[Vintage-Audio] Disposing Of An Oldies Collection

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi All,

I have a collection of about 90% of the Billboard Top 100 songs from 1956 
through 1966. I also have about 100 other top songs from 1967 through 2003. 
A total of 890 songs by 356 Artists.

Originally I purchased every song on a brand new reissued 45 rpm single. I 
used my professional DJ turntable to copy each new 45 rpm single onto my 
Sony DAT (Digital Audio Tape) for a copy so close to the source that telling 
the difference was not possible by ear or eye. I used all high end stand 
alone stereo equipment and the finest DAT recording media I could obtain.

I decided that it might be smart to make a backup of my work, as it took me 
almost two months to create the Master DAT tapes. Since I did not have a 
second DAT deck in 1997, I used my Yamaha high end single cassette deck and 
the best quality metal tapes I could procure. Each tape has 22 songs on it. 
No Dolby of any kind was used! I have a total of 41 Master tapes.

Even though the 61 instrumental songs are included among the 890 tracks on 
the 41 Master tapes, I also created a three tape set of "just" the 61 
instrumental songs.

When I learned that I had advanced colon cancer in July of 2003 I decided 
that I better use my Master DAT tapes to create CD copies of my Oldies 
collection. I had a second DAT deck by then, a Sony studio grade unit. I 
spent one solid month remastering each DAT to CD. A very tedious, time 
intensive and nerve splitting procedure. I finished the task two days prior 
to surgery and had forty Master CD's and an additional three Master 
instrumental CD's.

All of the songs that I transfered from their original/reissued 45 rpm 
singles are not enhanced, colorized or filtered in any way. I used 'new' 45 
singles, new = original reissue, and tried to reproduce each song exactly as 
it sounded when we all first heard them come over our five tube 
bedroom/garage radios with their four to six inch PM speakers!

I no longer need to keep the original forty-one metal cassette Master tapes. 
I have absolutely no idea what a fair price to ask for them is. Whomever 
gets them can make CD Master copies from them, if desired.

If any of you are interested in them, I can provide you with a list of the 
songs/Artists on each tape.

Any suggestions gentlemen?

Thank you.




Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO
E-Mail: dfischer at usol.com
Hallicrafters web site: www.w9wze.net
HHRP web site: hhrp.w9wze.net