====== Winding Up Loose Cassette Tape With A Pencil Eraser Before Putting The Cassette In The Deck ======

| **Field** | Audio and Data Casette Tapes |
| **Went Obsolete** | The 1990s |
| **Made Obsolete By** | The Floppy Disk and the Compact Disc |
| **Knowledge Assumed** | Knowing which end of the pencil is the sharp one |
| **When useful** | When you clear out your attic and find boxes and boxes of casette tapes... |

Remember the 8-bit home computers? Remember music on audio casette? If you're of the right age to answer 'oh god yes!' then you'll remember what a nightmare they were to keep safe. The worst aspect of casettes was the fact the spools had no braking or locking system such as the one on VHS casettes that prevents the spools from moving when the casette is out of a player. As such, any vibration or movement, or maybe the fingers of a small sibling, could move the spools and loosen off the tape within.

Problems arise when this is a regular occurance - as the tape starts to play, the loose tape gets wound on first and then the following spool 'jerks' into motion when the loose tape runs out. This can stretch the tape, affecting quality of audio or integrity of data. It is also possible for a very loose tape to become entangled in such a manner that trying to play the casette snaps the tape.

So the solution is a pencil! A regular everyday pencil is just about the right diameter to go through the hole in the spool, but not slip when rotated. So you slip the pencil through (mind that sharp end!), and rotate it in the appropriate direction (clockwise for the left hole, anti-clockwise for the right) until the other spool starts to move as well. This indicates the slack has been taken up