Probably sounds dumb but I am enjoying TOS/TAS in a new way

[telerites]

I am converting TOS and TAS episodes from .mp4 to .mp3 files and listening to only the audio of the shows. I spend a lot of time with my bluetooth earphone popped in already and wanted a change from podcasts and music.

Like most of us here, I have seen the shows so many times I picture the scenes but just concentrating on the audio is a fun experience for me and I seem to pick up on some dialogue nuances that I missed or just appreciate more this way.

Thanks for letting me share.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Interesting! I wonder what episodes lend themselves the best for audio?

I know it's one of my favourites, but Requiem is dialogue heavy with little action apart from the final fight sequence.

What do others think?

 

[Daddy Todd]

Or, maybe, one of the oldest ways.

Back in the mid-‘70’s, as a teenage Trek fan, I would record the audio off the TV and onto a cassette tape. I had every episode of TOS and some of TAS. I very rarely listened back to these tapes. It was more about HAVING them than actually USING them.

This was before there were VHS or Beta home VCRs. Before even Walkmans to listen to the cassettes. It all went through the tape deck wired to my stereo.

it was literally the only way to preserve any of the episodes back in those days, apart from the Blish and Foster adaptations.

 

[Christopher]

Not so surprising, really. You're recreating what a lot of fans did in the early days before VCRs -- they'd use tape recorders to capture the audio from the TV speakers, just through the air from speaker to microphone, so the quality wasn't that great. But a lot of fans were content to revisit the episodes that way.

Doctor Who fans did this too, which is the only way we have surviving audio from all the episodes that got erased.

For that matter, I still have an LP version of Doctor Who: "Genesis of the Daleks," with cut-down episode audio and added narration by Tom Baker. I imagine similar "audiobook" albums must've been released for other shows over the years.

 

[Forbin]

That's just how I saved the shows back before video tape - I'd hold up an audio tape recorder mic to the TV speaker.

 

[telerites]

Or, maybe, one of the oldest ways.

Back in the mid-‘70’s, as a teenage Trek fan, I would record the audio off the TV and onto a cassette tape. I had every episode of TOS and some of TAS. I very rarely listened back to these tapes. It was more about HAVING them than actually USING them.

This was before there were VHS or Beta home VCRs. Before even Walkmans to listen to the cassettes. It all went through the tape deck wired to my stereo.

it was literally the only way to preserve any of the episodes back in those days, apart from the Blish and Foster adaptations.

Not so surprising, really. You're recreating what a lot of fans did in the early days before VCRs -- they'd use tape recorders to capture the audio from the TV speakers, just through the air from speaker to microphone, so the quality wasn't that great. But a lot of fans were content to revisit the episodes that way.

Doctor Who fans did this too, which is the only way we have surviving audio from all the episodes that got erased.

For that matter, I still have an LP version of Doctor Who: "Genesis of the Daleks," with cut-down episode audio and added narration by Tom Baker. I imagine similar "audiobook" albums must've been released for other shows over the years.

That's just how I saved the shows back before video tape - I'd hold up an audio tape recorder mic to the TV speaker.

Yes I did this too in the 70s. I remember recording Saturday morning cartoons and other shows. I was born in the early 60s and we did not have a lot. When I grew up in the 70s a tape recorder was a luxury out of reach but my dad found one at a garage sale in the middish 70s and I on cloud nine.

We had ST in syndication but I never recorded this.

Apologies for posting and creating the thread. I wasn't trying to presume I had hit on a groundbreaking entertainment experience and instead of taking up board real estate, I am good with having the thread removed.

 

[Christopher]

^No criticism intended -- just the opposite. I was offering examples to show that you're not alone in your appreciation of the audio-only experience.

 

[mb22]

Or, maybe, one of the oldest ways.

Back in the mid-‘70’s, as a teenage Trek fan, I would record the audio off the TV and onto a cassette tape. I had every episode of TOS and some of TAS. I very rarely listened back to these tapes. It was more about HAVING them than actually USING them.

