No problem on the sarcasm.  My tapes are stored in a downstairs
bedroom/office, and the place is air conditioned at roughly 20C all
the time.  The only tapes I have problems with are TK50 and
60mb 1/4 inch.  Everything else seems fine.  Most of the problem
seems to be the oxides stripping off the tapes with use, until they
just won't work anymore.  All of my 60mb 1/4 inch and 95mb TK50
tapes are approaching 15 years of age and older.  I don't have any
"new stock" of the stuff to compare it with, but, I have a hard time
attributing it to storage problems in my hands, since everything
else is fine.  I have no problems with 6250 bpi 9 tracks, but have
had a few problems with 1600bpi 9 tracks becoming unreadable
for the same reasons. My suspicion is that there was a change
in oxides on the tapes when the higher density tapes came out,
and that is the problem.  The same thing happens to older audio
reel tapes.  The oxide literally crumbles off the tape base after
25 years or so.  I suspect the problem will only get worse for
tape archives.  For now, since I mostly only use tapes for booting
old machines, and limited temporary storage, I think I would
hedge my bet to 9 track reels.  Is there a qbus interface that
handles 1/4 inch streamers like the TZK-10?  I have a couple
of those sitting, that could be put to use.

Thanks

Bob