Update: aight, I'm keeping it. Check out my new next gen audio rig 3000:
I cleaned it out and it seems to work fine. The drive belts seem okay: not dry, but maybe a little loose, although the BPM of the music sounds about right. I paid $50 for it.
I have no bloody idea why I'd need it or would want to keep it. I just wanted to try it out, knowing that the store's policy is "no questions asked" if I return it within 30 days. Also, retro is fun...?๐คฃ
My one remaining tape is a mix I recorded in my late teens, put together to ruin other people's parties. One or two dance songs, then a burst of death metal, then some more pop before whatever schlager or polka BS I could find in my parents' collection. And so forth for 90 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, nobody would let me near the stereo at parties after a while, and joke's on me. I'm stuck with the Tape of Terror all those years later ๐คฃ
It might be fun to compose mix tapes again, but you'd have to find other cassette deck owners to share them with.