RetroTech: RCA Victor Tape Cartridge - A trailblazing failure

[@randyschulze8690]

My late uncle was a Research Engineer for RCA. Among the many amazing projects he was involved in included the RCA Victor Tape Cartridge. I remember, he gave my Dad one of the high end prototype machines, (similar to what was displayed at about 25 minutes in your presentation.) It was large, brown, and recorded and played in stereo. In addition to Dad's collection of per-recorded music, Dad and my uncle would mail tapes to each other across the USA, sharing recordings of our families. I can recall fond memories where my sister, and sometimes my cousins, and I had played with this machine well into the late 70s! Uncle Al passed away quite young in 1972, having been involved in projects which included Project Mercury, the Tiros Weather Satellite, Project Apollo, the Lunar Rover, and Under Sea Submarine Communications. After my Dad passed in 2011, I found some photo negatives of the Earth taken from Tiros IX, among my Dad's things, no doubt a gift from Uncle Al. I speculate that the tape machine might still exist with my brother.

[@DWINC]

Really nice story. My dad was (just slightly) involved in the compact disc (both the cd and cassette were invented here in The Netherlands)

[@scotthayes4135]

These were before my time. I was born in 1982, I only go as far back as the compact cassettes.

[@Porkcylinder]

@@DWINCthe cd player was invented in Japan Phillips essentially manufactured the disks Tape recording has been around since 1857 , Phillips reduced its size.

[@SGresponse]

Some guy, 50 years ago recorded himself playing music with a friend. Both him and Kenny are probably long dead, yet a small piece of their legacy now gained a new life. I'd say this is a gem in its own right. Besides: you never know - these might just be lost recordings of a distinct band that had not yet gained any prominence in '64...

[@richardallen6800]

Your first sentence - I thought exactly the same thing. They would never possibly have dreamed of their recording being disseminated in this way, or being listened to by so many people all around the world over half a century in the future!

[@dextrodemon]

maybe it's kenny burrell and jimmy smith, who knows eh?

[@macnerd93]

Never thought it of like that, but its likely true.

[@moochincrawdad]

Jimmy Smith without the soul, blues and jazz? I suddenly went cold! 😥

[@ps3master72]

yeah, we always think maybe an archeologist will stumble upon something that we made (or our bones) 5000 years into the future; i guess some people just get lucky and have it happen only 50 years later

[@MitzpatrickFitzsimmons]

Wow... I bet "Me and Kenney" never imagined that nearly half-a-million people would hear their recording! Cool Beanz

[@WoodysAR]

OR that people would forget what a cursive 'D' looks like, (it's 'me and Denny',..)

[@almosthuman4457]

@@WoodysAR I'm going with Lenny.

[@Firenamer2]

@@almosthuman4457 What about Jenny?

[@clvnmdr453]

I recognize the tune though. Can’t for the life of me place it, but I know I’ve heard it.

[@granitepenguin]

@@clvnmdr453 "I'm looking Over a Four-leaf Clover"

[@djmoch1001]

I love learning about these old formats that I’d never heard of, and how far we’ve come technologically through the decades. Utterly fascinating.

[@mrcoiganable2988]

Not sure we’ve came that far. It was a blink of an eye. 60s was basically yesterday.

[@stevejohnson1321]

23:30 "Tape, as you know, never wears out!" Clearly the thought process of a simpler time. Though recording tape wore a lot more favorably than vinyl, commercial consumer recordings were often made of cheaper source material. Also early in the tape game, few if any considered what the household environment would do to the media.

[@JaredConnell]

Just like how they said CDs were nearly indestructible when they first came out but we all know now that is far from the reality where a small scratch or smudge can ruin the audio or data on the disc. They clearly don't think about how consumers will use and abuse the media in the future.

[@Antonio-sd5yn]

agree with you 100%

[@UnivegaSuperSport]

Man, you introduce the video as just a casual jaunt down recording media history. You then present us with great research, archived news and industry clips, and generally present it like a well-produced documentary. Are you a natural at this or do you have formal journalism or production experience or education?

[@strangersound]

His work in media format history is priceless.

[@xXxmlg_vacxXx]

UnivegaSuperSport pii p

[@thelazywanderer_jt]

Generally, the whole thing that's called Techmoan feels like a really high quality documentary series imo.

[@brianhill4153]

@surfitlive the puppets only make me respect him more😂

[@darrenjones3784]

@@matteframe I've heard he's only 2 feet tall.

[@jaekoff5050]

There is something kind of sad listening to some phantom person's old recordings; it's the same feeling I got in the wire recorder video. I wonder who those people speaking were, what they did for a living, how they turned out - but maybe I am just overthinking it

[@cpufreak101]

no, it's natural, a lot of people undergo this, since you're essentially transported back in time to a specific point. the same feeling crops up with very old music/video recordings from the 1800's, since they might look normal and have a good song, but there is always that slight eeriness when you realise that everybody who was involved in it's creation, is dead

[@dusterdude238]

Who knows maybe one or both of the people playing the Organ and Guitar on the tape will watch this video and be transported back to when they recorded it :)

[@DelilahThePig]

It's also that the reality of the past is very very similar but not quite the same as today. Lots of little micro changes which add up. Accents morph. You can sense something is different.

[@elintra]

More or less I suppose everybody thinks of this if not subconsciously, you are indeed going back to the past and it brings about a lot of aspects of what people used to do back then. there are a lot of things that would of imaginable the things we are doing today. People were more human back then.

[@mgscheue]

I feel that way too, and when I see old photographs for sale in antique stores. It seems very sad that they've become disconnected from those who would have memories of or at least some connection with the people in them.

