Topic: Where do you buy DAT tapes from these days?

[slipkid]

Long time DAT taper here seeing it harder to find DAT DDS tapes at decent prices.   Where are fellow DATters buying their tapes these days? 

I used to buy from AmericanDigital and although their prices are still "OK" (gone up around 50 cents to a buck depending on quantity) it seems like they are really low on stock or don't even have any anymore (? according to a friend of mine that just tried to order from them?).

I've had best results with the SONY DG60P and 90P tapes and would like to find a place that has those in stock, and doesn't charge more than 3 bucks a piece per box of 10 - is it even possible to find that anymore?

[nameloc01]

I believe they sell them here:
www.tapewarehouse.com

And if you're in a pinch, I know "Guitar Center" carries them, although I'm not sure how their prices are.

[Brian Skalinder]

IMO, this is a sign from FSM.  Save your money and put it towards a solid state recorder. 

[flipp]

Don't overlook your local, locally-owned office supply store, not one of the big chains. When I still used a D7, my local office supply store had some Imation/3M 4GB (90 mtr) DDS tapes in stock for less than I could find anywhere online. I tried them as a last resort one day when I found out the last box of DATs I thought I had in reserve was actually the last box I had opened. 3 in the afternoon with a show that night and no blanks, what to do; so I called the local store, they had several brands in stock and I bought a couple of Imations cause they were the least expensive. The D7 had no problems with the tapes and when I needed more I got a great price on boxes of 10 or multiples thereof.

[datbrad]

I agree that the diminishing supply of blank DAT sellers is an indication of a medium that that run it's course for current recording use. Save your DAT machine for playback to archive your collection as wave files on a hard drive or on DVD data discs, and at least move to a 16 bit flash recorder like the Marantz 660 if you are not ready to make a jump to 24 bit. Good luck!!

[Belexes]

http://www.tape.com/D180MXL.html?leftmenu=blankmedianav&id=geIEEAaR

[slipkid]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Tape.com looks like the best one!   Good selection/great prices, whew.

[kirk97132]

That crazy dat tape for 2.50 each.  Is it me or is that really cheap?  I think cassettes cost that much now.  But it is become more of a fact everyday, magnetic storage is a dead medium.  spend 30 to 60 dollars on a CF or similar media and never have to purchase again.  I've run about 400GB through the SD card I have now, and all for 30 bucks.  It's way more cost effective.  you could even look at this way, for a years worth of tapes you could buy a new recorder and cards AND record 24 bit.  Or the 400GB if that were tape it would be  $2.50 X 100 tapes = $250 and for me that is only about 4 months of use right now.  so $250 X 3 for a full year and well shit you could almost buy an R-44.  A good reason to sell the dat and upgrade, kirk

[boojum]

With HD or CF storage you can usually xfer your recordings quickly on a USB or FireWire connection.  Tape is realtime, and those damned recording and playback heads . . . .        

[Patrick]

there is a feeling among some dat tapers (one in particular that i know) that dat just sounds infinitely better than flash/hard drive for some reason. as this taper puts it, flash/hard drive recordings just don't have any "soul" while dat tapes do. whatever, lol.

It's all "0's" and "1's," no matter what medium you use.  However it is pretty obvious that hard drive recording systems are more stable and reliable compared to a mechanical tape transport.  DAT tapes wear over time (as do the playback heads) which can interfere with the playback process.

It is nice to have a physical backup, though.  Still the pro outweigh the cons at this point, given that hard drive space is so cheap.

[Roving Sign]

there is a feeling among some dat tapers (one in particular that i know) that dat just sounds infinitely better than flash/hard drive for some reason. as this taper puts it, flash/hard drive recordings just don't have any "soul" while dat tapes do. whatever, lol.

It's all "0's" and "1's," no matter what medium you use.  However it is pretty obvious that hard drive recording systems are more stable and reliable compared to a mechanical tape transport.  DAT tapes wear over time (as do the playback heads) which can interfere with the playback process.

It is nice to have a physical backup, though.  Still the pro outweigh the cons at this point, given that hard drive space is so cheap.

Remember the old DAT "error rate"? DAT is still tape - and prone to read error in a way that solid state is not (i.e.not really getting all the info from the tape to the D/A converter...)

I've always suspected that DAT relied much more of oversampling/error correction than any of the solid state formats.

I always thougth my old D7 tapes started to sound flat once the heads went out of alignment.

[bluegrass_brad]

antique store? 

[johnmuge]

American digital still has them listed on their website.

[Ekib]

I think it is cool to see someone still using a once great medium.
There are 2 main reasons why I take both DAT and Minidisc over all these recorders that use memorycards.

-Risky transfers over the computer. There is always a risk the transfer goes wrong and you lose your data. I've had it happen with some pictures that I transfered from my digital camera recently. These were valuable vacation pics that I can't replace. Also I've lost recordings transfering digitally with my minidisc.
So when it comes to transfering I only use analog transfering over a Minidisc or DAT deck.
The good thing about DAT and Minidisc is you still have a Mastertape/disc. There is no risk doing an analog transfer. And I find the quality the same. I have a very good high end audio set  and I don't hear any difference at all between the original and the copy.
I find the mic's much more importance than LP/SP 44/48 etc.

-The soundquality. Anytime I make a digital transfer over the computer ( for example with my minidisc , after I made an analog back up ..just in case ) I find the quality is not as good as analog. Don't know why but it seems the computer adds something to the sound. And I used different soundcards and computers.

So please stop all the funny remarks and jokes and have some respect for people who still feel the same.
In fact there are still artist who still use reel to reel tapes.