I have several old tapes and these sometimes are damaged by dampness, warped cases when left in the sun and also the sticky roller effect.

Owning several analogue tapedecks and also using the Computer as a Track editor I can recommend a CDRW as way of Archiving all old tapes and saving new ones as well. These things cost as little as 100 bucks (Mitsumi)and the disks run 1 to 2 bucks. The disks capacity depending on the format used can hold a bunch of recordings. MP3 format is ideal for most old tapes as the quality on the original is not like new.

Please correct me if I err, but a disk holds as much as 4 to 5 hours of analogue material.

This point leads neatly to the issue of NetMP3 culture, and with the rather topical matter of why buy a tape in the first place.

One can now search the net using Napster like devices for any published track that exists, and to my amazement I never failed to locate a track yet. It is, I must add, illegal to download and use a track unless you already paid for the recording. I O W if you loose/destroy/damage a CD, Record/Tape you can download and use the track/s.