The heads pick up dirt and over time the tapes shed on the play and record heads. It’s a dark brown mass that builds up. The thicker it is, the more it interferes with record/playback. Playback will sound muffled with a loss in the high end. Also, the buildup promotes the tapes shedding more doing damage over time. It usually comes off easy with a few light wipes with an alcohol dipped q-tip.

The only “trick” I’ve heard is you are supposed to only wipe off the tape head the way the tape runs across it. The idea being you don’t want to scratch the head which would then damage the tape. I don’t know if this was just folklore, but it seems logical.

I used to have a reel to reel Tascam 8 track that ran 1/2 tape in my studio. I was always careful to wipe only in the direction of the tape and I’d clean before each studio session. I never saw any build up on those heads.

That’s when I’d put my “smart” phone in the toaster and go dust off the Nokia 3310

Half the bands mentioned in this post are from the 90s - or had their haydays in the 90s.

I got banned from Reddit and I honestly don’t know why. I could get around it, but I took it as a positive thing being Canadian and Reddit being Reddit.

Whatever. I’m here now.

Pop Will Eat Itself in the early 90’s.

Amazing fun shows with tons of energy from the band and the audience.

Full diapers and DMSO (If RFK Jr is present)

Am I right or am I right?

A MacBook lasting longer is irrelevant when a PC can be upgraded for half the cost over the same period.

I’m using the same PC I had in 1998. Sort of.

I’ve been upgrading things as needed. Around 2000 I put it in a 4 unit rack mount server case - which will pretty much hold anything I need. The motherboard and CPU have been upgraded 5-6 times. New power supply here and there. Old drives are moved to storage drives and I install faster newer drives for OS from time to time.

I have no idea how much I’ve saved just upgrading things as needed or if something fails.

I have a smallpox scar on the back of my arm and I didn’t even know it was there.

We got the shots in school and I have faint memories of the Jet Injector. Most scars of people my age are on the side of the arm up near the shoulder. I didn’t have one so for years I assumed I didn’t get the vaccine or my memory of it was wrong.

Then one day in the shower my girlfriend pointed it out. It’s around the backside of the arm and hard to see in a mirror - but it’s there.

I feel kind of special having it as it isn’t that common these days.

I’m the same age. I never knew anyone who had measles EXCEPT older people who told stories of it. I never knew anyone who had it whilst I knew them.

On the flip side, we attended chickenpox parties to get infected. Of course this was before the vaccination and knowing more about Shingles. All the folklore knew was one you get chickenpox, you never get it again and it’s better to have it as a child than adult.

Hang the pizza flag upside down just to make the point clear.

I think I agree with most comments here.

He’s usually right and I agree with him, I just find him a little hard to watch. His videos are a bit long winded.

I 100% support him. I think his heart and mind are in the right place.

I lost interest after the first Iron Man movie.

Oregonos sounds like part of a complete breakfast.

You can download all the old Netscapes here - http://home.mcom.com/archives/

I found Mosaic 1 here - https://winworldpc.com/product/ncsa-mosaic/1

Going from Netscape 1 to Netscape 2 which supported animated gifs. What a day that was!