I always thought these BASF Chrome Extra tapes had a very strong & distinctive freshly ‘new’ smell to them once opened. I only ever used them for recording from pirate radio stations. I much preferred the Maxell tapes for audio quality though, they were always my go to tapes for that special recording of one’s favourite music.
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Big Maxell fan, back in the day, tape of choice was the XLII, still have a few knocking about as well as my only purchase of the TDK MA-R 90, which if memory serves me right, cost the grand sum of £4.99.
Happy days.
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Can you please stop posting photos of unopened blank cassettes!!! its torture…if there was one piece of Hifi kit I have ever regretted selling, its my cassette decks, I need to sit down with a stiff drink.
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You’re lucky i can’t find my box of unopened TDK SA cassettes then 
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There’s something about opening a blank tape, placing it in your deck, hitting the record button, then afterwards, putting back in its case, and thinking to yourself, I did that, recording to a hard drive, SSD, phone or whatever your choice my be, just doesn’t give the same buzz, call it old age.
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You forgot the pencil wind to take up the lead in. 
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Anyone recall That’s cassettes?
I used them alot as I got boxes at trade price when I worked in retail.
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Just remembered, I had two tape winders…going to have to dig these out, stuff you keep…
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I do recall being part of some members club where you would get a cassette (pre-recorded) each month and then send it back after a period of time when another would arrive. Seem to recall getting Workingman’s Dead but cant remember anything else
Yep, think so, triangular design to the case IIRC??
Yes, I still have lots of sealed NoS That’s cassettes, mostly FX type I and MRX Pro Metals. Made by Taiyo Yuden, they were originally branded as Teac cassettes before become That’s in the U.K. and Triad in the US. They were sold exclusively through proper HiFi shops, IIRC.
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Thanks Richard. They were very popular I recall. People liked alternative to TDK and BASF.
Yes, they definitely took advantage of Maxell’s gradual decline from the mid eighties onwards - a great shame as the quality of Maxell tape was head and shoulders above the rest throughout the 1970s into the early '80s. You can still re-record on a mid '70s UDXL and get a good result, something I wouldn’t even attempt with any other brand of the same period, even TDK.
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I seem to recall when they were introduced into the UK, the manufacturer was finding an outlet for some byproduct metals or materials from capacitor manufacturing.
That’s it!
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I remember buying my blank cassettes from a record shop on Botanic Avenue in Belfast in the late 80s.
They were a franchise or agent for a retail brand I think was called TopTape. (Used to advertise in WhatHiFi). They used to carry a wide range of brands and tapes at good prices.
I had to google it, but do remember the brand, Like @Richard.Dane it was Maxell for me, I always found that TDK SA’s were hissy, thought Maxell UDXL I were good too especially for use in the car, Walkmans etc, this has certainly got the old brain cells working 
