Tape backup prices

To be completely honest I think the main reason the price of tape doesn't accommodate to home use is that they were built specifically for business and corporations that require backing up MASSIVE amounts of data. They are more easily managed (exported and transported) than hard drives so businesses will pay more for the convenience. Home users aren't usually transporting their data to different locations or archiving tapes outside the house. Also, I don't know what you're trying to store but If you're looking at storing multiple terabytes worth of data then you're going to have to pay a great deal no matter what backup solution you go with whether it's disk, hard drive, or tape. If you really are looking for an affordable tape systems I might try these guys out though.

http://www.cpuinc.com

I believe they're a family owned business that sells re-conditioned tape drives and you might be able to get a good deal through them.