Tapes on ZA-Z: Walkman, boombox and a tape deck in every car

ZA-Z's Tapes puts 265 songs on single tapes: every song of ZA-Z FM, plus 91 more that ZA-Z FM doesn't usually play. Drop a tape into a Walkman and only you hear it, into a boombox and everyone near you hears it, or into any car radio. The game's own Premium Technologies radio and CD player take them too. The songs come with the ZA-Z's Tunes mod, which downloads when you join.

#Where do I find tapes?

Tapes turn up where people kept music. The bigger the number, the more often a container holds one when it is first filled.

Boomboxes also sit in bars, classrooms and rec rooms now and then, and sometimes ride in the back of a station wagon or a van. Zombies carry tapes too: about 1 in 200, and 1 in 40 for punks, rockers, guitar players and students. Each tape holds one song, named on the tape: "Tape: AC/DC - Thunderstruck". There are 265 to collect.

#What plays a tape?

Every one of them is also a radio: tune it to 100.0 MHz for ZA-Z FM. A playing tape wins over the station on the same radio.

#How do I play a tape?

1. Hold the Walkman or boombox (or sit in the car) and switch it on. Right-click a Walkman, boombox or radio and pick Device options to open its window; in a car, use the car radio as usual.
2. In the Tape deck part of the window, drag a tape into the slot. It can come straight from a bag, a crate or the glove box.
3. Press Play. The deck shows the song and the time: "PLAYING 1:23 / 3:01".
4. Stop stops it, Eject gives the tape back.

A tape plays its song once and stops. Press Play again to hear it again, or put in another tape.

The second row of the Tape deck works through the tapes you carry loose in your inventory (not the ones in bags): << and >> swap in the tape before or after this one, AUTO puts in your next tape and plays it whenever a song ends, and RDM makes the next tape a random one, each tape once before any comes round again.

You can do all of it without the window too: right-click the Walkman or boombox you hold (or the one you set down, or the car radio from inside the car) and open Tape deck for Turn on, Play, Stop, Eject, Insert tape, Previous and Next.

#Can I carry the boombox on my back?

Yes, under a hiking bag, a big hiking bag or an ALICE pack: it hangs where a bedroll goes, in the bag's bottom slot on your hotbar. It keeps playing there, so you can walk around with the music on. School bags have no bottom slot.

#Can other people hear my tape?

Yes, unless it is in a Walkman. A boombox, a car radio or a radio in your base plays to everyone around it, out to 60 tiles with the volume all the way up and less the lower you set it, and they all hear the same second of the same song. Walk up halfway through and you join the song where it is, not from the start. A boombox you set down is loudest in front of its speakers; a car with its windows and doors shut keeps most of the sound inside.

Music is good for you: every 10 minutes you spend listening to a tape takes a little Unhappiness off.

Zombies hear a boombox, a car radio or a radio the same way they hear any radio that is on. A Walkman with its earbuds in makes no sound they can hear.

#What happened to The Real True Music?

ZA-Z's Tapes replaced it. Nothing you had is lost: the moment you pick up one of its cassettes, it turns into a ZA-Z tape of the same song, a Portable Cassette Player turns into a Walkman (with its tape, battery and headphones still in it), and an old boombox turns into a ZA-Z boombox. A cassette left in a car's tape deck is in the deck, or the glove box, the next time the car is near you. Seven of its songs could not be found again; those tapes turn into a random ZA-Z tape.

Taking the radio out of a car with a tape still in it gives you the tape back first.

See also: ZA-Z FM, Loot, Vehicles and driving.