Abstract: Slave cassettes each including a slave tape and having a peripheral groove are stacked in a first station. Gripping fingers movable into the grooves in the forward cassette and the next cassette grip the forward cassette. During the pivoting of the cassette to a second station, a cover on the cassette is pivoted to expose the slave tape. At the second station, threading arms are moved from retracted to extended positions. The cassette and the threading arms are then moved to a third station planar with a pinch roller which is displaced from the capstan. The threading arms are then retracted to dispose the slave tape on the capstan. With a master tape on the pinch roller, the pinch roller is moved to a position abutting the capstan. The pinch roller and capstan are then rotated to transfer the image on the master tape to the slave tape such that the image beginning is at the slave tape beginning.