Price list · effective 1 August 2026
Rates
Published because asking for a quote to find out whether you can afford a thing is a waste of everyone's week. Prices are in US dollars, per side or per item as noted, and include the flat master, an access copy, the item sheet and the condition report.
Transfer
| Source | Unit | Price | Included time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 in open reel, up to 1800 ft | side | $42 | up to 45 min of programme |
| 1/4 in open reel, over 1800 ft | side | $58 | up to 90 min |
| 1/2 in four-track | reel | $96 | up to 45 min, four files |
| Compact cassette | side | $26 | up to 60 min |
| Logging cassette, 15/16 ips | side | $34 | up to 120 min |
| Magnetic wire spool | spool | $95 | up to 60 min, untangling not included |
| Lacquer or acetate disc, 7–12 in | side | $55 | two stylus passes |
| Lacquer disc, 16 in | side | $72 | two stylus passes |
| DAT | tape | $34 | full length, error log |
| MiniDisc | disc | $28 | full length |
| Audio CD-R | disc | $14 | two-drive comparison |
Extra work, by the hour
| Work | Rate | Billed in | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restoration (click, hum, hiss, dropouts) | $70/h | 15 min | Always a second file; master untouched |
| Wire untangling | $70/h | 15 min | Estimated after inspection, before work |
| Splicing and leader replacement | $70/h | 15 min | First three splices per reel are free |
| Deep cataloguing (detailed content log) | $52/h | 30 min | Beyond the standard head-and-tail sheet |
| Shell replacement, cassette | $12 | per item | Includes new pressure pad |
Rules that affect the invoice
- Minimum invoice
- $60, so a single cassette costs $60 rather than $26
- Volume
- −10 % from 25 sides in one job, −15 % from 60 sides
- Rush
- +40 %, five business days, two slots a week
- Blank or unplayable
- $12 per item inspected, and we tell you what we found
- Return shipping
- at cost, tracked and insured; we do not mark it up
- Drive
- $0 for jobs over $300; otherwise at cost, or send your own
- Payment
- invoice on delivery, net 15; institutions net 30 with a purchase order
Why there is a minimum
A one-item job costs us the same intake, inspection, alignment check and cataloguing as the first item of a fifty-item job. The minimum is the honest version of a price list that would otherwise have to pretend a single cassette takes twenty minutes.
Two worked examples
Family box, eighteen cassettes
Thirty-six sides at $26 is $936, less 15 % for volume, giving $795.60. Two shells needed replacing: $24. One side was blank: $12 instead of $26, so subtract $14 and its share of the discount. Final invoice $807.50 plus $22 return shipping, delivered in fourteen business days on a drive we supplied at no charge.
Historical society, four lacquer discs and three reels
Eight disc sides at $55 is $440; six reel sides at $42 is $252. Restoration was ordered for the discs only and took 3 h 45 min at $70, which is $262.50. Total $954.50, under the volume threshold, delivered in nineteen business days because one disc needed a third stylus pass that we did not bill.
Quotes hold for sixty days. If we open the box and find the formats are not what the email described, we write to you with a revised figure before playing anything.