How to Erase a Cassette

Some cassettes will stand up to erasure and reuse. Follow these steps with a handheld eraser to do a thorough job.

Completely rewind tapes before starting procedure.

• Hold erasing unit at least three feet away from the cassette and engage the eraser’s power button.
• Start erasing from the far end of the cassette. Pass the center of the erasing unit from one end of the cassette, over the center of it, and to the other end of the cassette in a slow, even motion. The erasing unit should pass through this motion eventually ending up positioned where you started, three feet from the cassette. (Do not erase in a circular motion on the cassette.)
• After the erasing unit has been pulled at least three feet away from the cassette, release the power button.
• One straight pass of the eraser over the cassette will be sufficient if you have followed the procedure correctly. You may need to “spot check” the cassettes by playing them back to confirm the erasure was complete.

The cassette is now demagnetized, or erased, and ready for reuse.This entire procedure can be done in less than five seconds per cassette.

Stationary tabletop cassette erasers have an on/off cycle time which will vary. These times range from one minute on to between 3 and 15 minutes off, depending on the unit's output power.

Be careful not to perform these erasing techniques too close to your store of recorded tapes – the magnetic field of these machine can damage the audio content of nearby tapes.