Hi all, After many years of browsing I have decided to join this great community. I have been using/recording/ servicing all things cassette tape more or less since I was four years of age back in the late 1980s. Today I still do pretty much the same, however I focus mainly on higher end gear as I become older and (a little) bit wealthier I have several cassette recorders, the big decks being Akai GXCs from the early 1970s and Sony Walkman D6C units of various ages. I make most of my high quality recordings on a well thrashed, serviced and biased D6C with a personal preference of Sony and TDK Type 2 cassettes and often get amazing results recording from a high quality digital source. I also on occasion like to discuss circuits for the above and for valve amps, though as I have less time these days I have shelved my tube amp projects and the hordes of tubes I kept for a rainy day. Circuit design for tape decks is also becoming somewhat of a lost art... How I came to own so many of these now valuable items was simply by collecting them when I had the opportunity to buy them cheap or broken and fix them up. I am sometimes down to do a deal to buy the above cassettes in bulk, however I am careful where I buy from due to a recent experience buying from Venezuela where the customs officers decided to open ALL 37 cassette wrappers because they thought in all their wisdom the TDK workers in Japan were hiding cocaine in them... Its a privilege to be here and look forward to talking with some of you. Wombat
I've had a lot of oversea packages "inspected" luckily it was used equipment and nothing was missing. Welcome to the forum!
Maybe they just wanted to re-live the experience of opening new cassettes. At least it wasn't an N64 cartridge. https://www.gamesradar.com/super-mario-64-cartridge-breaks-the-record-for-most-expensive-game-ever/ i wonder what would happen if they turned a $1.5 million cartridge into a $100 one by removing the wrapper.
Someone would be hired to fly over and "recover" the debt! For something that crazy you would fly over and take it on board as hand luggage! I was lucky to receive a 50% refund on mine, as they cant be sold on for market value as they are no longer sealed, to add to that, I live in a very hot country and cannot store them as safely now they are open!
