Anyone into cassettes?

Speaking of the pressure pads falling off there are some very informative YouTube videos that explain how to reattach the little feller or in case It went Missing in Action how to replicate the felt pad and attach it. I have reattached five of the felt pads in the last few months. It's a piece of cake.

Good advice Geoff :)
I lost one of those pads recently and never did manage to find it - it vanished completely!
Don't think the cassette itself is too critical or fussy about the attachment. it doesn't have to be symmetrical just reasonably aligned and as long as it barely covers the edge of the tape.
DG always used massive pads. (They take no chances ;^)
Even if they did become loose you'd probably never know as they're wedged between the top & bottom of the housing

It's cost effective to salvage or transcribe those old tapes (digital transcripts are surprisingly successful at capturing the essence of the tape recording - and I say this as an analogue die-hard). The level of musical involvement & insight gleaned from these old tapes is incredibly rewarding.

(Just try costing replacement CDs on the net. For the rare ones you could be looking at hundreds of $$$/£££ per item. You are absolutely right. Salvage is well worth the effort)
All the best!

Thrift stores are a great source of premium quality tapes ... used of course. Just make sure the tapes aren't broken, then use a tape erasure (available at Radio Shack). I use the large eraser intended for VCR tapes. As a side benefit, you can also use the tape erasure to demagnetize your CDs to reduce the digital grain. If you buy the used tapes, just for fun, take a listen to what was recorded on them by the previous owner. Its amazing what crap people record and listen to .. even on the premium tapes.

I'd better mention the finest cassette machine ever made the Studer Revox B***studio..(before it we used the Nakamichi decks) the thing is crystal clear and smokin with those great TDK XG tapes.

It really is amazing how good a well recorded cassette sounds considering how slow the tape moves. A good vinyl record recorded from a high end system onto a cassette tape can sound amazing.