Microcassettes and Mini Cassettes
The little tapes from dictation machines, answering machines and hand-held recorders. They almost never hold music. What is on them is nearly always a person talking, which is exactly why people find them and cannot throw them away.
It is usually a voice
Dictation tapes, answering machine tapes and interview tapes hold people talking, not music. There is no other copy of that.
The thinnest tape there is
Recorded slowly on very thin tape, these were fragile when new. Decades in a drawer have not improved them.
The old machine is the danger
Hardened rubber rollers in a dictation or answering machine grab and crease tape this thin, and that is usually final.
These Are Usually a Voice
Full-size audio cassettes tend to hold music. The small ones do not. A microcassette is what sat in a dictation machine on a desk, in an answering machine in a hallway, or in a hand recorder somebody carried to an interview. When one of these turns up in a drawer after a death, the recording on it is very often the person themselves.
They are also the smallest and thinnest tape I handle, running at speeds slow enough that the recording was never very robust to begin with. Time has not helped.
Full-size cassettes are covered on the audio tape page, and it is common to bring both.
The Small Tapes I Take
Microcassette
Roughly half the size of a normal cassette, with the tape running between two small hubs. Most were recorded at the slower of the machine's two speeds to fit more on, which stretches the running time and thins the sound. Reading them at the correct speed matters, because a tape played at the wrong one comes out comically fast and unintelligible.
Mini cassette
The mini cassette is not a smaller microcassette. It is a separate format from a different manufacturer and it will not play in a microcassette machine at all. They look similar enough that people bring in a bag of what they think is one format and it turns out to be both. I sort that here rather than sending you away.
Answering machine tapes
Answering machine tapes carry two things worth having. The outgoing greeting, which is the household's own voice, and whatever messages were left on it. Both were recorded over constantly, so what survives is usually short and irreplaceable. Bring the whole machine if the tape will not come out easily.
How It Works
Drop-Off in Colwood
Use my online form to book a private drop-off time. This ensures I can review your items with you personally when you arrive.
Approve Estimate
Once I have your project, I don't just process it. I inspect the condition of every tape and page. If I find something that needs special attention, I’ll call you.
Enjoy and Share
You'll get a private link to everything, and a USB drive to keep if you want one. You can finally watch your memories on your phone, tablet, or TV.
Do Not Test Them in the Old Machine
The machine these came out of is usually the worst thing to play them on now. Dictation and answering machines used small rubber pinch rollers and belts that go hard and sticky with age, and a sticky roller pulls the tape off its path and creases it. On a tape this thin, that is often the end of it.
If there is a chance the recording is somebody's voice, the first play after twenty years is worth doing on a machine that has been looked after.
Questions People Ask
Do you take microcassettes? Your price list only shows one audio item.
Yes, I take microcassettes and mini cassettes as well as full-size audio cassettes. The rate card lists the common one because it is the common one. These smaller tapes vary enough that I quote them after looking rather than in advance, and looking costs nothing.
I do not know if there is anything on them.
Most people do not, and finding out is part of the job. I will tell you what is on each tape before you decide what to keep. If a tape is blank or has been recorded over into noise, I will say so and you will not pay to digitize silence.
The tape is stuck inside an old answering machine.
Bring the machine. Getting a tape out of a seized cassette door without creasing it is a careful job and it is better done on a bench than at a kitchen table. I would rather open it here than have you force it and lose the recording.
What Clients Say
“I found a tape of my grandmother telling family stories from the 80s. I was terrified to play it. Dave handled it so carefully and the digital audio file he sent me is a treasure my whole family now has. The fact that I could just drop it off in Colwood was a huge relief.”
“I had a handful of cassette tapes from my old band in the 90s. I was sure they'd be unplayable. Not only did Dave digitize them, but the audio quality is clearer than I remember. It was incredible to hear those songs again. So glad I found this local service.”
Quoted after I have looked at them.
These are small jobs and no two bags of them are alike, so I would rather look than post a number I would have to take back. Bring them to my Colwood workshop and I will tell you what I can read and what it will cost before anything runs. Looking is always free.
Bring the bag, whatever is in it.
You do not need to know which format they are or whether anything is still on them. Book a drop-off in Colwood and I will go through them with you.