Such is the way of things...

I'm guessing what you found were 1/2 inch 2 track tapes. I used to spend many a happy hour editing on one of those with nothing more than a cutting block, razor blade, sticky tape and a lot of patience.

Those that got into into computer recording after going through the whole old school process certainly have a very high level of respect for the speed and flexibility that the tech brings. :-)

Here's some pretty good articles...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel-t..._tape_recording

Tape editing:-

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~bunce/cutedit.htm

I love my DAW!