Tape trading is a method of exchanging recorded media between groups of people. The most common types of tapes used for trading are audio cassette tapes and videocassette tapes. Tape trading was more common before the advent of digital technology, but the practice has persisted despite advancements in audio and video tape technology. Because tapes degrade over time, traders prize tapes that have been copied fewer times.
Tapes have been used to trade a variety of items. Among the most commonly traded items are live music, independently produced music, demo recordings, television shows, cartoons, and films. Tape trading is common among groups of people who share a common interest, such as a particular style of music, a particular musical group, or a particular cartoon or television show. One group might trade video tapes of old late-night talk shows, while another might trade live metal music shows.
People frequently trade tapes in one-to-one ratios, swapping one tape for another. Although it is common to trade one tape for another, some people prefer to use other methods. The important aspect of tape trading, regardless of the method used, is that no money is exchanged. Tape trading is frequently seen as a charitable activity, and many tape trading communities consider selling tapes to be inappropriate.
In tape trading, trade lists are a common feature. Individuals can compile lists containing all of their tapes and make them public or give them to people they want to trade with. A trader can either initiate a trade looking at other people’s lists or wait for other traders to contact them about items they want.
Audio cassettes and videocassettes degrade in quality over time, which is one of the drawbacks of trading tapes. Even with the best equipment, the quality of a tape is degraded with each copy. A generation is the number of times a tape is copied. As a result, many people are looking for low-generation audio or video tapes, which are usually of higher quality than tapes that have been copied multiple times.
Trading can take place solely between two people or between larger groups of people. Groups of like-minded people are sometimes formed to list what they have to trade and find others who have media they don’t have. Tape trading can also be done in a structured manner. The method in which the tape’s creator provides a copy to a few people who then provide copies to another small group of people is a popular way to organize trades for a large group. The trades continue to branch out until the tape is in the hands of the entire large group.