[@argebarse]

"where old technology goes to die" is very true, the Australian education system was using the Apple II in classrooms up until like 1995

[@BobEmrich]

argebarse we used those colored macintosh machines until 2010!

[@valedictorianism]

The Ectaco Jetbook Color e-Reader was already old at birth and went to die peacefully in the Russian education system. But not before I spent a lotta quid buying one. Now excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall some more.

[@greenaum]

@@BobEmrich Yeah the Apple II is from 1978, mate!

[@LyrixTheDj]

@@valedictorianism , personally never saw this device in our schools (Moscow suburbans). Our government like to spend a lot of budget on to shitty projects because it gives them an opportunity to stole money hiddenly. Hail to the mr Chubais Anatoly Borisovich :) PS: All i could find about this product it a price in 2012 was ~$666 here in Russia :D

[@dunxy]

True, i remember II's getting upgrade to p1's in the mid 90's ish! Was still umatic machines being used as well!

[@slothfulcobra]

so RCA invented cassette tapes first, abandoned them, and then went on to invent a way to store video on vinyl. What a weird, weird company.

[@sdrape4964]

Yeah. This is why engineers should never be left to their own devices. Seriously.

[@Texaca]

@slothfulcobra ----- it wasn't or isn't the Engineering that's the problem with American Corporations, it's always bad marketing, bad salesmanship, and BAD Management that commission bad products, or Make bad decisions. It's usually because Management in Older companies didn't understand technology. Just read up on PARC a Xerox research center in Palo Alto, they invented many of the modern technologies that were used in computers, by IBM, Microsoft and Apple. Xerox should've dominated the computer industry, had their Management made the right decisions. Had they, we would have never heard of companies like Apple, or Microsoft, or HP/Compaq, or Canon, or Epson, and many others -- they would not have been what they are today, without the technologies created at PARC. Remember the "Paperless Office" concept was created by Xerox. I worked for a division of RCA, that was in the transition of merging with General Electric, back in 1987-88. It became GE Computer Services, the division ceased to exist in 1993, because of BAD Management decisions. Many divisions were managed and steered by "Non Computer" people, who were literally "Vacuum Cleaner salesmen" or just Finance/Bean counters 🧐

[@GrzegorzDurda]

It was all stolen German tech. You see the fools bumbling with it and not knowing what to do with it lol.

[@gerardvandoornmalen1977]

They basically invented a working videodisk based of a LP player too.. then decided to back VHS instead.. LOL

[@andrester88]

Technology connections has a long but very interesting video about the CED that also delved into how RCA worked at the time and man... They were WILDIN. RCA was ran like Aperture Science.

[@richardharkness6777]

I am totally blown away by your ingenuity! I am a 74 year old veteran with hobbies. I can't even imagine how many hours of research needed to do these. Thank you for what you do!

[@TheOrangeType]

When i see a 30 minute long Techmoan video, i know its going to be a good day.

[@Intellmac]

Watched almost the entire video here! I love this channel!

[@TheDarkFalcon]

You nearly watched the whole video? Congratulation, have a cookie.

[@FluxCondenser]

In High School (early 80s) our school had a pretty elaborate language lab that our Spanish class used. Each kid had a separate booth where we could each play giant cassettes recorded with Spanish lessons. I believe the system used these same RCA cassettes as the system seemed pretty ancient even then. I was always fascinated by them and wondered what the connection was to the smaller cousins I listened to every day after school. Now I know!

[@cjtheotter]

Perfect Irony that in order to hear the tapes stero capabilities, it had to be put on a Reel to reel machine

[@Fardemark]

I was lucky to find a stereo version of the rca it’s amazing the lid speaker is the left channel and the other is the right one I recapped it and the fidelity is quite good

[@danpetitpas]

@@Fardemark Record players for the classroom were like that in the 1960s.

[@1959Berre]

This takes me back to when I was a toddler and my late mother was young. God knows how much I miss her. Wonderful series you make. Being an audio freak myself, I enjoy this a lot.

[@SyntheticFuture]

I love how the demo tapes always go waaaaaay overboard with the stereo :D A friend of mine had a demo stereo vinyl record which was all sorts of FX going from full left to full right. Stuff like planes and jingle bells and trains. Fun stuff :D

[@Oakman0211]

My new favourite band is Me & Kenny

[@hydrolito]

That would be a duo not a band.

[@sgu222e]

"as you know, tape never wears out"

[@falkerhard]

Just like CDs last forever.

[@YASYTU]

@@falkerhard Or nobody will ever need more than 640k of memory.

[@bansheemania1692]

@ •••-•••

[@RobeonMew]

Streaming music - and you'll never have to download an MP3 again

[@nthgth]

@@KairuHakubi I'm sort of binging Techmoan; it's amazing how much old stuff would be right at home in Strong Bad's possession

[@willrun4fun]

Me and Kenny aren't half bad.

[@murrfeeling]

*Kenny and I (sarcasm)

[@sirmugman]

i know there pritty good

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

Also *isn't half bad.

[@IthratCordwallis]

500 Bus Stops might seem like far too many But when you are without a car that number's necessary. Spread the message all around: "That John Shuttleworth is chart bound". 500 Bus Stops with me and my friend Kenny. --500 Bus Stops, by John Shuttleworth, 1997.

[@HamburgerExplosion]

Me & Kenny is a cover of "I'm looking over a 4 leaf clover"

[@c128stuff]

"No larger than a woman's vanity case" Considering there are some vanity cases that have wheels, I'm not sure this is very helpfull :-)

[@Googaliemoogalie]

yea, it isn't larger than those either, so they're not wrong

[@NotSoGoodGamer18]

Music on Bel Canto Tape (22:44 - 22:58) That Old Black Magic - Orrin Tucker (23:12 - 23:22) Ill Take Romance - Si Zentner (23:36 - 23:44) Tangerine - Ahmad Jamal (23:48 - 23:54) Sabre Dance - 101 Strings

[@FullOfMalarky]

Wonder if him or Kenny are still around because they're jamming on the organ and guitar!!

