Cassette History : A series of fortunate events

[@YodaPagoda]

A lot of my coworkers were former residents of the Soviet Union, and the Compact Cassette was a huge reason those people could get popular music. Tapes would get passed from person to person, recorded and passed off again. It's a pretty interesting story, really. It's how The Scorpions got to fill a stadium in a country that they'd never sold an album in.

[@budgetguitarist]

It is also true that, for a time, you couldn't buy blank tapes in the Soviet Union. It could be a very dangerous way to distribute propaganda... or rock n' roll!

[@Vladimir_Kv]

@@budgetguitarist Lolwut? MK-60 were made by USSR since 1967. They weren't best of quality and were available only in big cities, but that's because of the low supply.

[@budgetguitarist]

@@Vladimir_Kv That's what they taught is in college in our "Politics in the Soviet Union" class. The Kremlin didn't want people to be able to spread propaganda on tapes. I took the course in 1986, so they may have been speaking of the 60's and/or 70's. I'd look up the references, but those textbooks are loooong gone! We are talking about the Cold War in the 80's, and I wasn't actually there, obviously. Maybe the inability to get tapes outside of big cities was misinterpreted by the textbook authors?

[@budgetguitarist]

@@transfo47 I tried to post an article, but KZbin removes any URLs. If you Google "Magnitizdat (USSR)" and click on the link for the Global Informality Project, you can read about how buying unofficial music tapes could land you in jail for three years.

[@ZGryphon]

Samizdat: The Synchro Dub Years

[@michaelhowell7064]

I have watched almost your entire catalogue of videos over the past 1.5 years. Some of them several times over; nixie tube anythings, various VU meters forays, oscillogram thing-a-ma-bobs, plus anything featuring shiny chrome front panels. I think this is one of your best videos ever for several reasons: the respect and politeness you show to your audience by directing our attention to the collaborative effort involved, the amount of collective research you have done, you show real examples of the technology that you *own*, pricing information that puts the past into perspective and the cherry on the cake: your explanation of why the Philip's cassette succeeded when it could just as easily have failed. This video involved years of "hidden" work, which you have brought together in one video. I and I'm sure many others appreciate the astounding amount of effort. I doff my hat to you. Thank you.

[@simonrussell4986]

You may or may not get annoyed in about 6 months when KZbin's 2 year history limit starts recommending these videos again as if you've never seen them. I've rewatched a couple, but for my own sanity I'd rather they all still had a red bar underneath.

[@Nickeles020]

You've got to love Techmoan's audience as well. A lot of people with 'strange' interests, really friendly and appreciating al his hard work.

[@johncip]

Agreed, this is peak Techmoan

[@Jason-Scott]

Almost Is not good enough-Try harder.

[@GadgetAddict]

I don't think there's anyone else on KZbin that could make this interesting, like you do 👍

[@noisetv1863]

Very interesting to hear the history and context surrounding the invention of the cassette tape!

[@pfisherking]

The History Guy could come close, but this is right in Techmoan's sweet spot.

[@firewalker1372]

VWestlife and databits does a pretty good job at this also. They’ve all mentioned each other in previous videos along with LGR. I’ve watched more of Techmoans videos though, he’s got some of the best content on KZbin.

[@TheStOne1]

Databits

[@petermork902]

A tangled tale indeed. I’d be out of breath too.

[@randomnickify]

"I'm sure you have places to be" Neah, sitting on my sofa, sipping my morning coffee while watching saturday Techmoan is exact place I want to be, do carry on :)

[@Blackadder75]

waiting for the F1 qualifying to start (and I have tea instead of coffee, but otherwise you are spot on)

[@KRhythm2013]

Exactly, all my stuff is done for now, so half hour with a toasted sandwich kick back and watch a new video

[@j.harbottle8928]

Yeah, when you get new upload notification for Techmoan, it kinda makes your day !

[@TheEpicAppleEater01]

I love how Techmoan is to the point and him saying that reinforces that he never wants to waste our time. He is dedicated to his passion.

[@Kae6502]

Like several products in your video, I also came out in 1959. In 1971 I asked for a portable cassette recorder for Christmas. In the weeks leading up to Christmas my parents would sing the song "L.A. International Airport" by Susan Raye, which was popular at the time and they would laugh and smile at each other. I didn't get it. When I opened up my cassette recorder on Christmas morning, they told me to press the play button. They had recorded that song off the radio with it! Thank you Mom & Dad, and thank you Techmoan for this wonderful video. :)

[@userPrehistoricman]

So you were born in 1942?

[@enricosanchez894]

@@userPrehistoricman Her story made me cry, your question made me laugh.

[@JustinTimeForParties]

@@userPrehistoricman 1959

[@bramvangansberghe2478]

I had a uncle who worked for Philips Hasselt in Belgium (location where the cassette was developed). His name was Gilbert E. Mestdagh and he was the chief of "mechanical designs". So he was one of the engineers who worked on the compact cassette, his name is even included in the patent.

