The Advantages of Using Audio Tapes
A common assumption in the digital age holds that audio tape technology has become an outdated technology that has outlived its usefulness. Many sound aficionados have made a strong case for audio, as opposed to digital, sound quality, however. While this debate also has several valid cons, audio tapes offer a number of distinct advantages.
The Original Advantages
Sound occurs through continuous variations in air pressure. The recording process involves a number of steps. A microphone converts the sound waves into electrical energy, and the electrical energy passes to the recording head of the tape recorder, where it transforms into an electromagnetic waveform that the tape then stores. When you play the tape back, the process reverses and the sound coming through your speakers becomes a reproduction of the original sound. The original advantages of audiotape allowed you to use the same tape numerous times to record new sounds. The electromagnetic properties of the tape would eventually degrade after a dozen or so recordings.
Economic Advantages
As audio technology evolved, it produced many economic advantages. The introduction of the compact cassette recorder in 1963 made audio tapes inexpensive and accessible to everybody. Audio tapes also provide an inexpensive way to back up any data system, allowing you to store material much more cheaply than other forms of media. This quality makes audio tapes very valuable for archives.
Security Advantages
Audio data is physically stored offline, which secures it against the potential threats that place digital material at risk. Power surges, power failures and computer hacking do not affect audio tapes, and you can store them in hard secure cases. If a tape sustains damage, you can repair it more easily than digital material.
Sound Quality Advantages
Because digital data is stored and reproduced digitally rather than through the electromagnetic field used in analog recording, the general consensus holds that the sound quality of audio tapes remains more faithful to the original sound and sounds more natural to the human ear. Analog signals travel continuously, whereas digital signals travel in quantized patterns (subdividing into smaller increments). The harmonic distortion of audio tape generates overtones, which produce a warmer and fuller sound.
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