[@TehFlaminFuzz]

Waiting for the "Me and Kenny" reunion tour

[@shrekfromshrek8335]

They are most likely very dead.

[@josephdoesmore8922]

It's not Kenny it's Denny look closely at the K it's a capitol script D

[@Erudotic]

Now how cool would it be if they'd suddenly popped up here!!

[@mntlmentos]

They are jamming on in heaven

[@DaarkCloud]

Listening to this via Bluetooth on my car radio sounded amazing. Also, if you ever have to record in mono, there is a setting under Accessibility in your settings menu of your phone.

[@espurious]

I laughed when you brought the cartridge on screen. I wasn't expecting it to be so big

[@Starcrunch72]

that's NOT what she said....lol

[@MrJozza65]

Me too; I thought it was maybe a giant cassette, or perhaps that we would be seeing a review of Techmoan's new shrinking ray gun soon :)

[@gurudanny98]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one

[@ryanlutes9833]

"No larger than a woman's vanity case"

[@DoktorKoch]

boom boom

[@ppeterso22]

Outstanding! As a kid in the 80's, I used to frequent the thrift stores and I came across the exact monaural 4 track RCA machine as yours and it had a tape. No one seemed to know what it was...lol! My dad said "looks like a predecessor to the 8-track (and I guess he was right!). Thanks for bringing this to life and the outstanding research you did on this article!

[@SimonCallahan]

I think my old high school had these players in the language lab. Granted, I never got to use the language lab (at least, not for its intended purpose), but I did get to see an entire room of them in their glory. They were built into desks, if I recall correctly, so that students could do whatever work corresponded to whatever was on the tape.

[@MichaelsShortFilms]

Call me silly, but I'd like to listen to the whole "Me and Kenny" recording, could you perhaps upload it?

[@sonykroket]

Yea, those cats could play. I was thinking the same thing.

[@BarHonigfeld]

You requested that one year ago according to you tube and here I am, feeling the same thing.

[@dvidsuba]

@@BarHonigfeld 9 months later, still no "Me and Kenny" :(

[@OGaurabless]

@@dvidsuba still nada in august 2019 maybe in 2091 lol

[@okovermekeamglight4563]

why don't we send an email to him?

[@fimbles1015]

Only 18 pounds.. Truly a lightweight !

[@DaveLennonCopeland]

"Only 18 pounds/lbs", made me laugh... 22:37 blimey, 18lbs of portableness. Another excellent video Techmoan

[@jamiehanrahan4705]

One word: Tubes. (Or "valves" if you're British :) )

[@queazocotal]

Jamie Hanrahan the tubes themselves are pretty light, and you could make a much lighter machine using more plastic. There is a tradeoff with wow and flutter, mechanism complexity and weight though. Heavier simplifies your speed regulation.

[@CanIHasThisName]

You gotta keep in mind that back then, being able to carry something around using only your hands and keep walking kinda normal meant it's portable. As far as media and entertainment goes, this makes one appreciate benefits of the transition to digital. Parts that weight a few grams replaced machines which would weight kilos and surpassed them in ways you'd have hard time explaining to an average person a few decades ago. Storage units no larger than a fingernail can store more multimedia than what you'd comfortably fit into an average person's living room in analog, and storage devices that fit into your pocket can store libraries worth of information and media. Just makes you wonder where we'll be in another 10, 20 or 30 years.

[@romandjma.recordplayers7806]

reminds me of my 1970s akai reel to reel that says it's portable. I bought it halfway across the country from where I lived(while on vacation). when I tried mailing it to my house, I found it was 30-35 lbs... Now that's what I call portable!

[@BADBIKERBENNY]

Back then we wernt fat, flabby but rather more fit. Carrying things like this helped keep you in shape.

[@dreamyrhodes]

Just wanted to say your channel actually does import work. This is like a museum, you explain old technology (yes not only but too) and document formats and stuff that otherwise would probably be lost in the dust of history.

[@Daedje]

Wow what a difference 6 years can make, he looks so young here.

[@randyharrigan4790]

Very interesting video as always! It reminded me that my dad built a custom reel to reel player when I was a kid that could play 8 track tape. He used a 8 track head on a screw with a bolt that could go up and down with the twist of a knob and it worked amazingly, all you had to do was spool your 8 track onto a reel and you were good to go. This was great because we had some 8 tracks that were unsavable otherwise. It was easy too because the spool of a 8 track fits right on the reel player so all you had to do was get your tape to the silver piece and fast forward it on a reel then rewind it, however there were a few cases where I had to reel it by hand because my 8 track had become a unwound ball of tape but it was definitely worth it because some of the 8 tracks in my collection are hard to find! anyways, loving the hi fi videos, cheers from Canada.

[@rfvtgbzhn]

It's amazing that at this time they even had the instructions to take apart the device written on it. Today companies like Apple want you to buy a new device each time the battery fails and it is quite difficult to just open the devices for battery changes...

[@extrahourinthepit]

Well, "today". Six years ago you had the instructions manual tell you how to upgrade the RAM, change the battery and even upgrade the HDD!

[@Tufhhuyy]

I was just thinking that. They used to tell you how to fix it, now they try to sue you if you tell someone how.

[@hydrolito]

How long does the battery last how much is a technician to replace battery? Just buy from a company you can replace battery. Only apples I recall buying was fruit.