This was before there were VHS or Beta home VCRs. Before even Walkmans to listen to the cassettes. It all went through the tape deck wired to my stereo.

it was literally the only way to preserve any of the episodes back in those days, apart from the Blish and Foster adaptations.

And the photonovels, from 1977 to around 1980.

 

[RAMA]

Wow, so in the early 80s, I just recorded episodes on audiotape, so back to the future!

I am converting TOS and TAS episodes from .mp4 to .mp3 files and listening to only the audio of the shows. I spend a lot of time with my bluetooth earphone popped in already and wanted a change from podcasts and music.

Like most of us here, I have seen the shows so many times I picture the scenes but just concentrating on the audio is a fun experience for me and I seem to pick up on some dialogue nuances that I missed or just appreciate more this way.

Thanks for letting me share.

 

[Noname Given]

Or, maybe, one of the oldest ways.

Back in the mid-‘70’s, as a teenage Trek fan, I would record the audio off the TV and onto a cassette tape. I had every episode of TOS and some of TAS. I very rarely listened back to these tapes. It was more about HAVING them than actually USING them.

This was before there were VHS or Beta home VCRs. Before even Walkmans to listen to the cassettes. It all went through the tape deck wired to my stereo.

it was literally the only way to preserve any of the episodes back in those days, apart from the Blish and Foster adaptations.

As someone who also grew up in the late 1960ies through the 1970ies, this was my exact experience too prior to the time VCRs hit (and the first consumer model VCR were hellaciously expensive, so I didn't have one myself until circa 1982.)

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I listened to my audio tapes of TOS and TAS throughout the 1970s. Along with the drama, I was taking in the music. I can't see doing it now though, with the Blu-rays on hand, plus all the music on CD.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I too audio-taped episodes, back the 1970s. I wore out my tapes! I still have the beats down. I had "Day of the Dove" on last week. I wasn't watching, just listening. I was reeling off the dialog on rhythm as it was playing.

 

[Tosk]

Count me in too. I was an '80s kid, but we didn't have a VCR for a long time so I listened to movies a lot. I couldn't afford many cassettes though, so I had to really stick to my favorites.

 

[johnnybear]

Same here from 1978 onto 1982 when the BBC finished their run of the series for the fifth time I believe! The final episode was Operation:Annihilate and I was recording it on both the audio upstairs and Video downstairs but when i got down the tape was making a weird sound so then ejected it and then reinserted it! On playback it just hadn't taped the picture but I had the episode on from where Spock is telling us about Ingrain B! Years later I copied it and put the beginning of The Alternative Factor onto the start, paused it then let it bleed in from there! Not brilliant but acceptable!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

I was extremely fortunate that I didn't need to hold a microphone up to the TV set, outside of one or two times but upstairs had a portable with a socket which enabled me to connect to my tape recorder and not have any outside noise! As it got older I think it developed a hum but better that than the hollow, tinny sounds of the main television downstairs and my parents coughing and slurping!
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

Wow, the memories of doing this in the 70's when Trek wasin syndication. Even in to the 90's, I would put them on cassette and listen to them as I went around the track or did some yardwork. It's been years since I've "listened" to Star Trek. I may just do this myself for a few episodes.

Maybe I'll even edit them poorly down to 45 minutes just for nostalgia!

 

[Kor]

And the photonovels, from 1977 to around 1980.

And make the experience complete by listening to the audio of an episode while looking through the corresponding photonovel.

Kor

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Similar, but not quite the same... In the 90s, I recorded select music with as little dialogue as was possible, onto tape, as I longed for the original soundtrack to come out back then. One that sticks, is the cue as the Enterprise jumps out of the Tholian's Web. Now, the boxset is my most treasured possession :P

 

[1001001]

Apologies for posting and creating the thread. I wasn't trying to presume I had hit on a groundbreaking entertainment experience and instead of taking up board real estate, I am good with having the thread removed.

There's nothing wrong with this thread, so don't worry about it. Seems like a lot of people have enjoyed your same experience.

 

[Daddy Todd]

And the photonovels, from 1977 to around 1980.

This was several years before the Fotonovels debuted. But, of course, I collected those as well.