Reorganization of the Tape Project

[High and Outside]

Now that Dan & Eileen are retiring, some of you are curious about the way the company will be moving forward.

Romo and I, with some help, will be keeping it all going, and expanding as we go. We will use the forum to post the details as they develop.

By mid-January all the parts of the operation that have been done in Bainbridge Island will be relocated to our facilities in the Bay Area, and we will be packaging and shipping from here. The duping is already done here.

A lot of our most popular titles already show as Out-Of-Stock on the website, but that is just temporary while we transition. They have been duplicated, and will be packaged and ready for shipping right away. The current release--Mozart Piano Concertos--is already arriving on our subscribers' doorsteps. It will be available for everyone to order very shortly after we complete the move. Then we get to work on to our next title.

We will post the new customer service phone number in this thread as soon as it is operational. For the time being, any questions that you don't get answered here on the forum can be emailed to paul at tapeproject dot com.

[astrotoy]

Paul, thanks for the update.  We'll look forward to the successful transition. The old timer subscribers can remember (if we still have that facility) when everything was done in the Bay Area. 

Larry (#45)

[xcortes]

Thanks for the update Paul,

I already got the Mozart so am only down to the last of Series three. I guess it's time to start saving for new releases (series or individuals, depending on how the new TP evolves). Do please keep us posted.

[c1ferrari]

HNY Paul and TP!

Success going forward.:-)

-Sam / 46

[ironbut]

As others have said, continued success!
You guys have set a very high bar and it's great to see the newer companies strive to meet the challenge.

Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

[astrotoy]

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Chad Kassem has given you the highest compliment. At the RMAF show panel (where Romo participated and got a big hand of applause for the TP), Chad said that he basically copied the TP when he was setting up his new Ultra Tape Series.  Having received his first two tape releases, I can say that the packaging, the two reel albums, much of the copying chain using the Ampex ATR-100 series machines, and even the pricing follows the lead of the TP.  I can only see Chad's entry providing a major new source of tapes, and a larger base of tape owners who then will be potential new customers for TP.  I know over the past two weeks, I sold both my BH modified Technics and my Otari MX5050BIII-2 to two audiophiles who have been thinking about getting into tapes. So there are two potential new customers(a dentist and a retired surgeon) for the TP.  Don't worry - I now own two ATR-102's and my wife said for every new one, an old one had to go!

Larry   

[TomR]

Larry, you're probably ahead of the game having two ATRs!

[High and Outside]

The new customer service phone is now set up: 415-522-0108.

But email is still better in some ways, so use that if it fits your question. For now, use info at tape project dot com.

[High and Outside]

All the stuff from the Bainbridge Island office has now been transferred to our undisclosed location in the Bay Area, and the elves are hard at work setting things up.

A few of the Out-Of-Stock titles will be showing back up in the next few days, with more coming soon, until everything is back in stock.

Shipping will not be quite as fast for a while. We were proud that we were able to ship the same day as the order was received, or the next day if it came in later in the day. We are working to get back to that level, but for now there might be a couple of days delay in shipping.

Thanks for your patience during the transition. There are a lot of moving parts in the process. If that hasn't been evident, it's because Dan and Eileen had it running so smoothly. We'll get back to that point, soon we hope.

[High and Outside]

Here's a quick update.

We have all the parts of the company now located back in the Bay Area. We have been shipping orders as they come in. We have also been duping both new and older titles, and we have lots of them on the shelf. They are not currently in inventory on the website, but only because we are still getting all the packaging worked out. Specifically we are waiting on just one small part: the gold foil labels that go on the spine of the slipcases. The supplier of the blank label sheets sent us the wrong version, and we are waiting for them to get us the right one. This is one of the most frustrating parts of being a manufacturer--being dependent on many suppliers who each may have their own issues with delivering their piece of our puzzle. But we just have to roll with it and keep moving forward. It looks like this will get resolved in about three weeks, and then  we will have the shelves full again.

[xcortes]

Paul,

When do you expect to release #30 and ship it to suscribers? And from then it's individual title purchasing right?

Thanks & saludos

Xavier

[High and Outside]

Paul,

When do you expect to release #30 and ship it to suscribers?

Certainly before summer, but we haven't scheduled an actual release date yet. 

And from then it's individual title purchasing right?

Right, Xavier. We have outgrown the Series model. We have so many titles available, and so many new customers coming in, that it makes more sense for people just to order what they want from the whole catalog.

BTW charter subscribers will be able to retain their serial numbers.

[High and Outside]

There will be a delay in shipping because...well, because I haven't hired and trained a new shipping person and I have to go away for a bit. You may place orders, and everything will get shipped when I return March 15.

Thanks for your patience.

[High and Outside]

OK guys, little by little, we're getting this ship moving again. There are a lot of details, a lot of moving parts, but we've done it before and there isn't any part of it that we can't do again.

The last subscriber copies of the Istomin/Mozart, TP-029, are shipping to subscribers, and six copies are now in inventory on the website.

We have started to get some of the out-of-stock titles back in stock. We started with TP-025 and the rest will start to show up in inventory over the next week or so.

And we are humming along nicely on TP-030 and several more after that. Look for an announcement about TP-030 in about a month.

[xcortes]

Thanks for the update Paul.