An acquaintance has asked me for advice on the possibility of a solution that would clean sticky DATs, avoiding the need to rewind them manually. I have no idea if there exists such a thing or how it would be applied, so I'll forward this to the list. Please include me in the reply if you decide to email the requester directly.

Thanks.

Alec McLane

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Alec McLane
Music Librarian/Director
       of the World Music Archives
Olin Library                                              Phone: (860) 685-3899 
Wesleyan University                           Fax: (860) 685-2661
252 Church St.                                        mailto:[log in to unmask]
Middletown, CT  06459                       http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/collections/music/index.html



From: Alex Dea [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2012 8:03 PM
To: McLane, Alec
Subject: Question about digitizing in Java (the land, not the language... or the drink).

...
 
Of the problems (and questions I hope you can answer or point the way to), the worst is the DAT tapes. They tear cleanly at some point during playback. With some research and a 10x loupe, I identified some (not so many, at least without a super microscope) tiny spores. These spores seem to have tiny feet/tentacles which hold on to the tape, and when the player gets there, the transport pulls and tears cleanly at that spot. Searching the internet turned up a blog with writer Alice In Wonder who recommended hand-winding slowly. When a slight hang occurs, most likely a micro-spore will be there. By gingerly continuing to wind, the tape is able to disentangle from the spore. After a whole spool is rewound, then the tape can be played to hard disk.
 
I wonder if there is a better way to solve this problem. Is there any chemical or solution which might kill and release the micro spores?
 
Any tips or pointers to other webpages or institutions which may have a solution are much appreciated.
 
thank you,
Alex Dea