[@hydrolito]

@@Tufhhuyy How can they sue someone for explaining how to fix something. What good is something if it can't be fixed? That's throwing money away. They want to turn earth into a giant land fill of throw away products that makes no sense.

[@hobbified]

A date code of 6214 usually means 14th week of 1962. Which... actually is in early April anyway, so no big diff in this case. The 4 could be a day of the week, or something entirely different like a factory code.

[@DoktorKoch]

thanks

[@Lu_Woods]

23:20 "Tape, as you know, never wears out..." ( I'll admit it does sound good still )

[@solarwalkman]

23:00 She's telling you how to make mixtapes in the late '50s.

[@Ice_Karma]

I'm amused that the very first suggested application is copying stereo albums.

[@danijel-ch2gk]

eh, even Steve Jobs ripped a few songs off a CD when demoing iTunes for the first time :-)

[@da4127]

Back when music companies didn’t see this as a threat to their revenue because it was a lot harder to do.

[@TheMasonX23]

He always manages to find organ music recorded from the radio...

[@buckadillafilms]

The organ music was a brilliant surprise.

[@howva]

The number of data storage formats that have existed throughout the years is amazing. So much of it related to music shows how important music is and how much people wanted to be always listening to it.

[@Simk1d]

Wow. The quality on that bell-o matic was simply stunning for such an old recording.

[@FrontSideBus]

That sounds bloody good when played on the reel-to-reel to be honest!

[@TheBeerBox80]

This is why I really like your channel. I didn't even know that this technology even existed.

[@RolloTonéBrownTown]

VHS and beta have both been done to death. That is why I recognise your channel as the superior media format source. Plenty of obscure media I've frankly never heard of. You are a champion.

[@DirtyHairy1]

Just rewatched this and I think it's one of your very best episodes of all time. It's got all the history and information and wit that one could pack into this topic.

[@user-ew8jf3ml1v]

Techmoan, the king of belt replacing! 😂😂

[@Khetamine]

The greek God of belt replacing

[@calif1mc]

Coming in 2017, the hot, new tape "Kenny&Me" greatest hits, get it at your favorite store... Not available in Guam, Wales and Tasmania.

[@peterlamont647]

Only on RCA cartridge cassette! HANDS FREE PLAYBACK!

[@arberthree]

"Me and Kenny" are good! I would like to hear the full recording. Techmoan, upload it please! Is the best tribute we could give them :)

[@Jerbod2]

Mat remember when you said you had health problems and how you made a guess as to how long it'd be before you got to that age where life would become more difficult regarding health... well that hit me today. My father (around your age, 55) got diagnosed with esophageal cancer last week and today we heard he's got metastasis to the lymph nodes, so treatment will solely consist of chemo to stretch the time he'll be around. Not trying to make you sad but back when you said that in that video I thought to myself "How big is the chance at that age" well that's proven to not be a factor, it's all down to bad luck. My father never drank a drop of alcohol or smoked a cigarette, yet he's the one to basically die to the worst kind of cancer. Make the most out of the time you get here on the planet, it can happen to anyone, I happen to be 21 years old faced with the outlook of my father's demise due to this horrible form of cancer. Really, enjoy the time you're here to enjoy what you love most, which is something you are doing right now I think, you stopped the mandatory reviewing of dashcams to focus more on the stuff you love which is hi-fi. Cheers Mat.

[@Techmoan]

I'm sorry to hear that, it's hard to know what to say. Unfortunately it often takes one of these moments in life before we begin to understand how short our time really is. For me it was suddenly developing a few chronic illnesses when I was 40. I've been in and out of hospitals ever since and I'm having another operation on Saturday. On the positive side it made me change my job, buy a motorbike as well as the car I always wanted...because if not now, then when. Take care.

[@Jerbod2]

Techmoan This is what I meant, this realisation that it can happen to anybody and how age does really affect how you'll live your life. You were realistic enough to say that if you were being honest to yourself, the years that you'd feel young still are around 10-15 years from now, and after that there's just a slim chance you'll be as fit as you are now. I know all the cliché's, you feel like the world collapses and how mentally the blow is far harder than the actual diagnosis. This is exactly the situation I am in right now, I feel like living in a nightmare and wish I could turn back time to tell our doctor to look further than just prescribing a painkiller. On the other hand we as a family realise that it's just down to bad luck in this case, and we'll just have to make the most out of it. I find myself googling for that little bit of hope of better treatment that I am sure will one day pop up and save my father's life, but since this cancer statistically kills 90% in 5 years after the initial diagnosis, including the people who do find it in time, it's just not going to happen in time. Again, I suddenly can relate to your way of thinking, it just took an event like this to trigger it.

[@Techmoan]

What you really need to try and do know is be as positive as you possibly can around your dad...he won't want people moping around him being sad all the time. It's going to be very hard, but it's the best thing you can do for him at the moment.

[@Jerbod2]

Techmoan Thanks for the encouraging words Mat, I sincerely hope you and your wife will be able to do the things you enjoy most for as long as possible :) I'll just be here to consume your videos, which I can happily say are getting more and more interesting to me. I initially subscribed for that second spy-pen review you made in 2012 and I stayed for the more obscure but interesting things you review more and more. Good night.

[@freesaxon6835]

Manny I don't want to give you false hope, but new treatments appear regularly, and we never know if a breakthrough in all cancer treatment is just around the corner. Sometimes alternative treatments may help, oral Beta-1,3D Glucan etc read up on the net

[@nunofernandes4501]

Your channel is perfect Sunday morning TV. Thanks for all these videos, we the nerds appreciate them greatly.

[@Livebirdboxcatterall]

I could listen to the wobbly old recordings all day, knowing that someone had recorded themselves all those years ago and instead of the tapes ending up in the bin they have managed to survive.. Great stuff.

