My Elura 100 is almost 2 years old. It worked great until a few months ago when it would rewind the tape a little each time I turned the camera on or off. Today it the the usual rewind thing on power-up, then it said "Remove Cassette". I've tried 50 times, but every time I open the tape door, it sounds like it's rewinding the tape for about 2 seconds, then nothing else happens. I don't want to start prying at the tape housing or anything, but how can I get the tape out of this thing? And is it safe to use again, or will it eat the next tape too? I've got 50 minutes of my kids on there, including my daughter's first steps, so I'd really like to get the tape out in one piece.

FWIW, I've always used the same brand of tapes (Panasonic), since I've heard that it's recommended to not change brands frequently.