The tape traders of old, lets catch up thread

ceska

Tape trading was fun. It was hit or miss though. Some people had stuff on their lists that were kinda rare and would do nothing if you didn't have anyhting on their want list. So some things escaped my grasp until the downloading era. On the flip side, some people were overly generous. One dude sent me, I dunno, a dozen or so Pink Floyd bootleg CDs, probably worth several hundred dollars, for me to copy on my own time and to send back to him. (Instead of him copying them to tape [this was before CD burning] and sending them as B&P).

I too still have tape trading correspondence.

I guess ticket trading is the new way of connecting, but I've only had to do that a couple times.

hrd2imgn

Yes Scotty you were it other than Chris Doerr and we met later that day.....sorry I ommitted the meet, so give Scotty some credit!

foodboy

use to use tdk sa's but switched to ux pro 90's. still have a few unopened. taped with a sony walkman pro which i still use from time to time. along with microphones from sonic studios. started taping in 85' . not just pearl jam obviously. but have some great stuff.

BinFrog

Man, I don't remember any names from back in the day. I traded with a lot of people, and also hung out of the EFnet IRC channel #PearlJam in the mid 90's

I still have most of my old tapes:

.


Link: http://i.imgur.com/4ZxdNGT.jpg

hrd2imgn

my dual deck just shot out on me last week, both decks at once, what the hell did I do.....

I have a mere 3 shows left from well over a hundred in the heyday I do miss the rack of tapes

darth

I use to trade a lot on the old synergy boards. Still have tons of tapes at my moms house in shoe boxes

weddingparade

have hundreds of XL2 plus tapes. it was seriously out of control...
live is better

E-G-A-G

Doerr is the first person I ever traded tapes with.

mrussel1

Callaway said:

I use to burn probably 100 dvd's a week for people. I can't remember the last time I did a B&P for someone....makes me feel old.

I burn a lot of blu ray these days.  

B&p was fun, but once you could start sharing on servers, the world got a lot easier.  FTP was a revelation.

alialugaily

Oh this is a GREAT thread!  So many memories, so many great names and people I met.  Rick, Luke, Carl, "Pearl Jam" Jess.  Mike, you helped me a lot too back in the days.  For shows I could not afford to go to, or could not make trips for, you guys made it possible to build a great collection and spread the incredible live music this band has put out for decades.  I actually met a lot of the group at the 1995 Washington, DC Constitution Hall show (Voters for Choice).  I will never forget that moment!!  Almost all the live shows were recorded (audio and video).  It was just such a great time to be alive, and I miss that terribly.  I wish we could get together somehow.  A reunion of sorts... 

given2fly23

Some of the tapers and traders are still around and in touch, though many gave it up. CS has actually been uploading a lot of non-PJ tapes over the past couple years to YouTube and sharing direct links. PJ20 was a reunion of sorts, as were the 2018 Seattle shows. Looking forward to the next one. 

hrd2imgn

locked said:

Op.. Didn't you meet ME at the ten club tent at PJ20? You were wearing the tape trader t- shirt? I was a trader ( no where near as famous as these guys) we talked trades for a while and you declared our meeting a success! "No J cards please , No Dolby!" Scotty from Boston

Hahah Scotty, yes I had on a homemade shirt just for the occasion.  You and Chrisbwere the only two humans that came, Chris the only 1%'r as far as tapers.  PJ20 was one hell off an odd mix or rendezvous and man I hope this dude is not a serial killer momemts.  I appreciated our moment, I was pretty let down until you and eventually Chris showed up( at least 7 confirms to meet with only you and Chris coming).  So I apologize if I was less than excited to hang out.  I felt like a first date getting stood up.

Now we have to tell our kids what a casette tape is.....an 8 track , a CD, a physical. Componenet,  digital changed it all.

hrd2imgn

I remember Chris had connections and they led to JR John from TFT and 5H....he was like the magic man, he was the source of the rarest stuff at the time. Many thanks to all of you helping me survive living in Enos Indiana.

OceansJenny

Got some B&Ps from some folks on synergy when I was just getting into the band in the early 2000s. Some of the nicest folks. I think I told one of them I only had Riot Act and Ten and he sent me some burned albums. I later bought them of course.

Also the VCDs - so cool to see some fan tapings!! Somehow ended up with the Bad Radio concert, one of the Lolla Shows, Indo 93 shoe the shoeless, I think a few others. I ended up tossing a few clips from these on YouTube when it first started and got a message from one of the Bad Radio members.

Will have to check my letters to see if it was any of you fine folk sending me my B&P.

hrd2imgn

Bad Radio guys were always cool.  I remember one of them Dave Silva? I think was always cool when we emailed him about Ed....somehow his email got out and all us stalker fanboys were emailing him. He had a new band something with head in the title or something.  He was cool answering bad radio questions too of course.

gregoryield

I haven't thought about tape trading in so long. Wow.

That was the best. And so funny to think about, in hindsight, waiting weeks to hear a show/song we can now pull up in seconds. I don't miss the lag, but I do miss the appreciation.

I distinctly remember waiting what felt like a year for my copy of Full of Code & Surrounded by Bullshit. I wish I had kept that one.

cp3iverson

Probably my favorite time period of being a PJ fan.  

My mailman used to say “another day another set of cassette tapes sir”

a lot of good friends.  A lot of fun.  I think i only got ripped off once in those 2 or 3 years of tape trading.  Everyone was really cool.  Its funny to think about how exciting it would be to even get a “C graded” tape of a show you hadnt heard yet 

PB11041

The tape and CDR day trees were the most fun time.  Things were particuarly great from 1995 to 2000.  Even when the offcial boots came out that year was a great year for trading. 

Ledbetterdays

I was not a taper but I was definitely a spreader back in the day. In retrospect, I think releasing all of the shows took so much of the charm out of what was special about trading and the magic of shows that became legendary because they had soundboard quality--takes something really unique for a show to be special these days, but it is great people can always have a high-quality copy of the shows they attend. We probably kept Maxell in business for a good five years or so!

Lost In Ohio

Here's a blast from the past:

http://www.fivehorizons.com/feature/trading.shtml