tapes
Lot of 50 used blank (i.e. recorded on) cassette tapes on ebay for $40. It almost seems like it would be worth it just to see what's on them, like a treasure hunt; especially since the ones with visible labels have exciting titles like "hammered dulcimer" and "sunrise balloon adventure"
Except these are almost certainly Church tapes. That's the only place tapes would've been used as recently as 2013, they're shipped from Tennessee, and "sunrise" is spelled "son rise", which has to be a Jesus thing. Oh well. Hammered Dulcimer music is pretty, at least. I've heard them played, I'm sure, but I didn't know that's what they're called https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMPFaKpF1SM
tapes
@matt I have the exact same compulsion. 90% of the unlabeled tapes I find are 80's music dubs, but I have found one ancient radio news program, and a few self recorded oddities.
tapes
@matt the mention of hammered dulcimer made me think of a guy I haven't thought of in years, a hammered dulcimer player named Dana Hamilton that I saw at various events when I was a kid. We first saw him at the Folklife Festival in San Antonio, a fair with food and music and crafts from around the world, then later at Scarborough Faire, the DFW renfaire, and I think one or two other times. He's really damn good. https://youtu.be/K2t_AgbcSdE
tapes
@matt that video appears to have been taken at the Evart, Michigan Dulcimer Festival, which I didn't know was a thing five minutes ago but makes perfect sense as the place you'd find him
tapes
For a while I was buying wire recorder spools, lots of families documenting themselves.
tapes
I kept buying blank cassettes new in packages when I found them, but since I've yet to use one I made myself stop.
tapes
Here's another lot of 50 for $35, shipped. The listing says they're all recorded on, but they're all completely unlabeled. Nothing on the tapes themselves or the J-card, not even a date. Who does that?!
Probably also a church. I have all these lofty fantasies of buying a bunch of random tapes and discovering weird old local radio shows and cool music I was previously unaware of, but probably every single one of these is nothing but church tapes