Magnetic stripe/card reader/writer?

[codered11343]

Hi,

I just wanted to know if anyone had used or has any exprence with magnetic stripe reader/writers? Specifically the sup $200 ones that you can find on eBay.

I have been thinking about getting one for some time now, but I have never used one and just want to get other peoples take on them.

What I want to use it for is to make copies of paper magnetic cards. The type that you might get from a parking garage for example.

[PointyOintment]

Sub-$200 ones?? Are they significantly better than this $45 one?

[Hardcorefs]

Sub-$200 ones?? Are they significantly better than this $45 one?

Er yep,
 Because that link is for a READER, good luck on getting it to be a writer.


Expect to pay about $5-10US not including shipping… for a multi format reader, writers are more expensive depending on the formats.

So…

1. Identify the FORMATS you want to read/write
2. Identify suitable product.


HC

[PointyOintment]

Sub-$200 ones?? Are they significantly better than this $45 one?

Er yep,
 Because that link is for a READER, good luck on getting it to be a writer.

Right.
SparkFun used to carry a writer; I just searched, found that, and thought it was what I was looking for.

[dfmischler]

What I want to use it for is to make copies of paper magnetic cards. The type that you might get from a parking garage for example.

About 30 years ago I wrote some software for devices that used Diebold banking-class motorized magstripe reader/writers.  I later worked for a company who used a variety of paper and plastic magnetic tickets and cards (e.g. NYC MTA, Washington Metro, BART, London Underground, something in Brisbane, Singapore, etc.).  I even think they did a parking lot system at one point.  So I have a general understanding of the recording methods, what might/should go on a stripe, etc.

Beware that paper parking/transit tickets may not use media of the same magnetic coercivity as ABA (ISO/IEC 7811-2) magstripes.  Also, while ABA magstripes are F2F encoded there are also MFM encoded stripes out there for purposes that do not need interchange.  Track positions from the edge of the card can also be varied.  And there are other encoding tricks that can make it difficult for off the shelf equipment to read/modify/write proprietary stripe formats.

An article on attempting to reverse engineer the NYC MetroCard appeared in "2600: The Hacker Quarterly" some years ago, and this ancient web page seems to be based on that article.  There is certainly more out there about attempting to hack the MetroCard and other magstripe card/ticket systems.

[Ailsapf]

Hi,

I just wanted to know if anyone had used or has any exprence with magnetic stripe reader/writers? Specifically the sup c ones that you can find on eBay.

I have been thinking about getting one for some time now, but I have never used one and just want to get other peoples take on them.

What I want to use it for is to make copies of paper magnetic cards. The type that you might get from a parking garage for example.

Hi, you can go to Syncotek.com to have a look, ask for their online service, it is a wholesaler for magnetic card reader writer in China, i think the price maybe more less than $200, hope this helps!

[Ailsapf]

I update the link, the link is updated on the site.