[@salvatoreshiggerino6810]

inb4 Technoman gets a copyright strike from Me and Kenny's DMCA agent.

[@Starcrunch72]

LOL--strike right back for using a Jason Alexander promo photo. jk

[@U014B]

Plot Twist: Me and K/Denny get a record deal because of this video.

[@MarkTheMorose]

Plot twist twist: James May revealed to be the forgotten third member of Me and Kenny.

[@sirmugman]

i just wanna know who the hell copy right striked it in the first place what? are you related to these or are they famous but we don't know them?

[@salvatoreshiggerino6810]

***** You've seriously not heard of Me and Kenny's legendary organ and guitar ensemble? Have you been living under a rock for the last 50 years?

[@Spookieham]

I just started typing "you need to replace the capacitors" when.... Good video though!

[@kevinjokipii4260]

18:16 it sounds like something Wallace would listen to while Gromit is doing all the work.

[@TimHollingworth]

Great video as always. And good to see the puppets again, I do enjoy the comedy duo.

[@boredwithusernames]

I know this was uploaded in 2016 but I just came across this fascinating video. I just had to post that I worked for a Hospital Radio station some years back and we actually had a version of the Fidelipack cartridge system in our studio to play the jingles and program intros, Stereo plus queuing track. Thanks for the happy memories, they were wonderful times... ;)

[@kirbyswarp]

Love anything from the 50's and 60's. Thanks for the video. (more things from 40's~60's)

[@kirbyswarp]

First one was lost in the post? A piece of history lost...

[@sirmugman]

well what do you think are in those boxes at the end of raiders of the lost ark? that's mail that got lost

[@BigStar303]

FWIW, I recall that a friend of my dad's had one of these units in the early 1960s. I remember messing around with it a bit. Nice trip back in time for me. Well-done!

[@nthgth]

Did your dad and his friend happen to play guitar and organ? And is one of them named Kenney by chance?

[@BigStar303]

@@nthgth Nope, no connection. I don't recall my dad's friend's name, but there were no guitars involved when I played with that tape unit.

[@nthgth]

@@BigStar303 ah oh well. I was mostly kidding anyway. Probably a fond old memory though

[@notsure1367]

I actually thought I'd never see one of these in my life but I found one for $3 and being the tech loving 14 year old Boy I am I bought it

[@nthgth]

Good find. Does it work?

[@TomokoAbe_]

the sound of reel-to-reel is far superior than anything else to this day.

[@Skellotronix]

More than FLAC or WAV?

[@olivercharles2930]

definitely not

[@jackallen6261]

I normally don't comment much on these videos since I really don't have anything of note to add...but in this case I must say, your videos on the old forgotten systems are AMAZING! SO much research and background information is presented in such a digestible and informative way that I really wonder if you might be missing your calling as a documentary film maker!! Thank you so much for the videos!! Cheers!!

[@Maddin1313]

My favourite band is Me and Kenny, you've probably never hear of 'em.

[@TimperialBroadcastingAgency]

"a family of... androids like this one here" I lost it. XD

[@Takeshi357]

At least it isn't a family of iPhones

[@bradleypearl2986]

@@Takeshi357 Agreed.

[@bradleypearl2986]

@Wishful Thinker Dude, he made a joke, and I responded. I'm sorry.

[@oc2phish07]

@@Takeshi357 LMAO. Clever use of words.

[@mr.bobcyndaquil4214]

@Wishful Thinker it was just a pun, you dingus

[@chrishopkins209]

I love the crusty sound of that recording - I can see some producers using one of those to create lofi samples

[@TechTokOffical]

I've recently started restoring old stuff. I've found a small heat gun REALLY helps when removing old gunk

[@darrylsmith3102]

i had that Exact Cassette Deck Back in the Day when i was a kid....Way! Back. i played it so much, i wore out the heads. Thank you for this video and taking me back to my childhood, What a time it was for all audio and video technology. Truly, Thanx again.

[@G56AG]

I remember when RCA changed their logo, the big shots decided they wanted a more modern looking logo, the dealers went ballistic, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Customers would come in and not recognize the new logo at all, no problem with the old logo which had been in use since the early 1900's. After Gen. Sarnoff died the company was sold to GE after a few years and GE basically destroyed the company.

[@Pisti846]

Very true and very sad.

[@wmlindley]

In other words: In 1985, General Electric, effectively Edison's ghost, finally got his revenge against the ghost of his rivals Marconi and Sarnoff and their Radio Corporation of America.

[@danielwilkinson8955]

Many companies have done that from time to time

[@7c3c72602f7054696b]

Good riddance to bad rubbish, they could never make up for what they did to Armstrong.

[@JeffreyPiatt]

@@wmlindley GE created RCA at the request of the US navy to prevent the British owned MARCONI company from controlling Radio.

[@TirantRex]

"Tape, as you know, never weirs out! So all your tapes will retain their original quality!" Sure. Magnetic media never degrades.

[@acmenipponair]

Especially not, when you tape them over and over again. No, never a quality lost...

[@That_AMC_Guy]

Spelling mistakes aside, the tape under normal use should never wear out. As Techmoan even demonstrated using his reel-to-reel, that Bel Canto stereo tape still has some pretty good fidelity to it! Don't forget, most of the tape made prior to 1973 is much, MUCH more stable than the later stuff. This is also why a lot of hit from the 1950's that we enjoy so much sound so amazing - they were recorded using really good tape.

[@Solitaire001]

@@That_AMC_Guy I think another factor (pointed out in another Tecmoan video) is that earlier pre-recorded albums were recorded at 7 1/2 inches per second (IPS) while later albums were recorded at 3 3/4 IPS. That reduced the sound quality.

