Hi Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Shouldn't be an issue unless you are trying to rescue old tape archives. (That may be a little too late... Does anyone have any longevity data on older backup tapes?)
I think longevity of tape storage is a bit like floppy, if storage has been good and the tape was originally good it should still be ok.
I don't know Apple2 tape systems, but my Video Genie cassettes are still good 26 years later (low-noise audio cassettes). My old notes on volume settings are still useful. My oldest pc tapes are 15 years old and the years haven't given any problems there either. Note that these were Tandberg drives and 3M media and considered to be very good. Own software too, very fast, based on something a friend of a friend made in assembly.
In my experience tape is a better medium than rumor has it to be. -- Knut (delete 'nogarbage.' for email)