I did have reel to reel tapes growing up in the late 70s and 80s. In the 1990s a friend of my transferred all the Beatles US Reel to Reel Tapes to CD and I still have them today. They did have a different sound. In many cases (especially The White Album) tracks were altered in length to fit on the tapes. Also 8 tracks changed track order etc. Thanks for sharing

P.S. - you are lucky finding R 2 R ' s in charity or second hand record shops. Only one i have found/ bought in recent years was a Louis Armstrong album.

Thank you for showing these. I wish CDs would come in sturdy cardboard boxes like that (even if they would take up more space), like the George Harrison albums All Things Must Pass (2001), Brainwashed (2002) or Living in the Material World (2006). They are not as cheap looking as jewel cases and not as easily damaged as digipacks or those stupid cardboard sleeves that are so tight that you can hardly get the CD out.

I’m drooling !

Very good video... When you pulled out the White Album I thought for a second you were showing the 1987 CD version...They look so similar...lol...

Interesting video. I have ' Help' and ' A Hard Days Night" on reel to reel. One box is slightly better than the other. However the appropriate R 2 R i have needs a bigservice so cannot play at present.

The only U.K. Lp not released on Reel to Reel is Yellow Submarine. All other LP’S were released in mono/stereo in plastic jewel cases including Abbey Rd & Let it be in both mono & stereo.

Albums were £1:12 :06d (32/6d) Tapes were £1:15:00d (35/--d) Reissues in plastic Jewel cases 1974 Stereo versions as well

Reel tape could sound good as CD, but they tried to cut costs. So they used 3 ¾ ips and degraded the frequency response. Depending to the machine used for recording and playback it can record up to 15 kHz. About 7.5 ips, they never made the attempt to get higher frequencies than 18 kHz. A 8" reel can hold 540 m of tape, so it could store 45 minutes in half track stereo. But how they did pre recorded reel tapes, they remained in a niche. 8 track cartridges and compact cassettes could take over, because they are portable.

Great video! Loved it. Well done! I just started collecting the occasional reel to reel, and The Beatles are my favorite band. Thanks!

Always loved the reel to reel recorders. Up until 2000 I was using a Fostex 8-track reel-reel. Great sound. Nothing better than analog. I now use a 32 Track digital. Its Ok but, I love the analog sound better. Thinking about picking up a 4 track reel to reel recorder, if I can find one? Back in the 60's my Dad had a Webcor reel to reel. I guess a regular 2 track? But my older brother only bought the Beatles Mono albums on vinyl. Didn't know they sold it in reel to reel tape format? But what did I know, I was 10 yrs old back then 🤩

That takes me back. My first copy of Abbey Road was on 7-1/2" reel, 7.5 IPS (in stereo, of course), US release. I can still (in my mind's ear) hear how great that sounded when it first came out.

I enjoyed that .....just a few things to recap on , some already mentioned by previous contributors.... Magical Mystery Tour was issued as a reel but only in America , .. The white album was also issued in America as a single reel (3 2/3 speed) or as a double reel (7 speed) , totally different sleeve design to ours here in the U.K.. A Collection of Oldies was issued here in the U.K. on a reel. The U.K. Mono Abbey Road and Let it Be were both mearly “fold down” mixes and not dedicated mono mixes . Yellow Submarine wasn’t issued in the U.K. , but it was in the U.S.A. On the U.K. boxes you’ll often see a little pink star rubber stamped onto the back of the box , this was an indication of a “sale or return” credit item for the record shop. Lots of American reels were issued as “2fers” , that is there were two American albums put on the same reel with the sleeves indicating what 2 albums were on there. I believe (?) that late on in the 60’s all the previous reel albums were reissued in the plastic boxes so they ARE about but difficult to find as reels were starting to wain in the U.K. and the chances are if you were into reels then you would have already bought the original a few years earlier so there’s not many about. Just out of interest, where did you manage to pick up your U.K. White album? ...I’ve got the USA version but not the U.K. yet....

Hi Andrew, good video, interesting facts and an extra dimension to Beatles collecting!

So does this mean that Abbey Road was in mono on reel to reel? I've got a lot of Beatles on 8 track but no player so cannot tell if the sound quality is any good.

My stepdad bought me a open reel tape of the Beatles 2nd album & Rubber Soul on one tape..It changed my life.. this was in 1966.. I was 11 & learned how to play the open reel

How do these sound? I’ve been looking out for Beatles Reel to Reel tapes here in the US but I’ve only seen one or two and they always cost a decent amount of money. I still kick myself for not buying the Yesterday... and Today reel I had the chance to buy.

We had reel to reel when I was a kid. Great sound but machines broke all time. I can remember one started smoking.

I formulated a limited release of these