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From: jeffj@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Jonas)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Computer Tape Disposal
Message-ID: <2183@sfsup.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Oct-87 15:30:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: sfsup.2183
Posted: Mon Oct 12 15:30:24 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Oct-87 05:41:33 EDT
References: <276@cbnscs.UUCP> <2166@sfsup.UUCP> <2093@kitty.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T-IS, Summit N.J. USA
Lines: 35
Summary: who said audio?

[]
In article <2093@kitty.UUCP>, larry@kitty.UUCP writes:
> In article <2166@sfsup.UUCP>, jeffj@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Jonas) writes:
> > > Our Environmental department asked me if there is anything they need
> > > to be concerned with regarding the disposal of a large number of
> > > 700' and 2400' reels of magnetic tape.
> > 
> > If you are concerned about environmental impact, why not erase them
> > and sell them to a surplus place (or at least donate them to a college).
> > You can bulk erase them if you are concerned about security.
> > Hasn't your Environmental department heard of recycling and the 
> > surplus market?
> 
> 	The truth of the matter is that computer tape designed for digital
> recording makes a rather unsatisfactory audio tape.  Not that 1/2 inch
> computer tape slit to audio size won't work, mind you, but the audio
> quality will be poor.  The reason is that ....

I agree that digital tapes are not audio tapes, but I didn't either
directly nor indirectly say that they should be used in any way
contrary to their intended purpose.
I haven't seen the original poster comment on the condition of the tapes.
If they are still useable, then there must be somewhere where tapes are
sorely needed, such as a college where many backups are made but rarely
used, and few projects deserve 'the good stuff'.
Case in point: as an undergrad, I kept a few tapes of my stuff
off-line to conserve disk space.   The tapes saw little use,
and now are quite unimportant.  I couldn't see it worth my spending a
few bucks for new tape, so a box of surplus tapes would've been
very helpful then (I used old tapes because I was too cheap).

Just trying to match a need with an excess.

Jeffrey Jonas
[ihnp4 | allegra} attunix ! jeffj