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@That_AMC_Guy yeah, tape never wears out. Which is why you never needed to clean tape residue out of your various machines 🙄

[@Jorge_Organero1684]

Heeeyyy :D I remember those ones!!! Here in Mexico when i was a child i visited a radio station once and they had a cartridge machine. They used during the comercial pauses and all the edvertisements were recorded there :D

[@JerryEricsson]

1971 I was serving in Vietnam. We got this catalog from the Pacific Exchange where we could order different sort of things and have sent to our homes in the States. Well I was browsing through the catalog and came upon a cassette player/recorder that could be installed in a car! Well I had to have that, so I ordered it, and when I got home, there it was, an under dash cassette player with record function. It had a plug for a microphone, a wire that you could run to your car speaker with alligator clips to clip onto the wires on the speaker, and output for two speakers. I put a couple speakers on the back deck of my old 64 Chevy, and installed the deck. I went out and bought a copy of American Pie and played that cassette till it was nearly worn out. I recorded my mom and dad when they came to Washington from the Dakota's to visit, wish I had that cassette now, dad would pass on 2 years later. So stereo cassettes were indeed available in '71 as were in car players.

[@jean-pierrecharbit5934]

Extraordinary! I know some systems that have had more or less success but there I did not know until the existence of this RDA cassette player ... Thank you for making us discover such rare devices ...

[@homelessbag]

PLEASE release a video with the Full "Me and Kenny Song"! PLEASE @techmoan

[@ignorethischannel6956]

He can't do that is copyrighted

[@dguy0386]

I don't think a home recorded video would be copyrighted

[@SirNarax]

​@@dguy0386 I couldn't find if and who still owns the song but it is after the public domain date so someone somewhere owns that song's rights and by extension owns the rights to distribute that recording.

[@AndrevusWhitetail]

I wonder if Me and Kenny will ever find this.

[@HCIbn]

It’s from a old late 80s movie that came on channel 7 after midnight. Sadly I don’t remember the name since I was so young back then. But I do remember watching it twice on tv.

[@NapoleChan]

Unfortunately they won't, especially after what happened to them 🎣

[@McIntec]

"I imported this from the USA, of course it's 60Hz 120 Volts...." I hear that in all your videos :P

[@nick4uBB]

"Me and Kenny" - thumbs UP! Such a lovely sound after so many years of laying dormant .. it brings worm feelings - just like the sound from this tape itself . Thx very much for this experience - love your videos.

[@JerryEricsson]

1971 - while serving in Vietnam with the US Army, I saw a compact cassette player for a car advertised in the Pacific Exchange Catalog, a sort of Sears catalog for the GI at war. So I ordered one, since I had a nice cassette AM/FM/Radio player combo in Nam for my entertainment system. When I got home, the box was waiting for me, my wife had kept it unopened for nearly six months from the time I ordered it. It sounded GREAT, the first tape I bought for it was "A Horse with No Name!" I had it hooked up to the back deck speaker on the right, and the front dash speaker on the left channel. It came with a clip on plug to hook to the car radio speaker cables and you could record from the radio onto the tape in the deck as well as listen to tunes. The player was built like an 8 track, where you put the tape in tape forward and it went in sort of like a VCR if I recall. I loved it! When I traded in my old Ford 2 Door Sport Coupe though the fellow insisted I leave the deck installed, so it went with the car.

[@Certifiable]

1955: Record stereo broadcasts! 1985: Stop recording them and make us richer! Their yuppie kids were DICKS!

[@Malkmusianful]

"b-b-but everybody bought cassettes and not Stereo Tape Cartridges!" - the recording industry

[@Certifiable]

VWestlife That is both strange and cool to discover! Grew up in the 80s, so missed out on that!

[@RadioJonophone]

Here in the UK, the BBC experimented with stereo by broadcasting one channel over the TV and the other on the radio. They did this on Saturday mornings. In those days, TV proper started up sometime in the afternoon, took a break, then got going again at tea time. They did swishing stuff dancing from one side to the other, then some classical music from records. If I remember correctly, this was around 1960. The boffins had already honed the quadrature modulated, pilot tone system for VHF radio, but had not implemented it at the transmitter end because of low quality land lines used at the time. Proper VHF FM stereo arrived around 1965.

[@Certifiable]

I learnt plenty about Quadrophonic records (and the effects that would bounce from speaker to speaker) from my dad when I was showing him 4 point surround sound demos on my PC in '99. Pretty cool stuff in both cases!

[@TiltAraiza]

The BBC stereophony tests ran from 1959 to 1964 and I've been told some of them still exist.

[@jrmorrisjr1471]

Me & Kenny cover an old favorite Boy Scout song: "My Dead Dog Rover" I'm looking over my dead dog Rover, That I over-ran with the mower. One leg is missing the other is gone. The third one is scattered all over the lawn. No need explaining the one remaining It's splattered on the kitchen door. I'm looking over my dead dog Rover, that I over-ran with the mower. I'm looking over my dead dog Rover Who died on the kitchen floor. One leg is broken, the other is lame, The third leg is missing, the fourth needs a cane. No need explaining, the tail remaining Was caught in the oven door. I'm looking over my dead dog Rover Who died on the kitchen floor.

[@marrieddyke]

I'm lookin' over, a four-leaf clover, that I overlooked be-fore?!

[@mikeerbe8784]

Sounds like a Dr Demento song LOL

[@clvnmdr453]

Mike Erbe That’s it! I knew I’d heard the song before! My dad has a good deal of the original vinyls that radio stations used for broadcasting.

[@themoviedealers]

"Tape cartridges are only $3.95" $3.95 in 1962 money = $31.86 in 2017 money.

[@wolffpup245]

So about the same price as a 64gb SD card.

