Magazines on tape
Some of the most ingenious devices go unnoticed by the average person. I’m referring to assistive technologies, these can be life changing for the people who use them, but are often unknown to anyone else. In this video I’m looking at magazines on tape and the interesting machine that played them.
Update: re-uploaded to correct verbal typo (and it's now got a new thumbnail too).
Comments (58)
wow that takes me back. My father was blind, so he got books on tape/books for the blind constantly as he loved to read. I "read" a number of books with him via those. He had a couple of specialized players/recorders but they were larger, layed flat like old school tape decks, and one was for cassette's and the other was for 8-tracks (or as a kid that's what I thought they were). He is long gone, passed in '94 so I am pretty sure all of his old equipment is gone. But I will make a point to ask next time I visit the reservation.
It’s been very educational to me learning how many viewers have been or are affected by sight issues. There have been a few people I’ve communicated with over the years about these things, but I really had no idea how common it was.
Wonderful video, as ever. Looking over your shoulder it seemed that the LaMetric clock was displaying your subscriber numbers. Does this mean YouTube has reinstated the appropriate API for this (or whatever it might be called)? Hope so. And thanks again.
I’m really not sure. There are a few YouTube subscriber apps and my old one was no longer showing any stats. I swapped over to a different one and it’s working, although I think it may just be looking at the public info now as it’s using the ‘rounded up to the nearest thousand’ figures rather than the individual count. I’m happy either way as it’s one of the main reasons I bought it.
Excellent (as always), and important video. I learned about this amazing organization assisting the blind. Cheers Mat!
I had a lovely dream the other night in which I was sorting through old boxes and came across a _magnificent_ top-of-the-line Aiwa personal cassette player from the early 90s. With every feature desirable and in perfect shape. I was glad I'd packed it away. Of course, no, I never owned such a thing. But it reminded me that "very nice portable stereo tape deck" remains on my wish list (ideally a Sony D5...which has probably made more appearances on your channel than the puppets, right?).
I used to find the best things in dreams. Now not so much, they must have all gone to eBay. Yes the D5 always sits under the counter, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.
I didn't realise you had sight problems, Mat. You hide it very well on camera, I would never have noticed. As always, that was really interesting. Keep looking out for one of thise original 1950s RNIB / Clarke and Smith 16 track cartridges. I wonder if the RNIB have one in a museum somewhere? That would make for an interesting trip out to see it and shoot a video on site.
You’ve convinced me to order one - just in case a tape ever does make an appearance.
Haha.. thanks for making Kristine instant Vapor Wave! That was hillarious! <3 :D
Sorry to hear of the vision issues. I've had issues with my eyes (cataract removal, vitreous humour detchment) but so far, other than being a little blurry on occasion, my vision is OK. Hope you are able to work through this. Brilliant video on an important, if obsolescing, technology. I've been googling to see who that narrator was on the instructions - it almost sounded like a young Ronald Reagan (FBOFW!). Off to watch the APH video.
Great video and great links. This is why I subscribe. Awesome.
Great way to start my weekend! Thanks for another fun, informative video.
They clearly put lots of thought into it to, thanks for showing us. Good to see that you got the LaMetric Time clock showing the subscriber numbers again, did it take much work?
No, I just needed to load in a new app. The old one I was using became unsupported after they started rounding up to the nearest thousand. I assumed the APIs had been deactivated, but I was wrong.
Matt, does APH offer services within the UK market? What with the rise of adult diabetes occurrence in your country (same as here in the US), and our shared language, seems like APH should enter the UK if they have not yet done so.
No, we have the RNIB. Although I know next to nothing about it.
Sorry to hear about your sight issues, Mat. I don't mean this in a funny way, given your love of bikes and cars, but I'd guarantee peripheral vision in one eye would qualify you for a free disabled bus pass. I've been eligible for about seven years now (for both my heart and information processing issues) and it truly is a life saver. Wishing you all the best.
Thanks for the tip. I don’t tend to use public transport at the moment, but if that changes I may look into it.
My eye's are shot, especially the left one, try to hold that eye open, I appreciate the innovation put into these listening devices .
That’s one of the things you never appreciate unless it happens - how one bad eye will affect the vision of both.
Awesome video as always! Thanks Mat! Also, kind of a side-though-somewhat-related curiosity of mine, but does anyone know of any other cheap roughly Walkman-sized cassette devices that have pitch/speed control built in? This device might do the trick though it has a lot more features than I really need.
The Sony WM-D6C has a pitch wheel. That’s the only one I know.
An interesting topic, well discussed as always. Thanks Mat.
"By the way, it's much lighter than this AWESOME FOUR TRACK TAPE RECORDER THAT I SHOW FOR JUST 650 MILLISECONDS." Love it! You again came up with an interesting and entertaining story. Thanks Matt!
I thought if I didn't mention 4-track porta-studios then they'd be sure to come up. Unfortunately that one needs repair before I can use it. I put a pre-recorded cassette in to test and that tape is now a permanent installation.
One of my favorite podcasts is 99% Invisible. They had an interesting story on the history of Braille and other systems to help vision impaired people with reading. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-universal-page/
I'll definitely have a listen, thanks.
