It's not exactly tales that may be recorded (5)
I believe the answer is:
tapes
'exactly tales that may be recorded' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'it's not' is the wordplay.
'it' becomes ''t' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis).
'not' becomes 'apes' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
't'+'apes'='TAPES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tapes that I've seen before include "Records - strips of material" , "Bands of fabric" , "Long thin pieces of cloth or paper" , "Recordings" , "Magnetic strips for recording" .)