[@sixties76]

Brand new viynl LPs sell for the same amount or more today in 2019 though

[@hydrolito]

It was $3.95 tape for machine invented in 1959 not sure how many years used so price could have been then, later tape he said in 1960's or 1970's was $7.98 he was not sure of year he said could record 2 tracks of an hour each. So rewind and switch to change track. Later smaller cassettes they flipped over to play other side he did not go into discussing those. Those they had 30 to 45 minutes on each side depending on tapes used, those pretty much replaced most 8 track players as were cheaper.

[@peterlamont647]

You know, a lot of people don't think of this, but expenses were WAY different in the 1950s. A lot of people didn't have phones, radios, tvs, and other electronic devices like computers at all. Middle class families had plenty of money and not a lot to spend it on. Which is where these new products came from! You didn;t have to buy a new electronic gizmo every year like people do these days. We spend over $1000 a year on phones(iphone people) either on monthly fees or on the phone itself. Then we get a new laptop/desktop or both every few years. We also get all manner of external storage media. That's not to mention our dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, cars that only last 5 years and cost as much as a house did back then...the list goes on. Point being they had more disposable income and fewer expensive electronic items to spend it on. Of course, many essentials were far more expensive back then than now such as textiles etc. but I think I made my point.

[@JasonB808]

Oh to be young and ignorant. Not knowing the advances in technology we went through. Just a mere 30 years ago there was no internet (at least not the one youngsters in their 20s or younger) would recognize. No graphical interface, everything was command line. Tape cassette technology was a huge advancement over reel to reel technology. It was equivalent to modern kids buying an Ultra HD Blu-ray.

[@psimac]

Brilliant lesson. My dad was the US-Importer for Grundig so I grew up with 4-track reel-to-reel, 8-track, and compact cassette which I understand Grundig had a hand in development with Philips.

[@jbbevan]

Your report on the RCA cartridge was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. I bought the stereo version of the machine you tried to get running in the Fall of 1962 as a freshman in college. I may have recorded 7 or 10 tapes on it and when it sounded good (attached via RCA plugs to a component system) it sounded really good...BUT the machine was its own undoing because the "wow. & flutter" were off the charts. In fact, I took the first machine back and exchanged it because I thought another machine might be better. Not so. So the utility of the machine was great; the sound had great potential; and the size and form factor were what RCA intended. However, the first machines from 1959 were large and considerably heavier and more robust than that 1962 machine. I believe the machine would have had a longer life if the quality of the small 1962 machine had lived up to the original machines. Two years later I found myself living in Germany and became aware of the Philips Carry-corder (dictation machine) but the miniaturization of the RCA concept (and I believe Philips bought the rights from RCA) was fascinating. In the "wow & flutter" department, the original carry corder was only slightly better than my 1962 RCA...but it was SO portable and ran on batteries (even). When I went home in 1966 I took a new Porsche 912 (back when one could buy a new Porsche for $4,200) and I outfitted that car with an "Autohalterung" for the Philips unit AND a beautiful Nordmende multi-band radio (into which the output of the carry corder was plugged). So I like to think that I was the first guy in the USA with a car cassette player. I hated 8 track and knew even in 1966 that it would die and the lowly Philips cassette would win...which became the case (eventually). The the cassette did not come of age until the Advent 201 Dolby deck from 1971. That is when the cassette became a truly viable music medium...though pre-recorded cassettes from the likes of RCA or Columbia never sounded as good as what I could record myself. I looked into the L-Cassette (but it's life was much shorter than the RCA) and even the Ampex/3M cartridge (which had great potential...but never gained any traction). For me the best home recording medium...ever...was the MiniDisc...in many ways I wish it were still there.

[@KnapfordMaster98]

I love how the guy on the demo says that tape never wears out. I guess the technology was so new that they didn't know...

[@Perktube1]

"As we all know, tape never wears out. "… spchchch… blown away…

[@drof2th]

"...Tape never wears out..." Things that make you go um!

[@Ruben_Oscar_IGLESIAS]

Amazing! I really enjoy your videos. It never ceases to amaze me. You do an excellent historical research and compilation. THANK YOU

[@stephendobbins9251]

I can't believe that back in the day people thought tape never wore out. That's a load of laughs.

[@kwacker45]

have you thought of replacing the......... nice one very enjoyable cheers!

[@shurd3207]

But I learned so much about some place called "Africa"!!

[@Rebel9668]

I'm so glad that green muppet is British, he can't vote for Trump.

[@RadioJonophone]

I would buy that book about Africa. Will it be available on 8-track?

[@shurd3207]

Tim Jones Yes but what if it only plays back on right hand drive book players?

[@RadioJonophone]

Drive in reverse, silly.

[@LordSandwichII]

"Tape never wears out?" Really?

[@WooferCooker]

Yeah. I laughed when I heard that. I suppose tape was still pretty new for them. 40 years later.. They start falling apart.

[@F0NIX]

Well, they also claimed that Compact Disc (CD) never will wear out and will last forever and can't be damaged, when they was releasing the CD. I have an degree in Radio and TV repair and my class wast the first in Norway to get the degree when the CD was introduced, and I remember some of the manufacturers saying to us (not to the public) that the CD will "probably" would last forever, but they had no way of testing it so they stuck with "would last forever" :) On the CD there are no physical contact between the medium and the machine when it is in use other than the center where the spindle is attached. But it is a stationary point. So if you keep the same CD inside the machine at all time it would probably last a very long time (but not forever). The tape on the other hand have a lot of points where the tape touches some mechanics of the machine (like the playing head and the roller that keeps the speed). So it would wear out long before the CD, even if you never replace the tape in the machine. And I'm not taking into account the material of the medium itself just withering away, even if it is not in use.... :)

[@stephenrowley4171]

+F0NIX I could be imaging it but wasn't there an advert where they drove over a disk to show how resilient it was which is blatant lie

[@graemejwsmith]

I can remember the BBC's "Tomorrow's World" showing a CD that had 4 slots cut in it at 90 degree intervals that still played. I suppose if the slots were precisely enough spaced - the redundancy/error correction in the data on the disk would make up the deficiency. But no one bothered to try the deadly circular scratches or accelerate test the corrosion of the thin aluminum film! "Gold standard / Archival" discs exist. Using almost non-corroding gold films for the reflector layer and pitted Phthalocyanine dyes - stabilities of 25 thru 300 years are claimed from "accelerated" testing. But scratches in the plastic substrate can still make the disks problematic to read.

