Saying it did so with “very mixed emotions,” Quantegy Recording Solutions is discontinuing its magnetic tape product lines.
They include 406/407/408 and 456/457 tapes, DAT, ADAT and other audio, video and instrumentation lines. In its statement, the company noted that Quantegy/Ampex Recording Media has been manufacturing magnetic tape for pro recording markets for six decades. Ampex spun that part of its business off in the 1990s and the spinoff became Quantegy.
The company has changed pricing immediately, quoting the cost of production; it said it will accept orders through Feb. 28 on those lines and fill them by the end of April. “All customers are encouraged to place final orders as soon as possible to secure allocation of limited production time for this make-to-order period,” it stated.
“The same technological forces that brought us magnetic tape have in turn brought us new
technologies that have supplanted many of the markets Quantegy Recording Solutions once served,” COO Frank Foster wrote in a public letter to customers. “The net result of this technology shift is the decline in the demand for magnetic tape in these professional markets.”
“We have to face the current role that tape plays in the industry,” Foster wrote.
The list of discontinued lines is here.
