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Now that the official announcement that Quantegy is discontinuing
tape is old news, what next?What has changed?
As far as I can tell, nothing. For now. USR has pledged to maintain
a supply of tape through RMGI/EMTEC. Ebay still continues to be a
haven for both new and NOS tape (sometimes fair prices, sometimes a
ripoff. But that's been ongoing and therefore, nothing new). I
haven't seen any kind of noticeable spike in Ebay and other
offerings beyons what's been the norm. Prices have, for the most
part remained pretty stable.What I want to know is: once Quantegy is dead and buried and RMGI
has a monopoly on the market, will the prices remain more or less
where they are? Remember....never EVER underestimate the powers of
greed and stupidity....which almost always go hand in hand and feed
off each other. Will the prices be raised to the moon.....thus
further alienating people from the format?Or is there.....as I suspect.....already an ample supply of tape out
there to keep most of us going for pretty much forever? It is my
opinion that in *MOST* (but not all) cases, NOS from reputable tapes-
such as Maxell or Quantegy....are a pretty safe purchase. Now
whether or not you agree with those prices is another matter. I am
also of the opinion that many (again not ALL) detractors of NOS
either A) are resentful of the prices sometimes commanded by it, B)
are hoping to dissuade potential buyers from it thus hoping to
eliminate competetion and thus make the "score" for themselves at
lower prices, or C)-both.Although I don't really need it inasmuch as I am stocked up pretty
much for life, I went ahead and ordered a carton of pancakes from
Quantegy as a "just in case....you never know" purchase. I also plan
to make a trip tomorrow to my favorite tape outlet and pick up a few
rolls of GP9 and maybe 499. I've never tried them and have always
been a 1.0 mil person, but I figured now is as good of a time as any
to try it. I also plan to stock up on empty reels, maybe some
splicing tape, and a few other odds-n-ends (any requests? I'll pick
up any Quantegy tapes or empty reels and sell them to members of
this group for my cost plus shipping since I was planning on going
there anyway).If I was a betting man, I'd wager that many of us are probably doing
more or less the same thing: stocking up on tape....so-called "panic
buying" tapes we don't really want or need, but get them before
they're gone. Then there are people likely buying tapes by the
carton, and banking on sitting on them for a year or two then
flooding the Ebay market with them. Personally, unless you are
planning on going long (sitting on them for 3 or more years), this
tactic will probably not yield much profit. Think about it.So what are your thoughts on the matter? Is the pending closure of
Quantegy truly a loss? Or is it an idea that has simply come? After
all, if people have been hoarding and hoarding tape (like I have
been 'cuz I don't record much) and/or passing it around from one
person to the next while the actual end-users remain elusive, the
market has simply become too saturated and there is no more room for
new tape. Not when you factor in a static if not receding supply of
decks.
Follow Ups:
Well I dont use much tape anymore like I used to, but I have a small box full of blanks bought off Ebay. I can still buy new XL-II tapes here (Im talking cassettes here) for a box of 10 for $12 plus tape tax fee. I only record from vinyl onto cassette. I used to do CDs to tape as well, but I find thats pointless today. I still have the CD for using. I have borrowed a friends reel to reel and tried recording with it. It was not working very well, so Im staying with cassettes. Maybe one day I'll spring for a high speed R2R 2 track B77. I have a few reel to reel tapes I could use if I ever go that route. I never bought Quantegy tape because I could get better tapes off Ebay. Funny I still remember the day when metal tapes and better chromes were in the stores and I didn't have the foresight to stock up.
..i still haven't made my big purchase. can you give me an idea of what reels of plastic spools -- say 407 in 3600' lengths would run?Email me off bored... if the prices are pretty good, i'd be into a bunch of tape.
Thanks, Marc
p.s. i hope the new guys on the block don't kill the golden goose too.
I don't really use that much. I've got some Quantegy already but I'm taking my machine in for biasing to RMGI 911. I sure hope your wrong about price gouging but I think I'll stock up once I've checked around to see if any distributor has price breaks on quantities. Since a lot of us don't go through a whole bunch, maybe we could put together a group buy. Maybe we should check for interest in a couple of months when the dust settles.
Well I'm really new into this but I do collect film cameras and some similar things have gone on with a few films.And basically what I would say is that is everyone into R2R goes nuts and starts buying up 20 years worth of tape in the short term you will cause shortages which can and will most likely cause an increase in cost. Nothing to do with greed everything to do with supply and demand. If this artificial demand causes the remaining manufacturers to invest in more equipment then they really need. It could cause an over extension of their resources and when the bottom drops out because everyone has 20 years worth of tape stacked up in the closet. And a resulting difficulty staying in business.
But then I just drive a dump truck for a living so I could be all wrong. But I did pump gas during both gas shortages and in both cases stupid panic buying caused more problems then supply did.
Good point MarkW. I seriously doubt though that r2r users like we are can make much of a dent compared to the orders that will be coming in from studios that specialize in analog tape recording. There are a whole lot of them too! Here's just another reason for ATR Magnetics to get their act together and release their tape. OK,.. I know, I know,.. there are a few of our r2r brothers out there that think ATR's tape is just a big hoax. But, just in case it isn't, maybe Quantegy's ending production will put a fire under them before every studio bias 'all their machines to RMGI.
..he indicated that the ATR was not really going to be avail. for 1/4" consumer grade. More for 1/2" mastering tape. He may have just been feeding me a line cause he's selling the new Emtec stuff.
I have read in a couple of places that people have recieved samples of the new tape. So maybe they really are getting going and it does take a while with a startup to get a big enough stock pile so you can meet demands. Would do to take 4 weeks to fill orders that would be worse.
I have some of the RMGI 911 tape. I'll be able to evaluate it after I get my deck re-biased to use it. I'm taking it in tomorrow and should have it back within a week.
..I had been scoping the 1 mil LPR35 and if you say really good things of the 911, i will assume (uh oh) that generally the new emtec stuff is as solid as the eraly reports have indicated.Nothing like 'reel" consumer reports from an inmate though.
cheers, marc
Marc: Check your inbox.
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