right, after recording about 25min of tape onto the comp, i was going to change tape, open it, tape thingy goes up....wait..wait..*beep beep*, doesnt open :@

anyone know what up? kinda in a hurry to get this stuff edited.

I don't know much about the model, but the firewire connection being active may prevent you from tape swapping. Disconnect it, swap, and try again.