Hello,
I have had the EXACT same experience of starting out on an Atari 400. I had to work my butt off to buy it and then more work just to get a cassette drive.
Then I programmed the heck out of that computer, storing hundreds of programs to tape.
That was back between 1981-1985.
I kept everything for decades and then tried to load some of those old programs I wrote. Sadly, many were un-readable.
I’m also a developer today and would
happily try to read those tapes and send you whatever is salvageable (or upload to Atariage, or any other site and then return the tapes if you want.
Let me know here or direct email if you’re interested.
Steve
sadevelopers@gmail.com