[@soarornor]

That’s pretty impressive. The cassette is an amazing mechanical device. All the little things they did to make it all work so well and squeeze so much fidelity from 1/8” tape. I’m going through my own cassette revival with the purchase of a refurbished Tascam 112. Beautiful machine. Dragged out all my tapes and I’ve been fascinated with it all. I used to use a stereo cassette machine to master my own recordings so I’ve got lots of them going back many years. Mixed tapes as well. My tapes were all carefully stored so everything is in really nice shape. It’s been the oddest experience. Just looking at the cassettes (most of mine look brand new) and appreciating all the bits of the design and how extraordinary it all is. I’ve got tapes that are 50 years old that still sound like they were just recorded. Very surprising to me. This current experience and revival of interest has me really appreciating the mechanical design aspects of both tape and machine. I feel the same way about the recordable CD and the machines made to make that all happen. Extraordinary technology.

[@reeffeeder]

Thanks for your continued dedication to your channel and the care you put into your videos. I have learnt so much from you and want to let you know your work is greatly appreciated and helping to preserve history.

[@naturalmystic67]

Absolutely second that.

[@bpwnes]

Perfectly put into words.

[@Pressbutan]

7:03 if Technology Connections taught me anything, it's that RCA loved nothing more in that era than to patent things and license them out to fund the RCA labs. *Jazzy saxophone music plays*

[@MeCaVi-rawr]

His deep dive in RCA's history is a really good guide for how not to run a tech company!

[@spikester]

Their core business was industrial broadcast transmitter equipment it seemed.

[@TheDutchShepherd]

@@MeCaVi-rawr link?

[@Nadia1989]

Yeah, the CED series makes the point really clear

[@catfish552]

@@TheDutchShepherd Start here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hp_TiWuabd-Ff6M There are five parts in total.

[@henriklilliecreutzjansson8040]

Starts watching this video when it got about 2000 views. A friend calls, puts it on pause, and we chat for an hour. Finishes the video, and refreshes the page: More than 20.000 views! Damn, that is impressive, and it made me smile even more today. Thanks for posting (and creating) a new video.

[@Proud2bashamed]

Me when I first discovered this channel: "Obsolete media is fun to learn about, but why would anyone spend time and money collecting this stuff?" Me now staring at my alarmingly fast growing cassette player collection: "Uh oh..."

[@GothiicAngels]

Watching this channel have mee the inspiration to build my own seperate system. After a year and a few mistake purchases I have finally got my ideal system for vinyl, cd, mini disk tape and dab. Most of the gear is from the 80s to think that I have a Bose system, I actually listen to the seperates. I think the old stuff is way better.

[@VolkswagenNut1969]

LOL! He has a way of getting you into it! All of my audio is now on a fast growing archaic physical collection....and for some reason I couldn’t be happier! ;)

[@Proud2bashamed]

Me 2 years later: "Why did I buy a laserdisc player? I've never even seen a laserdisc in person."

[@chillstar]

So glad I couldn't bring myself to dump the hundreds of tapes I have- was using them daily between when I was a lad in 1980 & the early 2000s. They're a history of my musical evolution from 10 year old to 30 year old. I still have a decent player/recorder and love digging back through the memories. Often amazed at how well they've lasted and good they still sound- even 30+ year old tapes that spent years rattling around on the dusty damp floors of various cars and bottoms of bags, often not in their cases, some played hundreds of times. A fantastic format. Glad it's making somewhat of a resurgence.

[@steviebboy69]

I have an old cassette that I remember getting for Christmas when I was around 10 years old and now i am 53 and the thing still plays, not well but it does. most likely plays countless hundreds of times over the years and a few others a bit later than that.

[@spotsill]

I recorded a cassette for the first time in ages last week so still a practical format. I thick what ultimately made the cd win out was skipping and programming tracks but making your own mix cd on the computer was never as much fun .

[@worldcomicsreview354]

@@spotsill CD gave you the convenience of jumping straight to your favourite songs, which was made even more apparent by digital music players (the early ones having only 32mb of memory meant you had to make mixes, you weren't getting even one full album on there in decent quality!). Nowadays there's talk of the "death of the album", and how new music has to grab a listener in a 10-second preview play, or they won't buy it... or else the other direction of people opening up some thousand-track background music playlist on Spotify and just leaving it playing whatever. Part of the reason for the return of records and tapes is probably down to the fact they force you to "care" about the music a bit more.

