TDK D - 1973-77 - JP
Legendary and still reliable.
It's a tape that is about 50 years old. It will still record and play as originally intended. These tapes were made to last, period. This is one of their very earliest ferric formulations. It is good, but later type I formulations vastly improved over the next decade or so, and they will cost much less than these 50 year old tapes... that have been kept sealed all this time, for whatever reason...
Whoever you were, thank you for having "collected" this tape (or just refrained from having used it as intended) for so long. Now we're about to turn over into 2025, and one of us, simple users of forever sealed tapes, will have the unique opportunity to try one of them out from scratch. It is like being able to travel back in time back to 1974, imagining going into one of them old HiFi stores, reaching out for one, pay for it... $0.79, and coming back home in 2025 to record on it, like old times... right from FM, waiting for the radio DJ to stop talking! ;))
This is one reason why it is a good thing that some of us do indeed collect sealed cassettes, 10, 20 years from now, someone will be glad to open some 1980's sealed cassettes, while most of us simply use them immediately... off with the wrapper, and press "Record". Either way, have fun with this hobby that has now visited us twice.
NOTE 1: 90 Minutes: Made in Japan for the world, and for all markets. Only 1 available. Very clean, although for you collectors, the cellophane wrapper is brittle and split in a few places. It's been put into a bag to protect what's left.
About TDK:
TDK was founded in Tokyo, Japan, on 7 December 1935 to manufacture the iron-based magnetic material ferrite, which had been recently invented by Yogoro Kato and Takeshi Takei.[3] In 1952 and 1957 they began production of magnetic tapes, with compact cassette tapes following in 1966; it is for these that the company is most widely noted. TDK used to manufacture an extensive portfolio of magnetic and optical media, including several formats of videotape and blank CD-R and recordable DVD discs until the recording business was sold to Imation in 2007.
Operations in the USA began in 1965 with a New York City office,[4] and European operations began in 1970 with an office in Frankfurt, West Germany.[5]
Since 1997 TDK has gradually withdrawn from the production of compact cassettes. First with the MA-X and AR ("Acoustic Response"), then the AD ("Acoustic Dynamic") and SA-X line in 2001 and 2002 respectively, then the MA ("Metal Alloy") line in 2004. The SA ("Super Avilyn") and D ("Dynamic") lines were withdrawn in 2012 under Imation ownership. Industry trends see the company moving into new forms of media; in 2004 TDK was the first media manufacturer to join the companies developing BD post-DVD technology.[4] TDK operated a semiconductor division in California for about a decade, but divested it in 2005.
In late 2007, Imation acquired TDK's recording business, including flash media, optical media, magnetic tape, and accessories, for $300 million.[6][7] This also included a license to use the "TDK Life on Record" brand on data storage and audio products[8] for 25 years.[6] In September 2015, Imation announced that it had agreed to relinquish this license[9] and would cease selling TDK-branded products by the end of the year.[10]
TDK D - 1973-77 - JP - Made in Japan