The Evolution of the Cassette Player

The compact cassette is considered by most to be a relic of the past. Some members of the generations of today may not even know what it is! But once upon a time, the cassette was a technological marvel that many considered the pinnacle of music listening technology. Before the compact cassette was introduced by Dutch technology company Philips in 1962 many different inventors had experimented with the concept of audio recording in this manner. The first of these accounts is dubbed the Magnetophone. Developed in 1932 by AEG it was a reel-to-reel tape recorder based on the magnetic tape which was invented by Fritz Pfleumer in 1928. It was relatively expensive and difficult to use however, and was therefore generally used only by professionals in radio stations and recording studios.

Next came the RCA tape cartridge in 1958. However it was doomed to fail due to its bulkiness and limited selection of pre-recorded tapes.

Finally in 1962 Philips invented the compact cassette. Though earlier models were used simply for dictation due to poor audio quality, they spiked in popularity during the 70s and 80s due to the introduction of high fidelity cassettes and players. Cassette players not only impacted the way in which we listen to music, it even managed to get more underground rock and punk music behind The Iron Curtain, influencing younger Russian generations. It took a sharp decline after the 80s due to the increasing popularity of CDs. With new innovations arriving everyday the compact cassette has faded into obscurity but is still remembered as a crucial breakthrough in the pursuit of easy, portable music listening.📷

-Matthew Delainey

Sources:

-https://southtree.com/blogs/artifact/the-convenience-of-the-cassette

-https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-history-of-the-cassette-tape

-http://vintagecassettes.com/_history/history.htm

#RecordingHistory #MusicHistory #MusicEducation