Abstract: An apparatus for recording information on a flexible strip or reproducing the information so recorded includes a guide structure for directing a leading end of an oncoming strip, of initially indeterminate curvature, to a self-threading area associated with a take-up reel regardless of strip curvature. The guide structure has an outlet with two or three channels, branching from its inlet, separated by one or two generally wedge-shaped deflectors pointing toward the inlet, the channels being defined by guide rollers establishing points of intersection thereof downstream of the deflector or deflectors.