Found out the hard way why you shouldn't store tapes on their side

I had a pile of my dad's old mix tapes from the 80s stacked sideways in a crate for like 6 months. When I finally popped one in to listen, the whole right channel was warbly garbage. Happened to at least 4 of them before I looked it up - the weight of the stack presses the reels uneven and messes with the tape alignment over time. Now I keep them upright like books and it's way better. Anyone else lost a good tape to sideways storage?

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david_stone1mo ago

My 1984 Def Leppard tape died the same way, learned that lesson the hard way too.