Thanks for the off forum troubleshooting.
I think at this point, the program I was trying to get working just isn't going to work.
I recorded a copy of Crystal Caverns and I was able to load it pretty consistently.
I'm going to try others to confirm it's just the one I was trying before that didn't work. If that's the case, then I'll just record that one on the tape deck I used before and move on with life