Interesting stuff to learn about, there's a whole world of things that sighted people are unaware of. Reminds me of the Technology Connections video about elevator chimes--1 chime for going up and 2 chimes for going down. Also noticed how that USB device had a large hole in the end to make easier to locate, extract and insert.
Yes I’ve got that machine - I probably shouldn’t have as it mentions something on the back about being the property of the library of Congress.
When the manual was being read about how to use the index feature, the resemblance to the Mission: Impossible tape recorder voice was eerie, I was just waiting for the next words to be "Good Luck, Jim"
You're right - he'd be perfect for that. You made me check to see who had been the original MI Mission voice and it was a chap called Bob Johnson. It seems like some of the best voices in the business are otherwise unknown.
When I was in high school I was lucky enough to be able to tour a facility that produced these tapes (though I believe it was a different organization, it used compatible recordings). This one was a non-profit based in the Detroit area, and it produced audiobook versions of university textbooks for the most part. It was quite fascinating, even if the recording and duplicating itself was fairly standard stuff. As it was mainly college level textbooks, narrators were required to have a masters degree in the subject, so that they wouldn’t mess up anything important. I remember the tortured way they had to describe tables and graphs, and even as a cocky high schooler thinking how hard it all was. Thankfully I still have good vision but very grateful services like this exist for others who aren’t as lucky.
Great video Mat. I really enjoyed it and found it very interesting. Sorry to hear about you eyesight, I hope it doesn't get any worse.
Wow, what an amazing product, thanks for sharing it with us, Mat. I would never had known such a thing existed. Pretty remarkable organization behind this as well, I enjoyed the linked video, too.
Are the batteries inside the machine definitely AAs? They look a bit like 18650s with that green wrap on them. Edit: Nevermind, the guide on the tape says they're NiCd!
Hi Matt! Really sorry to hear about your eye! As a blind person myself, it's never nice to hear about others losing their sight. However, if there is anything at all I can do, please don't hesitate to reach out across the internet. I know you prefer to be private, but I would be happy to write e-mails or something. Anyway, I live in Norway, so it's not like I'm going to come knocking on your door unannounced. :) BTW, you can still use the word watching when talking to visually impaired people. I use the same words as everyone else, so I watch TV or Netflix or YouTube. I liked the tape recorder, though. I've had similar machines many years ago when cassettes were still being used here in Norway. Some of the recorders made for that market are quite good machines, as this one shows. It's really cool that you showed this player. Thanks for all your interesting videos! I hope you stay well so we can benefit from your great work for a long time to come!
I've been in touch with a few blind subscribers over the years. Ever since a blind chap called Louis got in touch a few years ago and told me how he appreciated the fact that I described what was on screen (something I didn't realise I was doing) - I've made more of an effort to do this wherever possible. I'd imagine some people wonder why I'm reading aloud things like the text on the side of a box when they can see it themselves - well that's why.
Always finding unique stuff. Thanks, Mat. Can you use the speed/pitch controls when recording? That would produce some weird recordings. When I saw the remote jack it brought me back to my first cassette recorder my mom bought me when I was a kid. The external mic had an on/off switch (pause, really) and the smaller plug was molded in next to the regular 1/8” mic plug.
I've just checked and it will only record at 15/16 or 1 7/8 ips - the variable controls are locked out when recording.
If you visit their location in Louisville, Kentucky, they have a nice museum and tour.
It’s almost certain I’ll never get the opportunity, but they showed it briefly on their video. It looks like a good place to work, rewarding.
Just a very minor correction: At 07:30, you say “0.8 %”, which of course should be “80 %” or ”0.8 times”. Probably not work re-recording the voiceover for that, but I wanted to let you know.
Looks like I’ll have to do a re-upload. If I don’t, a good 108% of comments will be about that.
One of your best. Thanks for this, Mat.
Thanks for opening my eyes to this product. Sorry I had to say it, no offense intending but I m a facetious b'stard. In my case it's my ears that are going (too much metal and rock in my past) and I mourn the loss of the higher tones.
Jack Fox’s voice was so official sounding, I half expected him to disavow my actions were I captured. What a great voice.
Yes it made me feel voice-inadequate.
By the way is anyone here on an iPad using Safari and finding that you can’t post a comment since the recent updates as pressing the return key does nothing? The solution is to press the shift key to take off the shift then press return. It’s a weird glitch.
I’ve been wondering for ages why I couldn’t post on my iPhone! This works! Thanks!
I'm kinda freaked out by seeing a cassette with a 2018 copyright date on it.
That makes me think I should have held the Summer 2019 edition in the thumbnail.
And of course don't forget about all the amazing work BNIB does this side of the pond... 😊
Yes I’d imagine many countries have their own similar organisations that do great work. There may be some other similar devices out there - but finding out about them is half the battle.
This is one of the most interesting and useful gadgets you've talked about of late... I would definitely use this as I have a stack of audio books on tape and could crank up the speed to listen to them all at twice the speed without the "pinky and perky" nonsense...
Well now’s the best time to go looking on eBay before the video goes public on YouTube. I’ll be setting this one live either Monday or Tuesday. There were a couple on there last time I looked - not in the best condition though.
Take care of yourself Matt.
I’ll try - a lot of these things are out of my hands.