Bleah Tape Recorders!

I have an adversarial relationship with tape recorders. By that, I mean I hate them. Twice in my life, I have attempted to use tape recorders in interview settings for articles I was writing. After all, isn't that what journalists do? I don't really know, since I sort of stumbled into the journalism thing by accident; I wasn't trained for it, and I don't really consider myself a journalist despite the inclusion of my name on the masthead of a local newspaper in my town. But the point is that both times I have attempted to actually appear journalistic (look, I have a tape recorder, therefore I must be a journalist!), the tape recorders in question failed me.

Just now, for instance, I tried to play back an interview I did last week, and here's what I heard on the tape: nothing. Now that's going to come in useful.

Thankfully, I took notes because I don't trust tape recorders. But still, it's the principle of the thing. I know that I am technologically challenged at times (despite the fact that I work in a computer store--oh the irony), but surely tape recorders aren't really that difficult to operate? You put a tape in and hit "record." I mean, honestly.