What's with Type I and Type II cassettes?

Nicki

I am innocent of knowledge, and apologize for bringing down the tone of this forum with a simpleton question. The facts are these: I came into possession of a shoe-box full of cassettes with music going back to the pre WWII Billie Holiday era.

Eager to play these beauties, I bought a "SONY CD Radio Cassette Recorder" which sounded like it could do everything but cook breakfast. After eyeballing the "Operating Instructions" at home, I was only mildly interested to read that I had to use Type tapes I to play or record on that model Sony. It wasn't until then that I had ever heard of tape Types I and II. When I checked my cassettes, I was distressed to discover that they were all Type II (TDK). I would never return the Sony to the seller because it would be too painful to admit I was so stupid.

I don't want to wreck the tapes, they look to be in excellent condition. Is there a fix in sight here?

bobman1235

From Wikipedia :

The most common, iron oxide tapes (defined by an IEC standard as "Type I"), use 120 µs playback equalization, while chrome and cobalt-absorbed tapes (IEC Type II) require 70 µs playback equalization. The recording "bias" equalizations were also different (and had a much longer time constant). Sony tried a dual layer tape with both ferric oxide and chrome dioxide known as 'ferrichrome' (FeCr) (IEC Type III) but these were only available for a short time in the 1970s. Metal Cassettes (IEC Type IV), also use 70 µs playback equalization, and provide still further improvements in sound quality, as well as improved resistance to wear.[15] The quality is normally reflected in the price; Type I cassettes are generally cheapest, and Type IV usually the most expensive. BASF developed a chrome cassette designed for use with 120 µs (type I) playback equalization but this idea only caught on for commercially pre-recorded cassettes.[2]

Notches on top of the cassette shell indicate the type of tape within. Type I cassettes only have write-protect notches, Type II have an additional pair next to the write protection ones, and Type IV (metal) have a third set in the middle of the cassette shell. These allow cassette decks to automatically detect the tape type and select the proper bias and equalization. Many inexpensive models (and the majority of those manufactured recently) may lack this feature. Playback of Type II and IV tapes on such a player will produce exaggerated treble, but it may not be noticeable because typically such devices have amplifiers that lack extended high frequency output. Recording on these units however results in very low sound reproduction and sometimes distortion and hiss is heard. Also, these cheaper units cannot erase high bias or metal bias tapes. Attempting to do so will result in "print-through".

Ricardo

Who cares what the seller thinks? If returning is an option, just do it.

mhardy6647

If you play a type II tape on a type I setting, the sonic result will be uptilted HF response. This may actually be an advantage, if the speaker in the tape recorder is rolled off in the HF. You CAN record on type II tape with type I bias and EQ, and you may find the results adequate.

If the tapes are type II AND Dolby encoded, the HF response'll be even more boosted.

A little story about cassette tape standards. Philips developed and introduced the "Compact Cassette" in the early 1960s. They insisted on a set of standards. As hi-fi casette decks (almost an oxymoron, but not quite) were introduced, "quasi-standard" tape formulations and noise reduction systems were introduced, to extract a modicum of hi-fi from a tiny tape running at 1-7/8 ips. To bear the "Compact Cassette" name, though, all of those formats (Type I, II, III, Dolby NR and some other NR systems) were judged to be "compatible enough" by Philips. You won't do any harm mixing type I and II tapes and standards.

Type IV ("metal") tapes do require a different bias and probably won't record properly on a "non-metal compatible" deck. They could be played on any deck, though.

Nicki

I'm delighted with the prompt help offered me. However, I wasn't sophisticated enough to profit from post #2. I appreciate the sentiment expressed in post #3. Post #4 was up my alley. I went ahead and fearlessly played my Type II cassettes on my Type I Sony and nothing blew up — worked fine. My tin ear never knew the difference. In addition to a couple of Billie Holliday cassettes, I found some Coleman Hawkins (saxaphone) that played absolutely great. I discovered an old Louis Armstrongs tape that can still break your eardrums with high Cs. For an old guy like me, that's living.

Having been helped over my first obstacle, now I'd love to know how to transfer the music from my cassettes to CDs — is it possible?

I'm already starting to feel like an increment over dummy.

hearingimpared

You need to stop being so hard on yourself. I ask doctors questions all the time, they are not stupid questions.

Ask questions, listen to all the answers and you become a wise person.

GLartigue

I am, as far as I know, the only active user (or just user for that matter) of Ctape in the world, a computer application written by Oona R