The Microcassette!

[@7JANEWAY]

Some years back, I had a phone answering machine that used the micro cassette. Until digital answering machines came on the scene, the micro cassettes were the standard and worked just fine for leaving messages. I don’t remember that they ever released pre recorded music tapes on this format-which right there tells you something about their (lack of) fidelity, and the fact that micro cassettes were not primarily made for music. It took the advent of digital recording to truly reduce the size of an answering device so that it’s now in your phone. I still say that Alexander Graham Bell is rolling in his grave with everything a phone is used for today-used for everything except for making and taking phone calls!!!

[@RickF-dw8cl]

Always something new to learn. Thx

[@Recordology]

Glad to hear it!

[@adrianandkatrinadove203]

fascinating show...i was born in 64 and have never heard of those tiny tapes..neither had weena and she was born in 1898...was so frightened you were going to play the lion king tape,as i am sure my not favourite artist was involved in that production ??..Great production Mate..Really interesting ..

[@TorontoJon]

LIKE number 10 and feelin' Zen. I've got a couple of microcassette recorders too that my father used for dictation and about 15 or more years ago, I bought two 3-packs of microcassette tapes from Walmart for $8.99 a set which are still sealed to this day since I didn't use them, but was glad to have them. One can also buy tapes on Amazon, but they're not as cheap as they used to be since they are fairly rare and aren't used these days, of course, since there are digital recorders, smartphones, etc.

[@ThriftyAV]

I also did not know how early micro-cassette was developed, as I first encountered it in an answering machine in the 1980s. It looks like your Olympus has 2.5mm jacks. If you want standard 3.5mm jacks on a Microcassette recorder, Sony is a good option.

[@dannysvinylrainbow4852]

Thank you For this video, just super👍 They need to manufacture these again, Supply and demand drove the prices way up. I was obsessed with micro cassette in my teen yrs. best Brand for sound was Panasonic imho. I had a stereo boombox micro cassette too, it was an amazing machine. Around 1982-3-ish i think it was GE

[@xaenon]

Half of 1-7/8 ips is 15/16 ips. And half of that is 15/32 ips. Frequency response probably maxes at 5000 hz at 15/16 ips, and 3000 hz at 15/32 ips if we're talking about the strictest, base-mode operation. I've read that these tape recorders have a fairly aggressive automatic level control to compress audio while recording. The limited frequency response tends to eliminate the higher harmonics, which combined with the compression actually helps make speech seem clearer, though it sounds flat and some of the tonal qualities of the person speaking tend to get lost. Of course, none of that is really important for its intended purpose. Olympus did their homework when developing it. An old girlfriend of mine had one that she carried EVERYWHERE. She had aspirations of being a writer and she would often record conversations with it, and also used it to record ideas for her writing. She used the recorded conversations to make her writing style more realistic, right down to pauses, 'ummms', vernacular/jargon, and so forth.

[@Recordology]

very cool.....

[@bamaslamma1003]

So that's what 100% wow & flutter sounds like.

[@nickbitten6037]

Interesting video. I am often on the lookout for a hi-fi separate Stereo Microcassette recorder/player ( having seen an article on Techmoan). However, they are not exactly common and are pricey now. Please keep up the interesting comment.

[@Recordology]

Cool, thanks!

[@tzougas8061]

I own some pre-recorded microcassette tapes, I found them at a flea market. They are collections of popular hits and others with classical music . They are on metal tape. The labels are TopSound and Polyband (made in Germany).

[@Madness832]

Half of 1 7/8 is 15/16 ips -- a speed which was used by some of the talking-books-for-the-blind cassettes. The faster speed for microcassettes is 2.4cm -- approximately 15/16.

[@timwoodland3664]

Informative as always! As requested, Fast Speed 15/16 ips or 2.38 cm/s - Slow Speed 15/32 ips or 1.19 cm/s .

[@michaelturner4457]

In the early 80s, there was a short lived hi-fi stereo microcassette, that used METAL tape and Dolby B noise reduction. And Sanyo did make a stereo microcassette deck.

[@lordspucke8938]

super.thx a lot. great info.very good video

[@MidanMagistrate]

I have a really funny story about my Pearlcorder L200. I got it when me n my mom went to an estate sale for the house of an old nun who had just recently died. We bought the tape on a whim and it's battery slots were corroded like crazy, but surprisingly, it worked after cleanup! The two tapes that came with it were, funnily enough, used by one of the nuns to spy on the other nuns in the house!

[@Recordology]

Please do the world a favor, and upload the audio to KZbin! 😂😂😂

[@MidanMagistrate]

@@Recordology Hah, I wish I thought to, but I recorded over em! One specific part I remember though I hearing someone far away from the recorder say "What is that you're eating, what is it?.... Oh it's a pickle, a good pickle"

[@musclecarfan74]

There is also Mini, Pico and NT, small formats, Sony brought out the Elcaset from 1976-80, and the 90's had DCC

[@gootarguy2320]

One key question - do most handheld units record in stereo or mono? If I play a stereo panned signal into its mic jack while recording and then play it back from the recorded tape, is the panning retained? Or does it sum to mono?

[@michaelturner4457]

I think they're very much all mono. Except for one, the Sony M-1000, that's a stereo hand-held microcassette recorder.

[@maximilianfischer8899]

It sounds like the belt needs replacing

[@nvo7024]

My Olympus sounded warped, too, right out of the box - and, curiously, after 30 years later it sounds exactly like it did when new. I'd presume it's "a feature and not a bug"

[@steelblue8]

A lot of the issues you are experiencing are likely inherent to the technology, not specific to your unit - I have a new old stock microcassette recorder that sounds pretty much exactly like your unit, free of dents and wear. Honestly I really love these things, they're a lot of fun

[@bradfordlewis9765]

I've never seen a micro cassette player with auto reverse as an option, so I doubt it ever existed on these units. The micro cassette tape format probably wasn't capable to begin with, would be my guesd.

[@pegasusandharley]

Half of 1 7/8 is 15/16.

[@stonerjamie]

the two speeds for microcassette dictation machines are 2.4 and 1.2

[@gootarguy2320]

I really love the tinny sound! Instant lo-fi sound! Not sure how you recorded the music but obviously you'd assume the quality would be a lot better if you record direct from an audio source via the mic jack, rather than using the onboard microphone.

[@RickF-dw8cl]

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