Weird Stuff: Loading a Game from Cassette on an Atari 800XL

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Theshadowsnose

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Published on June 21, 2012 12:22:11 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLQfGr8qsUI

Duration: 5:26

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Loading games from tape was quite common back then here in Europe, especially in the UK. It was always quite a pain to do it, but tapes were much cheaper than disks.
On the Atari it's a special pain. Not only that the computer beeps constantly with most games, it is also very slow. 64k will take about 15 minutes and there is no way to speed it up significantly via software.
The standard loader on a C64 for example takes twice as long, but you can easily speed it up to 5 minutes or even less with a software speeder.
Same thing on the CPC. The default loader is quite fast and you can speed it up via software.
Maybe that's one reason, why the Atari 8-bit never really became popular in Europe/UK