[ILUG] Re: OT: Data to Audio Tape

[Niall O Broin]

On Sun, Sep 02, 2001 at 05:17:23PM +0100, Colin Whittaker wrote:

> Lotas T Smartman stated the following on Sun, Sep 02, 2001 at 05:11:30PM +0100 :
> > Has anyone ever heard of an option to convert data to aduio and then to =
> > play it through a soundcard into a tape recorder and on to an ordinary =
> > audio tape? I was just thinking about it. Data through a modem is @ =
> > 56kbits/s. If an audio tape is capable of sounds of twice or 3x that, =
> > then you could store anything from 40 - 60mb on a normal tape. This is =
> > cool because a normal tape costs less then =A35 for about 10 around here =
> > (there pritty crappy tapes, but work well!). Anyway, anyone have any =
> > ideas? Twould be nice if it worked on windows and linux, or even java!!! =

Ah, children - we put those times behind us 20 years ago, with the BBC
micro, the Commodore 64 and the Spectrum. Audio tape is an atrocious data
storage mechanism.

> There where PCI cards arround a few years ago to use VHS tapes for this
> purpose.

I saw one of these in Electronics Boutique in Liffey Valley a while ago. I
think it backed up about 6GB on a 4 hour tape :-) and AFAIR reading, it's
not the world's most reliable backup medium. (Tapes are cheap though)



Niall