[@spotsill]

@@worldcomicsreview354 I absolutely agree with everything you said . Think about it back in the cassette and album days the track layouts were well thought out for a reason and not just randomly picked it was a staged performance and a story and concept told in music . I recorded two albums by the same artist from the early 1960’s on the each side of the tape for the convenience and very little loss in quality because the original recording was not much different in specifics . After digging out my cassettes again after decades the performances have a much more natural quality to them and are less fatiguing to the ear . I personally can hear the difference in a compressed audio file format no matter what others try to tell me . We have lost the presence of sound stage in recordings in the digital age when everything has to be compressed to the same volume levels. I still listen to modern music it is a different art form in its own right and I defend it for what it is but the quality in recording and performance is not there .

[@pdxyyz]

@@spotsill yes and no on track order/content. Due to time limitations of tape many tapes had different track listing than the albums. Even early CD's didn't maintain the same tracks as the vinyl. Many double albums on vinyl to ended up as single cd's missing tracks.

[@Techiastronamo]

idk how but you're the only youtube channel I watch that can keep me hooked and engaged for a full 30 minutes

[@johnbonham7515]

The gentleman was what nowadays is known as “project leader”. And what a successful project it was!

[@the_ultimo]

3M is still one of my favorite companies in existence, they make so many cool things and they make them so well.

[@organiccold]

I use their professional line of car polish, paint, sand paper etc and is just amazing.

[@xedasxedas]

Still a reference indeed.

[@kaisersoymilk6912]

Really? You're a fan of a chemical company? Good for you I guess, although I've never heard of anyone that's a fan of BASF.

[@paradoxmo]

@@kaisersoymilk6912 they make a ton of products though. They’ve long since diversified from chemicals.

[@Jason-Scott]

3M has to be up there with some of the most evil companies ever known to Man.

[@goyadressunofficial]

Lou Ottens was also on the team at Philips that developed the compact disc, an invention he was more proud of. Regarding the RCA tape cartridge format, I think the cost and lack of portability were dominant factors in its lack of acceptance.

[@KR1275]

Lou Ottens was the technical manager at Philips that time. The most important parts of the cd are invented by Kees Immink (also DVD).

[@goyadressunofficial]

@@KR1275 Good point, although one could argue that the era of corporate research rather mitigates against the notion of individual inventors.

[@fattiger6957]

@@goyadressunofficial And big formats weren't even developed by a single company. At least CD, DVD, and Bluray were developed by several companies cooperating.

[@goyadressunofficial]

@@fattiger6957 Whatever bitterness there may have been on the part of Philips over Sony's refusal to pay royalties on the Compact Cassette was obviously forgotten when it came time to develop the newer formats.

[@fattiger6957]

@@goyadressunofficial Sony even got over the Nintendo CD thing to work with Philips on DVD.

[@paulcole1150]

For me, the most amazing and original sound medium.. I love it to this day and can't believe that after more than 40 years it still works and beautifully reproduces my favorite sound.. A huge bow to the creators and heartfelt thanks!!

[@calebwilliamson4418]

Being from the US I rarely catch these this early. Just wanted say thanks for the years of entertainment!

[@glyph2011]

*applause* its videos like this that make me keep watching every time I see one uploaded. What a FANTASTIC history of the format I have drawers and drawers full of. They still sound great. I’m lucky enough to still have tape decks made in the 90’s that still work fine. If I had the money and expertise I’d research the machines I have and try and get quality tape decks made again. The dearth of them makes you wonder if all the original blueprints have been lost to time. Now..time to get my minidisc player working again..

[@Nickeles020]

As a 30 year old Dutchy, remembering the old BBC shows I saw when I was little, always had some warm and nostalgic feelings. You my friend, 25 years later, bring the same nostalgia. Subjects, probably not many people are interested in, and you bring them with a lot of enthousiasm. Love it! Stay healthy!

[@edjones8039]

Cassette is a fine format, bought my 1st real deck in '85, and with high bias tapes, the sound quality is quite good. For the 1st time we could record our LPs to play in the car, and best yet, Compilation tapes for any occasion. Thanks Techmoan for your Channel, I really enjoy your informative and entertaining videos.

[@MarcelHuguenin]

This is absolutely the go-to-channel for everyone interested in old (and some new) consumer tech. You are a brilliant storyteller and have an absolutely phenomenal collection to go with the presentations.Very interesting stuff put in historic perspective. I have vivid memories of the EL-3300 from when I was a kid. It was owned by a family member and considered very special at the time. Thank you for putting all this together and sharing this story!

[@BX138]

TechMoan is one of a handful of KZbinrs that haven't annoyed me in any video they've made.

[@Techmoan]

Give it time...

[@logicaldojo1901]

Saturday morning used to mean cartoons - now it means the new Techmoan video! That RCA bit hits even better after just re-watching the CED series from Technology Connections. What a company!

