I found an old tape recently that was sentimental but in bad shape. I got out my tiny Philips head screwdriver, opened the case, made repairs, and it works as good as new. One of the little DoodleBobs told me it was so retro that I was playing tapes again.
My process was to make a tape of all my albums upon the first play of that album, then put the album away and just wear out the tape. I beat the daylights out of tape players but my albums are in near mint condition.
