Nancy Marelli writes:

>It seems unrealistic to ask someone to invest in 
>a reel to reel tape recorder at this point...

On the contrary, my recent experience was that 
quarter-inch machines are literally being given 
away as people go digital.  Last autumn we had a 
collection of amateur films deposited with a 
'synchronised' track on quarter-inch.  At the 
time we had nothing to play them on.  After a few 
enquiries, a local FE college donated a c. late 
1980s Tascam to us, in pretty much perfect 
condition as far as I can tell.  It had been 
sitting in a basement for several years, since 
their radio production courses moved to teaching 
using minidiscs for capture and computer-based 
kit for editing.  I was told that there were 14 
more where that came from, should I need 
any!  Also, a quick look on the UK Ebay site just 
now revealed a range of professional quarter-inch 
machines going for between £10 and £50; all of 
which are claimed to be in working order (though 
presumably with different degrees of head wear etc.).

Of course that doesn't mean to say that this 
would be the preferable option for making new 
oral history recordings now - for one thing these 
decks are big, bulky and therefore difficult (if 
not impossible) to take on location; for another, 
blank tape stock might not be easy or even 
possible to get any more; and thirdly, there 
won't be a readily available source of surplus 
machines and spares around forever, which I guess 
is a consideration if these tapes are to serve as 
preservation masters.  But my experience was that 
cost certainly isn't a barrier to getting hold of a working machine these days.

Leo