[@marcusdamberger]

Indeed that was a great series he put together. I looked forward to each part! In case others would like to view it, Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hp_TiWuabd-Ff6M Also I don't want to take away from Techmoan's video on the CED, his is more from the consumer angle. Seen here kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zn3VgZhmp9yLhbc

[@ZGryphon]

I heard the last sentence in the voice of Yakov Smirnoff.

[@generaldisarray]

This video brought back some good old memories. I remember back in the early 80's my brother, who'd just qualified as a civil engineer, went out to Bangladesh, with a charity, to build roads, bridges, etc. At the time there was no hope of making long distance phone calls, cos of a lack of infrastructure and the cost was astronomical, so the only way to contact him, besides air mail, and have a, kind of, conversation was to record our messages on compact cassette, send them over via air mail, and then he'd record and send back his messages on cassette. We'd listen to his tapes again and again just to hear his voice.

[@bielboyster]

Love your channel, Techmoan! Being a 97 kid fascinated with old media, this channel is a treat. Greetings from Brazil!

[@googleuser8211]

Awesome as always. I graduated high school in 1987... one of the peak years for cassettes. I remember sitting around on weekends waiting for Casey Kasem and the American Top 40 so I could record the 'hits.'

[@garethwilliams5809]

The same with me on this side of the Pond and the UK charts in the 80s. Thought I was the only one. Turns out everybody was

[@garethwilliams5809]

Mainly used tapes to record radio comedy. Still do only using BBC iPlayer, Audacity and CDs

[@lastspartan15]

early so just wanna say, you're the man! one of the few youtubers I still watch and enjoy every time. ❤️

[@alangriffin8146]

Great video. It’s always more nuanced than something like, “Lou Ottens invented a format so good that it was universally adopted and everything else failed”.

[@kirkmooneyham]

This was an excellent presentation, and I'm sorry that YT will only allow a "thumbs up" instead of a "heart" reaction it deserves. This truly is one of the very best channels on YT.

[@macdaniel6029]

A Techmoan cassette video in the morning, this will be a good day :)

[@nocuh]

Salute to the visionaries whose contributions made portable music possible, let alone practical

[@em00k]

I love coming round to Grandad's on the weekend for one of his stories about the olden days :)

[@Eli1234gordon]

A series of fortunate events: me finding this video on KZbin front page minutes after being released.

[@queetok]

And it's Saturday morning. You have made your tea with snacks. Press the play button on the video and feel complete satisfaction.

[@mandolinic]

Where were you released from? :-)

[@mandolinic]

@@Tim091 Actually, it wasn't released. It escaped.

[@TheBrewjo]

1958... I know someone from England born in 58'... Oh crap, it's mum's birthday in a week! You have earned your like today sir :D

[@crazyivan030983]

I was like... Half an hour about tape? But it went like a blink of an eye :) very interesting :) greetings from Poland :)

[@highpath4776]

Must be a C30

[@crazyivan030983]

@@highpath4776 good one :)

This man's videos are no fluff and all substance. I love them. Thanks for making them!

[@balddanny]

"I'll show you those one of these days" you said in the DC International video regarding 3M system cartridges. Only took 2 years! Was worth the wait.

[@tenmillionvolts]

I can still remember when my sister's boyfriend bought a hugely expensive portable cassette boombox, about a hundred dollars worth of D size batteries, and the just released Genesis/Genesis album. We drove to the beach and listened to the whole album *ON THE BEACH!* That blew my young mind

[@AudioFileZ]

This is a very good walk-through of how Phillips under Otten's direction threw a lot of tape history in a blender to come up with a more simple and immensely commercial product. It was a "right" product at the right time when all other attempts seemed much less attractive. To Mr. Ottens credit he saw the value in a non-payment type technical standard which, aside from the best format for an enclosed tape system, assured mass support within the electronics industry. I'd say this humble, very open-minded, approach assured a degree of success which grew the format early on. The rest is history as we all know. Thank you Mr. Ottens for having the insight and drive to develop the Compact Cassette. For many people this was the format that encouraged lots of social sharing of music because it was the first truly portable music format. I like many others spent many enjoyable hours creating and listening to my own "home brew" mix tapes of my favorite music. My audio recording history began with reel to reel and really opened up with the cassette. Eventually burned CDS became my favored format yet I never enjoyed the process more than when I was creating those wonderful home-made cassette compilations. Perhaps this is one reason I so enjoyed your video explaining how the Compact Cassette became what it did. Excellent work.

[@ciphermatrix]

I love these deep dives, always learn and broaden my appreciation of the engineering and innovations that lead to ubiquitous technology. Still cannot forget just how much I loved my first portable stereo (Toshiba KT-VS2) or just how staggeringly good stereo cassette decks got with Dolby-S.

[@unlimitedbitsgaming]

I am in my 20s and found this to be fascinating in its entirety. Greetings from México and thanks for the awesome content.

[@R-R-R]

You can literally see and hear the years of experience and dedication that made a project like this possible. This applies to the Compact Cassette and the video I've just seen.

