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Ohmster

wrote in news:1155022039.317533.160660
@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

I have an old audio cassette that I was going to transfer to my
computer.
It's probably about 20 years old.
When I play it in my cassette player it rolls very slow and uneven
which of course does not play well.
I can FF and REW it with no problem, and if I feel it by hand I don't
feel anything particular.
Is there any way to make the tape run smoother without risking the
contents of the tape?
Can I apply some kind of oil somewhere for example?

Oil? You want to oil an audio cassette cartridge? Your kidding me, right?

If the tape medium itself is shot then there is not much you can do about
it short of sending it to the FBI and begging them to restore it for you.
You will of course have to concoct some sort of a crime story around the
tape to gain their interest and then perjury charges will apply when they
find out you were BSing them.

What you do is this. Go find some very cheap, new cassette tapes, the kind
with small screws that hold them together in the corners. Open up the new
tape carefully and put the top aside for a moment. Now CAREFULLY open your
bad tape slowly by splitting the seem all the way around with a box knife.
When you get your old tape open, carefully remove the two reels of tape and
put them into the new cartridge. Align everything correctly and then put
the top back on the "new" tape with the small screws provided. Now try
fully rewinding and fast forwarding the tape and with any luck at all, it
will now play.

Cannot vouch for the quality of the recording though. You take a chance
with that but if you do what I said, you will have caused no harm and still
have the tape to try and clean up by connecting the output of your tape
player to the line in jack of your PC. Capture the audio to your computer
and then run some software on it to clean it up. There is a myriad of audio
softwares out there so take your pick.

Good luck.

--
~Ohmster