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more to come

BLANK (well -- mostly not) BETA TAPES

The BETA format is (well.... was) the best video tape format ever to be marketed. Unfortunately Sony, the company that came up with this terrific consumer video format, decided to throw in the towel as of the early 1990s. Betamax machines are not longer sold here in the US. Not sure if they are still sold in Japan either for that matter. DVDs have more or less replaced the tape format in our ever changing consumer market. Even though I loved my ancient Sony HF-900, the old workhorse finally crapped out in early 2000. So, reluctantly, I've decided to say bon voyage to my beta collection.

So, if you are a beta-phile and are looking for blank video tapes in this format -- READ ON!


A little history:

Sometime in 1978, flush with a few loose bucks from a great new job, I walked into Madman Muntz's stereo store in the San Fernando Valley and bought my first Betamax videotape recorder. The old man himself was there haunting his customers. He even tried to talk me out of buying the beatmax. He practically bullied me into purchasing a VHS machine, the old crank!

My first betamax was a top loading Toshiba that worked flawlessly until about 1985 when the loading system failed.
By then I had purchased a new stereo beta machine so the Toshiba ended up in its box in storage and eventually I passed it on.

Starting in 1978 I purchased several cases of blank tapes (a case = 10 tapes) and began recording TV shows. At the time I thought I'd just record a few and watch them, then erase the tapes by recording over them. Made sense.

I ended up wanting to keep almost everything I recorded -- like a library. How's that for silly? But who knew way back then that TV shows would eventually be re-released in DVD?

Because hard editing tended to cause video and audio breakups, a majority of these tapes include the commercials from that time. So you could think of these as time capsules, little mylar and iron oxide museum pieces. A lot has changed in 29 years...

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So the following library of tapes are for sale, as BLANK MEDIA. I have to sell these as blank media for legal reasons. If you desire to know what is on these tapes I can provide the information after the sale. I won't "publish" the list here. Suffice it to say that due to the age of some of these tapes, the quality varies from excellent to good to poor. Many of my earlier recordings were captured with an antenna or rabbit ears before the advent of cable.

You will notice that not all the tapes are listed as available for sale as I am transferring some of them over to DVD for my own personal use. Those exceptions are noted with a blue "HOLDING" label.

Over time the entire collection will become available.

I have 376 blank beta tapes. I will sell them individually -- in groups of two or more -- or the entire collection!
 

ITEM STATUS:
If an item is being witheld for copying purposes, a blue HOLDING label will occupy that number

IF AN ITEM GETS SOLD: A RED LABEL WILL INDICATE "SOLD" -- THAT ITEM WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE ANY MORE.

IF AN ITEM IS PENDING SALE: A GREEN LABEL "SALE PENDING" WILL ACCOMPANY THE DESCRIPTION.


$1.00 per tape!!

Buyer will assume the shipping costs.

Depending on the number of tapes you order, and the combined weight, shipping is actually cheaper if you buy in bulk.

E-MAIL ME to make arrangements.

Key:
L-750 = Tape length
Sony = Brand Name
NB = No Box
BETA TAPE BLANK MEDIA LIBRARY

Updated: 3-2007

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