We actually some Beatles Reel-To-Reals, they sounded so good compared to even LPs or Cassettes back then. We had the one that would automatically reverse the tape after 10 seconds of silence, so there was no need to flip over the tape and respool.
Nice when you're playing back. My deck senses a little piece of metallic tape and reverses; recording or playing back. But still this takes two or three seconds.
ML/NJ