Jackson 1 year ago
Commercial CDs and non data home burned CDs do not use compression algorithms. They are non compressed PCM.
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Don Dudas 1 year ago
Funny, I still play old school games on cassette periodically attached to a TRS-80. 50yts later they still work fine
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Um... it's more like 40 years ago. 50 years ago was HP and TI handheld calculators. In 1973, my parents spent $150 on a TI-11 calculator that barely did add, subtract, multiply, and divide. For about $500, you could get a programmable HP that used Reverse Polish Notation.
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