[@DavidAndersen84]

What a fascinating video! Well done. It reminds me of Thomas Edison. Most of his patents were improvements on existing technologies. Yet people today think he invented the lightbulb. Your channel is great. I learn so much. If you wrote books, I would buy and read them. Thanks.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Good on him for feeling uncomfortable getting sole credit. Steve Jobs (would’ve) had no qualms about products he was involved with.

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

Heck, he scammed Woz out of so much money over the years... Steve Jobs needs to be forgotten ASAP. It’s what he deserves.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@PuffyRainbowCloud indeed, I didn’t know about Woz at all for a number of years after I gained an interest in their industrial design. He had the much better philosophy imo.

[@dr.zarkhov9753]

@@kaitlyn__L Do yourself a favor and read/listen to iWoz, Steve Wozniak's book about the part he played in Apple's technical designs, which was the bulk of it. Job's skill was mostly in the marketing and branding and the notion that Job's had much of anything to do with the original iPod is patently ridiculous. Kane Kramer was I think the first person to file for a patent for a digital music player. Apple's narrative about how they're 'designing' products is laughable in many cases. I think a good comparison could be made between Jobs and Thomas Edison who became more showman than inventor. He understood how to se the media of the day to his advantage. Oh, he invented plenty but he's not remembered for what initially made him, which was telegraph multiplexers, a huge development at the time his products became available.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@dr.zarkhov9753 indeed, I’ve often made the Edison comparison myself.

[@calebland6246]

@@dr.zarkhov9753 there were other music players, there were other smart phones, there were other graphical user interfaces, but like was demonstrated in this video, being first might be historically interesting, but doing something which can be widely used or push the industry forward is very important and not down to just marketing. I remember Apple in the mid 90s and how they sprung back to life when Jobs returned. It wasn’t just marketing but also the willingness to take risks which helped Apple. I don’t worship Jobs but I think you need those types of people to do the things Apple did. Woz with all the technical ability in the world wouldn’t have been able to lead Apple to what it became.

[@marcberm]

The Philips Compact Cassette was and is the "Goldielocks" of consumer tape formats. This video does a lovely job of attaching all of the spokes of consumer tape and cassette history to the hub that is the Philips Compact Cassette.

[@Spintechfilms]

I sometimes find when I can't sleep I put Techmoan on in the background on low volume and find myself drifting off to sleep as I absorb all the knowledge he offers us

[@amrkoptan4041]

people like you should be rewarded for documenting such technical heritage, it's really stunning the effort put into making these videos..

[@markmarkofkane8167]

Been using Cassettes since 1971. I was 8 at the time. When I saw my first cassette recorder, I was fascinated. The tiny reels turning in the window, nothing like the reel to reel my folks used to have.

[@MalinaM1]

With your videos there’s always time to watch no need to go anywhere when your being entertained with a quality video love your videos long time fan!

[@riverAmazonNZ]

The complexities of tech development are so interesting. It’s not just about innovation, but also the market, the zeitgeist, and fighting between companies etc Great info!

[@pcno2832]

14:00 I remember those things; the T-bar control set them apart from most other tape recorders. They were sold under the Norelco brand in the USA to avoid trouble with Philco. Phillips did use its own name on the records they sold here, though. PS: Keith Richards used a Philips tape recorder (probably the kind with a red light in place of a VU meter) as a distortion effect on some of their tracks ("Street Fighting Man"??); he just made sure to over-saturate the tape.

[@dougbrowning82]

We had all three in Canada, Philips, Norelco, and Philco. Philips eventually put an end to the confusion by actually buying Philco.

[@lordmuntague]

24:59 Wow! Exactly the bundle I bought in 1986!! I learnt Z80 machine code on that thing! Even bought a Wafadrive for it - now there's a long forgotten peripheral... 8o)

[@mjg263]

I’m so glad you did a video on Lou Ottens and his teams contribution to the cassette format. He was involved in the development of the compact disc too.

[@Pippo.Langstrumpf]

I had no money for a walkman but for a portable fm-radio. As a kid, that was great.

[@electricmaster23]

My grandpa says it's interesting that you talk about the cassette like you were around for its invention despite not even being born when it was invented. He says he loves your videos, and I wager he's the happiest 104-year-old in the world when you drop a new video.

[@HashMagician]

My girlfriend HATES it when i watch your videos, but its ok cause i made her up. I LOVE watching them, thanks brother

[@nthgth]

Lmao had me at first

[@pfield39]

In my shed I've still got the EL3300 (not functional!) which I got for passing the 11 plus in 1964. All my pals had big mains reel to reel recorders, but I always liked to have something different. Never occured to me how expensive it was, makes me appreciate how generous my parents were, they weren't by any means well off and must have struggled to pay for it. The following year they got me a Moulton bike, which I now realise must've cost about £600 in today's money. So thanks mum and dad, I probably didn't say that enough when they were alive. In 1972 my first month's salary of £53 paid for a replacement, a green Decca model with piano key operation and a built in mains transformer, that's probably in a box somewhere too. Great video, as always.

[@garfycat2227]

Having recently got back into cassettes to recapture lost youth, this is great!

[@06802300]

I received my first Compact Cassette portable player as a gift from my parents on my 12th birthday. in 1974. They included a cassette of Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run. That machine changed my life when I figured out how to connect it to a record player and put vinyl albums and singles onto tape: my music collection grew exponentially!

[@vinylarchaeologist]

23:10 Blaupunkt SNOB? Well, _that's_ an inspired product name 😅

[@zorktxandnand3774]

I am quite sophisticated. I do not listen to the radio in my automobile, I listen to my state of the art compact cassette player thank you very much!

[@77Cardinal]

My dad gave me a mono Panasonic cassette recorder for my 12th birthday in 1971. It came with a Phillips blank cassette and a music demo cassette. I used it to record things a 12 year old boy would. Farts and burps, songs off the radio, even TV audio of the Apollo 17 mission. Nobody (including the dog) was safe from being interviewed or secretly recorded. My friends and I did radio commercial parodies (Barfo-Bits Cereal comes to mind...we even wrote and sang a jingle) and I did a lot of recording and distortion experiments with the basic carbon microphone. I ended up in radio broadcasting, owned a commercial recording studio and I still make a few dollars voicing commercials for clients in a home studio. The Phillips cassette changed my life but I never knew how it came to be until now. Thanks! This video was great on several levels. You reminded me that I still have the only recording of my grandmothers' voice. Perhaps I should go have a look for that.

[@Tareezo]

"...I'm sure you got places to be, but..." That's absolutely hilarious! :D

[@noelj62]

my auto response was: nope just here listening to you Mat.

[@willw.1466]

Good God I love your overall presentation. Can't get enough of it.

[@ReLive_Photos]

My wife and I have pretty much watched ALL your videos now.... she didn’t have a choice at the start! Began just watching for things I was considering buying like the Cube Plus Camera etc and now ended up learning all about Gigi systems, projectors, every format of music and various bits about your life! You are practically wallpaper here! You even managed to make the history of the tape a good watch! Keep up the good work, interesting shirts and weekly videos. Seen a few people moan about your videos where you go on a monologue, personally we love the longer ones, even the one where you get loads of MD Players from China. Anyhooo.... just wanted to thank you for the entertaining videos and all the research you do for it all! Keep thinking your like a digital uncle until I realise we are almost the same exact age lol. Surprised you’re never done anything on Psion as it’s a British invention and quite cheap, the missus wants a video on the Fisher Price record players from the 70’s! Anyhooo be safe and as always.. thanks for reading.

[@life5161]

NOTHING makes me happier than seeing a new Techmoan video in the morning 🌄 (especially the stereo stuff). Thank you for creating this channel. U and VWestlife are my favorite. Rock on 🤘.

[@Pugwash.]

I have fond memories of the compact cassette. Many of us from my era grew up recording the top 40 from the radio, hoping the DJ wouldn't talk over too much of the songs.

[@espurious]

Bloody Bruno Brookes

[@xaenon]

A major pop station in my town briefly had one of the most obnoxious deejays EVER. He just wouldn't shut up. His whole approach was to use the music as 'backdrop' while he'd just yammer away. Literally half the song would be ruined by his voice. Thankfully, he only lasted a handful of months.

[@trevorbrown6654]

Actually I think the DJ's were actively encouraged to talk in the song to stop making recordings and go out and buy the physical record. One DJ on Capital Radio got into trouble by playing the whole of Dark Side of the Moon during his show without any breaks or speaking and suggesting people take the opportunity to press the record button on their hi fi tape decks. The irony is that the record industry used to say 'home taping is killing music' but I bet that was all they had to worry about now what with streaming revenues being pathetic compared to cassette and album sales versys the odd school kid recording off the radio.

[@xaenon]

@@trevorbrown6654 The 'trouble' your DJ got into was likely more a result of licensing issues. Radio stations have to license the music that they play, and the way they the work the licensing, you can't easily license an artist or even an album, but only a certain set of songs from that artist. It's part of why the repertoire of most radio stations is so shocking limited. The record companies generally have a go-for-the-throat licensing policy, and most stations cannot afford to license big libraries. And since licensing fees are typically tied to the market share of the station.... well, you get the idea. It's like someone once said to me - the biggest threat to the music industry.... is the music industry.

