Episode 167 - The Tape That Unwound Itself

Have you ever had a computer do something you can't explain? Have you ever thought a machine had a mind of its own? In 1971 Met Life was faced with this exact conundrum. Their tape drives, for some reason, were throwing tape all over the floor every night. Systems were checked and no flaws were found, but every morning an operator would walk in on an absolute mess. What could make a healthy machine spit up it's precious tape?

You can listen to Episode 167 - The Tape That Unwound Itself online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 167 - The Tape That Unwound Itself is an episode from Advent of Computing by Sean S Haas.

This episode is 27:25 long.

This episode was published on Oct 12, 2025.

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