I posted this earlier in response to another thread here on AK:

Now, that being said, I just picked up 50 Maxell UDXLIIS-90's off a guy that were once used, and the "once use" was to record Grateful Dead shows live. There's a whole series of them from CA shows in 1983-84. I had planned to bulk erase them and tape over them with <cough> good music, but now I'm in a quandry, since I'm sure some of the stuff is one-of-a-kind recordings. Unfortunately, as stated above, Grateful Dead has never (until now) been in my play library. I listened to two of the tapes the other day and was bored to tears. Not that I'm expressing a negative opinion on Grateful Dead, but in response to the CL ad above, I sure as heck wouldn't give them to the guy, since I paid for the tapes as blanks.

So here's the quandry. I bought these tapes to be used as essentially NOS cassettes, and happen to "find" them complete with much music. Probably one of a kind music. It has no interest to me, but might to somebody. So, knowing that, would you preserve the old music even if you had no use for it, knowing that once it's recorded over it's gone forever? Or would you offer it up (the original seller did not want that to happen, and I agreed, but I didn't know what was on the tapes), or would you figure if it was that valuable the original owner had the responsibility to maintain it and once sold off, it's mine to tape over and re-use the tapes as originally intended? I mean, he was the Dead fan, not me, so he should have known they were worth saving but he sold off the tapes to a guy who he knew intended to bulk earase them.

I mean, there's 50 of these cassettes. and at least 30 of them are live Dead shows from the mid-80's.

A quandry. What say ye all?

My bet is that every one of those shows is archived in the world's database of Dead recordings. Especially by the 80's, every show was taped by a horde of taper Deadheads, so there are a zillion copies of every show floating around. They may even be archived digitally on:
http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead

Unless were talking about something special, like a sound check, studio outtakes, interviews...

I answered an ad for free cassettes in my CL and ended up with @500 mostly Maxell's, many are live bootlegs of The Cure. Yep, hate to record over them but the group means nothing to me either.
I got a couple hundred free MD's off the list too, but those were a DJ's dance mixes so no loss there. :p:



Carl

Send them to the Library of Congress and make THEM decide what to do with them - take a charitable donation on yer taxes.

To be 'safe' or 'sure' that you wouldn't be destroying 'historic' recordings, you could do a very high-quality copy --either to reel tape or to digital storage on a hard disk before erasing the tapes.

Even if there are already recordings out there, it is still good to save what is on yours. There are plenty of Deadhead collectors out there who might be interested in another recording of a performance, even if they already have a recording of the same concert(s). Since all those bootleg recordings were "amateur" recordings made on different gear from different locations with different levels of recording skill (and mental states :smoke: ), people like to collect different takes and compare them, looking for the best recordings.

Another thought: many COPIES of bootlegs were made: are yours original bootlegs, or copies from someone else's collection of bootlegs. That could make a difference, too.

You might find a decent Deadhead with decent equipment who would gladly do the copying work for you, in exchange for keeping copies of the recordings. Then the guilt is off your back, and you get your tapes back to re-record over.

Alternatively, if you can get a premium for what is on the tapes (above the value of the cassettes themselves) sell the tapes as-is, and look for other tapes of equivalent quality with less "historic" material on them. [I know... finding good cassettes is not always that easy!]

Just some thoughts... in the end, the tapes are yours now, and what you do with them is between you and your conscience.

The music may be junk to you but to someone else it's a life time treasure. Offer them up on eBay for cash or exchange for new tapes. In the SF Bay Area, home of the Dead, we have some hardcore Dead fans, so CL would even work. Once they are erased, those will gone forever.

Once they are erased, those will gone forever.

True, but the guy also asked during the purchase proceedings not to resell them and to bulk erase them. So it's what he wanted, and he's the original Deadhead.

The music may be junk to you but to someone else it's a life time treasure. Offer them up on eBay for cash or exchange for new tapes. In the SF Bay Area, home of the Dead, we have some hardcore Dead fans, so CL would even work. Once they are erased, those will gone forever.
I'll second this one. I'd put 'em up as a lot for auction with a decent reserve bid (knowing that diehard fans will often pay big bucks), and if it's met, fine. If not, reuse them.
Tom

Ah, but see the above. The guy who sold me the tapes asked me not to resell them. So I fell like I shouldn't, but I also don't want to be the remote repository of stuff that I can't use-don't listen to-but won't tape over because it's valuable-and can't sell because I promised not to. In short, that leaves me as the honest, do-the-right-thing guy who ends up storing the tapes and not having them for the original reason I bought them.

If I don't tape over them, I end up paying him money to store his tapes. For when? Someday?

If I resell them, then I violated the trust in the initial purchase.

If I tape over them, I may destroy sole-remaining copies of some valuable-to-somebody tapes.

A quandry just thinking of all the different possibilities.

I see your quandary...

Give them to a grateful... Dead Fan in exchange for some new tapes?

Try posing the question at... http://www.dead.net

Good luck!

It's highly likely that the shows in question are out there already, probably in equal if not superior sound quality. (just curious: are these taper section or soundboard quality?) Anyway, the Dead made a soundboard document of every show they gave & that material is widely/easily available. As for your promise not to sell the tapes w/ their present contents intact vs. erasing the shows, that my friend is an ethical question worthy of King Solomon. Good luck.

Most of them are marked "soundboard" and the recording quality on XLII-S tape w/o Dolby is pretty sweet. Now, if only it was Scorpions or UFO tapes .....

Personally, I'd quit worrying about it and tape over them. I doubt that these are the only copies of anything.

Personally, I'd quit worrying about it and tape over them. I doubt that these are the only copies of anything.

I'm inching towards that very conclusion ....

If I don't tape over them, I end up paying him money to store his tapes. For when? Someday?

If I resell them, then I violated the trust in the initial purchase.

Who owns the tapes now? You do.
You can do as you please with 'em.
If the seller wants you to store them and not resell them, then HE should pay YOU!
If the seller did not want them erased and reused, he should have kept them.
Tom

Actually, am looking at an offer from a Dead-fan. Perhaps if I swap these tapes for other blanks because he wants them for the music, then it's a win-win. I get blanks, he gets music. I don't sell them, and the music is preserved.

Simple: dual cassette deck with cheap tapes in the record well. Just dub 'em and sell the dubs.

Simple: dual cassette deck with cheap tapes in the record well. Just dub 'em and sell the dubs.

Oooo, not my style at all. No thanks.

If you are interested in the music yourself keep them or dub them to your hard drive. I would bet these are not rare and there are many copies of the exact same thing floating around.

If it was me I'd bulk erase them and record your type of music on the cassettes. :music: