C flat, if a treasured tape ever does get "eaten" by a tape deck, you should know that even cassettes can be spliced, saving most of the content. I wouldn't bother with this for a commercially available tape, but for a one-of-a-kind tape, I definitely would (and have done).

Yeah, Jerry, I second what you and so many others are saying about recording stuff. And when you can put it on the computer or a disk, it takes much less space and is much easier to catalogue and retrieve the info.

Temporary thread creep:
Ebbie, I may be living disproof of that hypothesis. I used to 'sing' along spontaneously with bands, choirs, and other music sources at about age 18 mo., and musicians were amazed that I was right on pitch and 'singing' in the right key, etc. But my 2 years of group violin lessons accomplished little but annyoying the neighbors, and after taking 4 years of piano as a child, I still can't really do much but play melodies by reading sheet music. (I.e., I can't "play the piano.") I've been singing as long as I can remember and normally have very good pitch, but I was never a music prodigy and am only a so-so singer and guitarist, even though I sing and play full time.
My hypothesis (based partly on what I've read on the subject) is that children who start out that way can well become prodigies if their talent is nurtured from that very young age -- e.g., having them start instrument or voice lessons very early. But that "natural talent" doesn't automatically blossom into "prodigy-hood."