Cassette Project 1: Feeding the monster

Broken decks to repair

That’s it!

Enough! I’ve had it with tapes for a while.

A few years ago I set out to rip my personal tape collection.

I’ve done that and was quite pleased with the results.

Some I’ve now decided to re-rip using a superior tape deck, different software and higher bitrates (if not altogether lossless). I’m still in the middle of that. It’s a tedious and real-time-consuming affair.

Concurrently, I also added another batch of regular audio tapes into that database monster named Discogs. It needs to be fed. Needs more metadata.

Most recent tape submissions

Why? On the surface it would be easy to dismiss my efforts and say that I’m helping line someone else’s pockets in doing so. No, not quite.

In doing so, it is I who gets to listen and discover a range of new sounds, artists, labels and organisations. Services like Deezer and Spotify are completely lost on me thanks to these little artefacts. Each tape I scan and analyse is a whole world of wonder and discovery.

Every tape has a story to tell, and I’m listening.

It’s a learning experience. It’s a labour of love. It’s a hobby.

But I’m tired of tapes for now.

Those which remain and those that will invariably accumulate subsequently shall simply be hoarded until… argh, whenever. Some rainy day. It always pours.

Future tape submissions

I have many other boxes and bins to clear out and more stuff to re-discover within.

Broken decks to repair. Basement archaeology. Media overload.

I’ve counted at least three boxes of CDs. They’ll get processed next year.

Then there are several boxes of these wonderful old music carriers to deal with.

Future record submissions

I doubt I’ll get to these before 2017 or 2018, sorry.

So much to digitize, so much to get online, so much to throw out.

It’s an obsession. There is no end in sight.

All photos and scans by hmvh DOT net

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