Most people don't realize that tapes have a finite life span. Even one that doesn't get played will go bad over time. Toss a box of VHS tapes into your garage, attic, or anywhere else with wide temperature fluctuations and they WILL go bad just sitting there. How fast they go bad depends on the quality of the manufacturer. The adhesive that binds the magnetic material to the tape gets brittle, and you begin to lose the magnetic material. First they get "noisy" video. Eventually, they get so bad they won't track no matter how good your machine is. If you have something you really want to keep "forever", transfer it to a quality DVD and store the DVD properly.