[@nthgth]

@@xaenon does that apply to college radio stations too? I thought they could basically play whatever they want

[@johnaistrup9250]

What a great video! I am of the Compact Cassette generation and I had no idea of its true history, thank you for sharing! This format I used for years as an audiophile, I started with vinyl but moved to tapes in my teens. My first pack of recordable tapes was a five pack made by TDK, of which I own one still unsealed! My first tape machine was a single speaker unit but for the life of me I cannot remember what make and model it was, however my first portable unit was made by Alba and it was white, it didn't even have auto-reverse on it! About fifteen years ago I also inherited a reel to reel player made by Phillips from my father which sadly needs cleaning and restoring, I did take the front fascia off and the belts had all but melted onto everything in it and its like tar. This video has inspired me to pull it out and see if I can get it to function though! Keep up the great work!

[@asdasdasdastsdgsd]

Always glad to see another video from you in these times :)

[@bobmclaughlin7276]

I still have many cassettes. And use them... I remember mid 60's the local record store selling albums on cassette... When it appeared that the 8 track format was dominant... At least for in-car use... I even had an 8 track tape record deck... A nightmare to use, fitting music into each "track"...., thanks for the great history of the compact cassette. As always, I enjoyed your presentation

[@mCKENIC]

The chapter titles are really great! :-)

[@iandouceartist]

I really appreciate the effort you go to in producing your content, brilliantly researched and presented, its a education, having things explained, (in this case the cassette) is very interesting, I'm 60 so I marvelled at the cassette, being able to record from the radio etc and being able to edit compilations was far more enjoyable than compiling a playlist on Spotify, having a tangiable thing you can use was satisfying, keep up the good work your content is one of the best things about KZbin.

[@hankfacer7098]

As an oldie, what a most fascinating story, must check out other videos of yours, oh hang on I'm subscribed so that should be easy

[@telquad1953]

Very comprehensive presentation. Cassettes were wonderful!

[@Kylefassbinderful]

Waking up to a 26MIN TECHMOAN EPISODE is the way to wake up on the weekend.

[@michaelkhoo5846]

Fantastic video, thank you! 3:44 - the missing link!

[@xKingReyx]

Sadly some people do believe that "Steve Jobs invented the iPhone" single handedly.

[@KR1275]

He just worked out others' ideas.

[@ericthemauve]

Some people believe that Donald Trump was responsible for the development of Covid vaccines. There's no limit to the depths of human stupidity.

[@1972LittleC]

@@KR1275 No, he put people in a team and scared them shitless to come up with something that could compete with the things other companies brought out. He wasn't a pleasant man according to people who worked with him.

[@MINKIN2]

Or that smartphones didn't exist before the iPhone either.

[@jamesm90]

Microsoft had smartphones long before Apple. It’s a shame they didn’t develop their products. Apple stole the idea and developed it.

[@ynotw57]

Beautifully edited, well narrated, informative, and even calming. I always look forward to your content. It’s the best part of my morning.

[@kostek4430]

When I watch your video I have no other places to be! CARRY ON PLEASE

[@nigelh3253]

Your tech videos are excellent and the research you do on the history is amazing. As you show in this video, it really is 'the survival of the fittest'. Thanks

[@cyph3r76]

It’s interesting to see how the cassette/cartridge evolved over time. The combination of price and compact size was the sweet spot from Philips.

[@brianartillery]

Fascinating. I have hundreds of cassettes, from the late 1970's onwards. I like how tactile they are, and used to enjoy creating mix tapes for my friends. I'm old enough to not be keen on non physical music, like downloads - they all sound a bit muddy, to my ears.

[@robthesamplist]

I work in a care home and in the shed we have an ancient blind persons tape machine with special cassettes.its quite unusual tapes and old. would you like it? Can send it.the tape at around 12 minutes i think is what they are.

[@stingrrr1]

Best to send him an email. You can find it on his about tab.

[@ชาโคล-ห1ซ]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eprEfquLZZaFqMk Is it this tapete system?

[@randomnickify]

He have shown already some unusual tapes for blind people, its highly possible its the same system, try to find the actual name and then ask him again :)

[@robthesamplist]

@@randomnickify ok thx

[@robthesamplist]

@@ชาโคล-ห1ซ YES its that one!! thx for saving me the time.

[@c.diepstra9716]

I was born in 1972 and grew up with cassette tapes, but did not know they were already be there for many years. My first cassette player was a Sony Walkman WM EX10 (as far as I can remember the model) Nice to know to whole story now! Big thanks for that, you're awesome! Chris From the Netherlands!

[@Lishtenbird]

21:46 So in other words... open standards make the world a better place for everyone, at the cost of a small handful of people not becoming tremendously rich.

