I am a re-born Tape Enthusiast (not neccessaryan Audiophile) and recently have come into posession of some 30 or so privately recorded cassettes-mostly TDK Ds and BASF which are in pristine condition and most cassettes have been recorded on only once. Having read about the proper storage of cassettes with regard to do tape tensioning by FF and FR I do not want to use my Vintage deck ( Sony TC-FX6) for lots of repeated FF and FR. Could an alternative be a cheap Radio/Tape or small tape recorder be used for this purpose or are dedicated FF/FR instruments available or neccessary? To erase existing recordings what would you suggest as a suitable piece of equipment or is a suitable magnet adequate? Last but not least what sort of process would be adequate to convert casette recordings to MP3 or similar ( for private use and not high quantities). Tghere are some converters commercially available in a price range between R500 and R1000 and in conjunction with a particular computer software but I have no information whether such converters are handling the full frequency range of tape recordings ( I am aware of the Tape Deck-Laptop connection via Headphone socket and AUDACITY App) but I believe the headphone thing only converts to Mono????) I would appreciate your help and advice before "climbing in",
