Reel to reel deck -Talk me in or out of buying

I cannot agree with the opinion tape would not last. I have 300+ TDK, REVOX, BASF and other tapes, all on heavy 26" metal reels - along with 2 STUDER studio machines: no prob whatsoever! What do you think radio stations and record companies store most of their stuff on?!
I can sympathise with you, Kublakhan - RTR has its own charm. The fact that you can't find certain spots on the tape in decent time is no argument, because you want to play the whole tape from beginning to end anyway. You can cut and paste in the real world, not only on a computer screen and after all it can sound pretty good! The only argument I can see against is that you don't have any tapes. There are no prerecorded tapes around so you would have to make your own archive first - and that can last a life long! Good luck!

I can't improve much on what Dopogue said:
*Reel-to-reel tape is the ultimate hair shirt medium.*

Except to say, ALL tape decks break. Repeat that about 100 times: ALL TAPE DECKS BREAK. Even cassette decks. If you like the idea of schlepping a 50-100 lb. 20-30 y.o. RTR deck every so often for repairs (to where?), you'll love an old Revox or Tandberg, or Tascam.

On the other hand, I've also found that "all CD players break". I just spent 2 hours packing up my 36 lb. $3000 CD player to ship for a minor repair, & for today I've almost sworn off CD players for TT's.

Ever seen the scenes in Pulp Fiction with the great pad with Uma Thurman working the cool looking RTR deck? Tarrentino doesn't put ANYTHING in a movie unless for a reason.

Even if the Revox breaks, or doesn't work out, there will probably be an even more crazed audio nutcase out there to sell it to.....

I'm enjoying all the comments here, but makes it more difficult, waiting for my fully restored Ampex 351 to be completed.

Mine will have a custom CNC machined head block to accommodate both half and quarter track playback. Also interchangeable to half track record / play.

YES, it is all tube circuit :^).

cool images of Ampex

Scroll down to 7th and 8th images for great shots of some restored 351's. This is not the guy restoring mine but both he and this guy are at the top of the heap for this type of work.

Every time someone shows up at CES or THE Show with an Ampex 351 as source, visitors break out into big grins and I've witnessed spontaneous dancing (I'm not kidding). There is something magic about the old Ampex tube machines.

Having had several, I long ago realized that someone could make some serious money by offering a great looking front panel with lights. The rest of the electronic stuff could be eliminated to save weight and cost. The delux model could even have motors to wind and rewind. I know of no one who seriously uses a r to r after the first few times. That said, why not if you can afford it used since you can than resell it when it gathers enough dust. It probably has something to do with "stereo envy" because our mother listened to eight track.

Kkurtis, I would suspect that lots of us use R-R decks on a regular basis. Otherwise, why are all those tapes -- the good ones at least, not the junk -- snapped up at increasingly higher prices on Ebay? I have two Teacs, one with a Dolby capability, and can assure you that they see a lot of service. Dave