Vixen, there's a big incompatibility problem between the open reel (4-track) and the jig/slip-jig/double-jig jobs (6, 8, 12 track) to begin with; and if you start messing with 8-some or 16-some reels, you've got even bigger trouble. Proably the least troublesome way to deal with this is to get the original bands to come back and re-record all the tracks straight to CD, which is what a lot of the Music Industry has been doing. Tough if you're a Beatles fan ...

Steve