[@dr.zarkhov9753]

Thanks Matt for all the hard work you've done bringing this to us all. I remember seeing those 3M style cassettes many years ago and being confused about whether or not this was newer than the cassette that already had been showing up in local stereo shops. I guess the proprietor had some old stock and was hoping to eventually get rid of it all. Wow, at around 22:18 when you showed that Panasonic advert, my eye went right to the RQ-224S tape recorder. Hadn't seen one of those for over 40 years. Mom gave me one for Xmas back in 1971/72. Actually dragged it into a Queen concert years later for some live concert recording.

[@FHRSTD]

Audio Cassette is Magic! Like from Odessa, UA!

[@hugoromeyn4582]

Thank you for uploading this video about an old Philips chap from the Netherlands! It's such a shame that Philips sold almost everything they once had, like consumer electronics and that they closed the Philips NatLab (Natuurkundig Laboratorium / Physics Laboratory) where these people worked on the compact cassette and later, on the compact disc. I Do remember a small exhibition in the Boerhave Museum, in Leiden, the city where I live. It was all about the Philips NatLab. I Was standing in front of the first prototype Philips CD player there, also cassette's, radio valves... Insane collection for an electronics maniac like me!

[@moonhound]

Love the topic titles on the casettes!

[@gbanger2575]

Very informative video. You always put a lot of research into your videos in a way that makes them entertaining and far from boring. Keep up the good work!

[@AFAndersen]

So when are we going to see the opening of a Techmoan museum?

[@willd6215]

@@johncoops6897 heh

[@billybobkingston5604]

The design of the typography on the Phillip cassette at the beginning of this vid is brilliant

[@dongargon763]

Spent so many days of my life with a Walkman or loading games on the speccy thanks to that cassette ,fixing them with sticky tape lol

[@larrylarry1]

Nicely done history on the cassette! I now treasure the ones I've had for decades. They still work fine, other than a foam pad replacement here and there. Always greatly done videos.!

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

Mat in the garage with the puppets: "Alright ladies and gentlemen, from the focus groups we have Flapping Hortch, Flooping Hetch and Flippin Eck for the catch phrase... Let's brainstorm the most marketable option... It needs to be compatible with multiple countries and power options and needs to be licensable and a mass market product." 😂

[@wofwof007]

I miss the puppets :-(

[@arvidstorli2501]

I like your videos. I started with service on consumer electronics back in 1987, and many of the products you displays brings nostalgic memories.

[@revidual]

I'd like to see a feature on all the HiFi used in the French film 'Diva' in 1981, the linear turntable, the reel to reel players, and the cassette players. Even the headphones?

[@DavidHembrow]

C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis. Also various bits of Revox equipment as I recall. I have a copy of it on Laserdisc ;-)

[@michaelkhoo5846]

More ... (having watched more of the video). 1) Interesting that RCA advertised their tape player in terms of having a similar form factor to record players. 2) The Philips ad at about 14:18 pitches it as the 'pocket' tape recorder, they are maybe referencing portable transistor radios of the time which were also referred as (shirt) pocket radios. And mods in the corner too?

[@garycat]

A grand old age, 94. I surprised he lived to C-90

[@YorkshireD1]

👍🥇

[@desertfish74]

Beautiful

[@nowster]

I heard that one from Marty on Lyric FM. 🤣

[@billharris6886]

Techmoan, thanks for another great video on the format wars. I was born in 1955 and, living in the US, was always interested in electronics. We had reel-to-reel recorders at home when the audio cassettes came out (my brother even had an RCA cassette machine from 1959). I first saw the Philips Compact Cassette in 1966 in a Norelco large portable machine. At that time, it was only meant for dictation with the slow (1.875 ips) tape speed. However, it didn't seem to start to catch on over here in the US until the late 1960's. My Dad was a banker and they exclusively used the flexible belt recording system for the dictation systems until the early 1970's. Interestingly, in 1968, I found what looked exactly like the Philips compact cassette, except it had 1/4 inch tape instead of the standard 0.15 inch tape. Unfortunately, at the time, I had no way to play it so, ended up throwing it away. I still have my Panasonic cassette stereo tape deck from 1974. It has a chrome/normal tape bias selector (the only recording option for then), which must have been designed around the recording tape formulations available then. It had a top end frequency response of 7 kHz with the chrome tape. In 1990, I modified the bias circuitry and got the frequency response up to 13 kHz, which is surprising, I would assume the recording head core gap would have been the limiting factor at that point in time, given the technology in that day.

[@elonmask50]

Damn Matt, that was an incredible amount of information jammed into an eighth of an inch.

[@LyndonSoulGroove]

yes , did a radio slot about portable music technology only in Jan, I recall back i n the 80's the cassette was as mass produced as the Light Bulb ! By the early 90's the New DCC format & mini Disk struggled, lets face it most families had an average of 5 compact Cassette machines in their houses including their car player, so even by this time Cassette was still popular and cheeper than inventing in a new format, many people were recording Cd's to compact cassette prolonging its lifespan to the early 2000's , glad to see your well documented & researched youtube slot.