Cassette Tapes Aging

4 Apr 1997

...
  How long do
cassette tapes last?
 I'm still getting data reliably off of Coleco Datapacks that I recorded
circa 1986. But I've heard there are limitations. Don't use the tapes much
any more. One person talking about this a while back claimed it was better
to store casettes vertically rather than horizontally. Never paid much heed
to that, so I don't know if it's true or not. 
I have just pulled out a cassette from storage that I used in high
school starting late 1980 or early 1981.  Besides the tape end breaking
when rewinding (getting a bit brittle I guess), I was able to recover
the files I wanted without a problem.  (this was a tape used on a
Commodore PET, not particularly the fastest tape drive on earth).  I
don't know anything about vertical, it's been in cassete cases and
cassette binders.

          Larry Anderson

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Cassette Tapes Aging