"Paul W. Schleck" <pschleck@oasis.novia.net> wrote in message news:470901cc$0$299$540ea2cf@novia.net... [snip] > I don't know a lot of detail about the economics of this, particularly > at the bulk/wholesale level, but I wonder if switching to CD-R's would > be a reasonable alternative at this point. At retail at least, I > observe that spindled CD-R's are about as cheap, if not slightly less > so, than cassette tapes. CD players with headphones are approaching > $10-$15 at box retailers, and CD-capable drives are ubiquitous in most > households that have either PC's or DVD players, so this shouldn't be a > hardship for the listeners, either. I recall a CBS "60 Minutes" piece > about NetFlix, where they determined that a DVD could be mailed in a > simple flat envelope inexpensively, and the odds of accidental breakage > was low enough, that it was cheaper over large quantities to send it > that way and just send a replacement for the occasional broken disc. > CD-R's mailed that way would at least be under the 1/4" limit, and would > save the extra postage. > > There would be the need to set up CD burning equipment, but most > standard PC's seem to already come with CD burners, and are not that > expensive to buy separately. Whatever investment in new equipment by > both sender and receiver would appear to be quickly offset by the saved > postage multiplied over many bulk mailings. > > Is one possible issue that the recipients like to reuse the cassettes? > If so, then going to CD-RW's might be an option if they are not > cost-prohibitive. One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it) is that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them. He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The trouble is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Those stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are exhausted they won't be having any more. What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?) will do then is anybody's guess. 73 Ivor G6URP

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@despammed.invalid> schreef in bericht news:5mtvnqFfa4qiU1@mid.individual.net... > "Paul W. Schleck" <pschleck@oasis.novia.net> wrote in message > news:470901cc$0$299$540ea2cf@novia.net... > > [snip] > > > I don't know a lot of detail about the economics of this, particularly > > at the bulk/wholesale level, but I wonder if switching to CD-R's would > > be a reasonable alternative at this point. At retail at least, I > > observe that spindled CD-R's are about as cheap, if not slightly less > > so, than cassette tapes. CD players with headphones are approaching > > $10-$15 at box retailers, and CD-capable drives are ubiquitous in most > > households that have either PC's or DVD players, so this shouldn't be a > > hardship for the listeners, either. I recall a CBS "60 Minutes" piece > > about NetFlix, where they determined that a DVD could be mailed in a > > simple flat envelope inexpensively, and the odds of accidental breakage > > was low enough, that it was cheaper over large quantities to send it > > that way and just send a replacement for the occasional broken disc. > > CD-R's mailed that way would at least be under the 1/4" limit, and would > > save the extra postage. > > > > There would be the need to set up CD burning equipment, but most > > standard PC's seem to already come with CD burners, and are not that > > expensive to buy separately. Whatever investment in new equipment by > > both sender and receiver would appear to be quickly offset by the saved > > postage multiplied over many bulk mailings. > > > > Is one possible issue that the recipients like to reuse the cassettes? > > If so, then going to CD-RW's might be an option if they are not > > cost-prohibitive. > > One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it) is > that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle > CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely > physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD > from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of > physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but > he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing > up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them. > > He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them > onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his > own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The trouble > is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Those > stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are exhausted > they won't be having any more. > > What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?) > will do then is anybody's guess. !. there must be huge stockpiles of cassettes at institutions or private housholds who used them. They are not blank, but can be used. The only problem is to find them before they are thrown away. In Holland you can find hundreds of them in recycling stores. 2. second solution is to find another way of packing the CD. No jewel box but paper or plastic sleaves or something else? MRE

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@despammed.invalid> wrote in message news:5mtvnqFfa4qiU1@mid.individual.net... > > One thought that occurs to me (because I have personal experience of it) > is that some disabled people may actually not be able to physically handle > CD's. I know this because my brother is one of them. He is severely > physically disabled, has cerebral palsy and simply cannot pick up a CD/DVD > from its case and put it into a player. He can just about, with a lot of > physical effort, put a cassette into a tape player and set it running, but > he has a lot of difficulty manipulating the controls and is always chewing > up tapes due to continually stopping/starting/winding them. > > He is a big fan of classical organ music and we buy him CD's and copy them > onto cassettes for him, but as he is constantly (through no fault of his > own) destroying them, we have to re-record them every so often. The > trouble is, blank cassettes are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. > Those stores that do still stock them say that when their stocks are > exhausted they won't be having any more. > > What my brother and people like him (surely he can't be the only one..?) > will do then is anybody's guess. > > 73 Ivor G6URP > > Ivor , Here is a possible solution. I use a Sony DVD "Disk Explorer". My old model holds 200 disks. It will play audio CD's, MP3's, WMA, DVD, Video CD,s etc. They make/made a newer model that holds 300 disks. I know these units can be cascaded via jacks on the back of the units. I bet there are similar audio CD only units out there. Once loaded with disks, the disks never need to be touched again. 73, Ace - WH2T .