[@mikeangelo6667]

Oh, no! That means my recording of the 1958 All-Star game may be useless.

[@kg4boj]

YOU NEED TO REPLACE THE CAPS IN THAT!

[@freequest]

you do know he is haveing a joke based on the puppet thing at 19:35

[@freequest]

AIO inc. well for me first seeing the thread all I could see was someone not actually getting the joke.

[@freequest]

AIO inc. fair enough

[@freequest]

AIO inc. I agree with this I am using a 38 year old top loader simpson whirlpool washing machine every few years I have to grease the water extraction pump and thats all I have to do. Whereas my brother mother and friends go though a new washing machine almost every year. LOL

[@kg4boj]

Actually things tend to survive in the desert much longer than they do in a damp place, the only exception is electrolytic caps which dry out over time and will require at least 'reforming' no matter what you do The dry desert will prevent a lot of corrosion and sand is an excellent insulator.

[@kolinevans9127]

One of my fav KZbin channels , thanks for sharing all this.

[@johnwelch703]

Wonderful review. Love the history, the look inside and the experiments. Bravo.

[@xaenon]

I absolutely lover your videos, and this one now tops my list of favorites. Very well done history of the tape formats over the years, in addition to the mention of the rare 3M 'automatic threading system', and it was interesting to see some details about the SoundTape system. I don't suppose you'd be interested in posting the audio from that organ music tape, would you?

[@Techmoan]

The home made organ music?

[@xaenon]

The one recorded from WJAC.

[@Techmoan]

I haven't respooled those onto the reel to reel, so it's not too likely that I'll get these onto WAVs, but perhaps if I ever find myself with a couple of days spare with nothing else going on....

[@xaenon]

Okay, no worries, and I understand completely. It was kind of an odd request anyway. It's a shame the 'institutional' machine you demo'd n the video didn't have the capability to 'sum' left and right channels, but of course, it was built for maximum playback time, not any particular compatibility. Out of curiosity, I looked up WJAC-FM; turns out it's in Johnstown, PA and known today as WKYE. It first went on the air as WJAC-FM in 1949, which was actually a bit of a shock to me, since I thought commercial FM didn't start until the late 1950s. It has been an educational day, for sure. Thank you for your videos, and for taking the time to respond to my comments.

[@SpiritedSpy]

Saved by the belt

[@mrsid6581]

Be careful not to wear out the delete key of your SX64 keyboard, replacements for that are very hard to find!

[@aubiejazz]

Hey Techmoan, In the mid sixties I owned an RCA tape cartridge system JUST like the one you have. I used mine to record movie audio from TV and later I would listen to the tape as a person would listen to radio drama. A few years later I would take my RCA Reel to Reel to a drive-in theater and record the movie audio for the same purpose. (I was a radio drama fan but could not find a station that played the shows.) BTW, I had rigged up a power cord for my R to R so I could get AC from the car heater plug on the speaker post. As for the other formats you mentioned, in my 1969 Camaro Rally Sport, at one time, I had a 4-Track, an 8-Track and in the 70s a cassette player. I am 71 years old and each day I listen to Old Time Radio on my iPod when I go to bed, it relaxes me. The Internet opened up radio drama in a big way. I do not listen to the movie audio anymore I have a room full of DVDs for movie watching. Great video and it was a pleasure to see the tape cartridge system that I have not seen since 1967 when I joined the U.S. Navy. PS: Would you please do a video on the Quadra Disc (CD-4 Channel Discrete) LPs. I had this system in the 70s and I still have some of the LPs but no a capable stylus, the decoder unit or a 4-channel amp. THANKS, D. Walker

[@project3003]

Thank you techmoan for not having ads during the video

[@legoman123481]

Speaking old technology, my school, currently in 2016, still has CRT TV's and my math teacher still uses an overhead projector.

[@2400dimension]

I just hooked up my dads VCR from when I was a kid, sat in the basement for 15 years. still works.

[@Sadlander2]

Thank you for making and sharing these videos! I can imagine how much time, research and patience you needed to make this one! Question: where do you find these old articles? Online? Thanks again!

[@Techmoan]

books.google.com/

[@Chalky.]

7.5 inches per second? Maybe in my younger days or after a good rest.

[@NYWF]

I have a Stereo model of this player that is NOS with all of the original paperwork in the original box and it has never been used!! I also have the same mono unit he repaired and used in the video. RCA had a fairly large number of prerecorded tapes in this format of artists popular at that time. I have about a dozen of them, and they command a fairly hefty price on the collector market. Thanks for a nicely presented video on this system. I love RCA and have collected a number of their radios and other electronics over the years.

[@InsanePsychoRabbit]

The education market really does seem to be where old formats go to die. Several of these unusual formats you mentioned persisted for years in the education system long after they had died in their intended markets. I recall my elementary school having a film projector as late as the very late 1990s. One time in 2015, I brought my VCR to class so my professor could play us a documentary on VHS!