EOTO Cassette Tapes (Post #4)

 

    The cassette tape is an Analog media format developed in 1962 by the dutch inventor and engineer Lou Ottens for the Phillips Company in Belgium.  Phillips released the invention to Europe at the Berlin radio show on August 30th 1963 and later it was released in the United States a year later in November. Though people find that its an ancient way to listen to music, it has recently made a comeback in recent years due to mainstream artists (such as Billie Eilish, Beyonce and Twenty one pilots) have taken a part in the cassette tapes revival, uploading their most recent albums on the little plastic device as a tribute to the technology that has shaped modern music.

    This little device became the standard audio format from the late 1970s to the early 90s after the first portable cassette tape players were made available to the general public to record, share and play music on the go conveniently. It first became popular due to its size, which is notably smaller than a pack of cigarettes with a capacity for significant data storage, which made it incredibility portable and excellent for pre-recorded music. Speaking of the portability of the cassette tape, the Sony Walkman made it even easier for avid-music enjoyers. This was a small, mobile and inexpensive handheld device that allowed people to listen to cassette tapes and AM/FM radio with headphones.  This was able to change the game when it came to how people listened to their music because it combined the idea of letting people listen to pre-recorded music and the radio on the go on a singular device. 

    Another major invention that changed the game for cassette tapes was the invention of the boombox. Portable, but significantly larger than a Sony Walkman, it contained one or two decks that not only let you play a cassette tape, but let you record as well. This became a historical part of Hip-Hop culture, as the music was used for breakdancing while the recording feature was used for rapping, being able to create inexpensive "demos" for aspiring rappers and DJ's.

 

Although a small, convenient device, there is a process when it comes to assembly of a cassette tape and how the small disc works. The cassette holds two small spools inside a plastic exterior. These spools wind the magnetic-coated film and pass it from one side to the other. This magnetic film is where the audio content is stored and can be recorded on a cassette tape . Before the cassette was the tedious method of reel-to-reel audio, a method of recording and playing back audio using magnetic tape spooled on open reels. This was difficult to use and often required training to be able to do, so mostly professionals had access to it instead of just the general public. When cassette tapes became available, which did all the dirty work for the average person, they were absolutely revolutionary for the reasoning of being easy, small, fun and had no training required to handle.

    While the original purpose was not for music, but instead for diction, it still remained a popular tool for both sides of the spectrum. Over the cassettes main lifespan from 1963-1990, more than 3 billion tapes were sold. The only downside of this piece of historical technology is the magnetic tape inside an audio cassette only last for 10-30 years, which is why digitalization is so important. 

    Although they weren't all sunshine and rainbows, a lot of people also hated the idea of cassette tapes. Campaigns such as "home taping is killing music" in the 1980's became apparent due to piracy becoming a big issue when it came to the tapes.  Attempts to scare people out of piracy of copying vinyl albums or radio shows onto these tapes were unsurprisingly due to the sheer convenience of the tapes being so easy to pirate these music and radio shows. By 1983, pre-recorded cassettes were beginning to outsell vinyl records. Although the music companies were worried about the drop in sales due to piracy (hence the anti piracy campaigns), they loved the idea of selling the one product across two formats. In a way to stop piracy and boost sales in both formats, some releases would feature additional material on the cassette version and cassette singles would often feature songs not available in the other formats being sold.

    Although these pieces of historical technologies lived a long life, by 1987 CD's, which contained almost the same benefits of the cassette tape with a much higher audio quality began killing the trend of cassette tapes. The cassette single remained to stay alive until the mid 90s, but eventually diminished until Sony stopped the production of the Walkman in 2010.

ALL OF MY SOURCES WHERE I GOT MOST OF THIS INFORMATION, check these out if you're interested :)  -

Important cassette tape information

More information + how they work

How the cassette is made

More about the campaigns and piracy

Little bit more about the piracy and how they fixed the issue