Found out I'd been rewinding my tapes wrong for 20 years

So I trade tapes with this guy from Portland, and he sends me a mix with a note saying 'flip the tape before first play.' I asked why and he said if you rewind to the start after listening, the tape stretches over time. I always just pressed rewind right after the last song ended. Now I feel dumb. Anyone else grow up thinking you always had to rewind before storing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade_lane191mo ago

It's wild how one small tape trick opens your eyes to a bigger pattern, right? @christopher385 nailed it, and now I'm seeing it everywhere - like how people think leaving electronics plugged in all the time is fine, but it slowly kills the battery, or how we slam cabinet doors shut without realizing it loosens the hinges. We just assume the default way is the right way until someone points out the harm. It's like we're all walking around doing tiny things wrong for years without even knowing. Makes you wonder what else we're messing up without realizing it.

christopher3851mo ago

Tapes definitely need that initial fast forward to the beginning to avoid the stretch issue. I started doing the flip trick after ruining a favorite mix tape by just rewinding it over and over. It made a huge difference in keeping the sound quality clear for much longer.