I've heard over and over to only use the same brand of tape in your camera to prevent head clogging. My question: if I take the tape from my camera and play it in someone else's deck can the tape itself get "contaminated"?

My situtation: I take some of my tapes to school where the students use whatever brand of tape they prefer, so the decks being used are fed every tape out there. Is it possible that I can damage my camera if i put the tape back in it after it has been in the "public" deck?

Thanks for any info.

Rick,
I'm not sure that anyone really knows with certainty. It's logical that if there's contamination (accumulated gook) on a deck's heads some of it might become deposited on the tape. However, because the tape is the element in motion I would imagine that it's far more likely that the tape would contaminate the heads.

But, again, I just do not know. Just speculating.