[AmpDesigner333]

I've decided to recycle it. I didn't use it very much lately and it has given me 38 years of service. I don't see a value in spending lots of money on fixing it up, recalibrating, shipping (both ways), just so I can record occasionally on it. It just doesn't make sense.

I think one of the motors (left one) and maybe a portion of the power supply went.

It's a shame.  A beautiful blast from the past, too. 

[dB Cooper]

I do have a Tascam CD recorder that can do everything the tape can, and everything fits on the CR-Rs.

Even that is an obsolete approach really... I have 250 or so CDs on a USB HD the size of a paperback book, no organizing hassles, no handling risks, have analog sourced material on there too, recorded (digitized) thru a sound card. Removable media just doesn't make sense anymore IMO.

[Wayner]

I record lots of cassette to CD conversions for families and Vietnam Veterans, so I need the machine. My laptop makes too much noise to be a musical source, and finally, I like to actually own the recorded material rather then having a bunch of 0s and 1s on a HD or SSD. My turntable will never crash.

[dB Cooper]

That's a good thing you're doing Wayner. I honor you for that. Yes, a CD won't crash, but I have had a few crash to the floor, sustaining damage in the process. I just like knowing that I can find anythinkg in my collection in fifteen seconds and that it won't fall out of the jewel box (happened more times than I could count...) The crashing issue solution? A backup on a second HD (they cost less than a boutique cable) or BluRay disc (50GB, about 140 CDs per if ripped to a lossless format.) Then if HD crashes, import that material from your archive drive. Rinse and repeat every 3-4 years.

But basically I'm for anything that supports anyone enjoying music so to each his own.

[Wayner]

I know that some day I will have to change my ways and do what you are doing, technology will force me to. I knew that someday the Revox would tank and that would be the end to that. That said, there is something romantic about playing reel to reel tapes, or spinning vinyl. I don't get that feeling playing digital stuff. A friend of mine got the new Sony HAP-XXES(?) DSD player, the one for $2K, and really likes it. Maybe that is the route to go, but I don't understand not putting in a CD drive into the unit, and they could have left out the video screen.

So dB, you are spot on that the new technology makes almost all of my stuff old hat (did I mention that I also have mini-discs?) and I will have to change. Sometimes we need to be shocked into reality.

[dB Cooper]

I enjoy listening to vinyl, too; I heard some great sounding vinyl setups at CAF. I'm just too lazy (calling it what it is...) to deal with the setup, care, and maintenance requirements anymore. I would care for records meticulously and they'd still end up with pops and clicks. Actually had an Akai open reel as my first tape deck. I'm starting to remind myself of what the photographer Brett Weston said in his later years: "If it's more than 100 yards from the road, it's not photogenic".