It is possible to buy new 1/4inch tape machines. I have one - an Akai. It outputs to a laptop very well. I am surprised that the Beeb only has one. So where is my license fee going to then - aha - idiots like Clarkson and Connelly et al. But this 'shedload' of material where is it stored, what media has the 1/4in tapes been transferred to? Optical disks don't last forever - probably less time than the tapes themselves. It sounds like the Beeb will lose 90% of its archives in the next 50 years, which is the figure quoted by the Library of Congress for its own holdings.