Cassette History/Trivia : A series of fortunate events
You may have seen me mention that I’d prepared some notes about the history of the Philips Compact Cassette for my brief radio appearance the other week and then I’d decided to use these notes as the basis of a video. This is that video.
I originally thought it could be a quick extra but somewhere in the process it took on a life of its own. Unfortunately it didn’t come together as I’d envisioned. It feels like a potentially interesting short story that was expanded into a movie but in the process lost the initial spark.
I think next video I’ll focus on something a little bit simpler.
Anyway, as always I hope you’re keeping well. I’m glad to see the weather is finally improving and the daylight hours are extending. With any luck I’ll be able to get out and about a bit more. I hope you manage to do the same. Take care.
UPDATE: I’ve managed to shave another five minutes off the running time. I've embedded and linked the shorter version of the video above. I've also shortened this post to keep it more on topic - just like the video the first edit got a bit lost in the weeds.
If you want to see the longer version of the video - it's still linked here now as a Patreon ad-free exclusive: https://youtu.be/wG3W_Ks9QoE
I do think the shorter version is the better one now though.
Update 2: Tidied up a couple of dodgy edits, and managed to remove another 30 seconds of fluff. I think that’s it done now though. On to the next one.
Comments (73)
Brilliant stuff as always, good to see the timeline documented in such a concise form. As far as data use goes, it wasn’t just amateur and home computing. When I worked with minicomputers in the early 80’s Texas Instruments made data terminals with dual cassette decks http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/14411/TI-Silent-700-ASR-Data-Terminal/
Hey Mat, what a cool music video with all our favorite 1980s Japanese tech! Featuring the triple deck cassette player, the DD2, a JVC VHS Deck, a Technics TT. The shop in the beginning is a reference to Tatsuro’s Sparkle album https://youtu.be/UXiwRmlCZ7E
Looks like that took a long time to make - very vibrant.
I lost track of this then found the Patreon mail again while making a surely futile attempt to "catch up". Glad I did - it was great! Thanks!
Those section title inserts bring back some memories of using those particular cassettes and labels. Scripted and heavily edited videos are nice, but think you communicate and maintain interest just as well in a less pacey video. Very interesting and kind of an overarching overview of a few of your more detailed videos 👏
Yes it’s a bit of a recap and a clarification more than anything too new although there are a couple of Philips formats in there that I haven’t shown before. I may return to those in a longer video at some point.
Your knowledge on subjects like this is nothing short of encyclopedic, Mat. A superb piece of work.
Thanks - if you get a chance, check your messages inbox here on Patreon as I’ve sent you a message.
What a superb video.
Great video. I was interested in the graph and paused it at 24:16. I couldn't find a legend, but its fairly obvious. I keep hearing about a cassette resurgence, it must be so tiny it doesn't show on the graph! I wonder if they will overtake CD's in a few years. Food for thought.
If you want to play around with the stats graph, here’s the link https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/
That first transparent dictation 'cassette' at 4:59 looks like a prop from an episode of Get Smart. I bet if you bought one, you'd also get a free Cone of Silence.
This was great!
Wow Mat, you really brought back childhood memories here! I used to have an EL3302 Philips machine when I was younger and basically worn it out - I used to love it (it was a hand down from a relative when I got it!). Excellent video - I was unaware about the existence of the Scotch cassette as well. While I'm here I has the AZ vaccine as well on Tuesday - after 2 days I have a swelling at the injection site - did you I wonder?
Yes a tiny sore patch appeared, less than I usually get with the flu jab each year. It went in a few days.
would you be able to include your piece with the bbc in a patron exclusive video or within the monthly moans? i dont think i can access it as an american.
Does this link work? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000syp6 It's the very last story in the programme.
Thanks, Mat. I appreciated the BBC interview as well. One of the periodical pages you show mentions the development of colored magnetic tape (at 9:48 in the 32:26 version) – I suppose colored tape never caught on, but maybe colored media might make for an interesting 'cheese sandwich' video? I think you've shown us clear and colored records, and clear cassettes, but do you know of more unusual colored media?
I think if I had more examples it could do, alas though the only colour coded records I have were demonstrated in the ‘45s vs LP’ video.
Great information as always!
With prices I think it is useful to compare them to what people will pay for a Smartphone today, on the basis that people will have a similar amount of disposable income. In 1973 a student teacher working with my Mother received a mono Sanyo Radio cassette reorder for her 21st birthday. My Mother was so impressed she bought one for herself. £40 back then equivalent to £400 today according to the Bank of England.
I liked the little microcassette tangent as it tied in to the moving head patent but also why you chose to cut it. I was thinking you might mention the PXL2000 in this one, but talk about tangents... There does someday need to be a contest for most ridiculous format between video on compact cassette or video on vinyl. You might be the only one to do it.
Well i should get around to that camera one day - once everyone has forgotten about it again so it’s new once more.
Watching the new Techmoan video has become a Saturday lunchtime tradition, and this one did not disappoint at all.
Those “bumps” between segments are just brilliant. You really have a good eye and good feel for documentary film work. Bravo!
That's really great, Mat and I am SO pleased you made the point that the Compact Cassette system wasn't invented by one man burning the midnight oil in a lonely garret. Obviously a team effort, building on many technologies that already existed. Begs the question though, ARE there any mass-market electronic recording/playing devices that could be claimed to solely be invented by one person. How about George Eash's Fidelipak cartridge that was eventually developed into the 8 track? I also had the AZ vaccine a couple of weeks ago; not only were there no ill effects, but all my hair grew back and I'm now 6 ft 4 tall. Have a good weekend, Mat!
I think as far as the endless loop stuff goes it might all start with Bernard Cousino - perhaps he was really a lone inventor. Or perhaps that’s just what history reported. That’s really why I wanted to do the video... I understand the need for news articles being condensed down into a brief sentence or paragraph. The problem comes when people down the line think they can get all the facts they need from the headline rather than going on to read the full story. Bit by bit over the years the story gets forgotten and only the headline remains.
Great video - not boring at all. I am not suprised that the single spool versions didn't take off. I am sure there would have been a reliability problem. There were similar products in the computing world and they were not too reliable despite costing many thousands. Computer backup tapes went through a similar development but nothing after the 1/2" reel tape really stuck around for long until finally we now all use hard drives or even SSD.
Fellow Spectrum owner - always 2 cassette machines needed for making sure you get a copy of the latest game. Had to watch the volume and tone controls though! Wonderful video - enjoyed every detail.
Nothing says the weekend starts here quite like a new Techmoan vid! Absolutely brilliant episode Mat - really interesting to have the background laid out like that. You seemed quite perky too - hope that wasn't just for our benefit. All the best
Excellent meat on the bone. Don't ask me why, but I really enjoyed the cassette label chapter titles. Maybe it was that sound of the past, of a cassette clicking in place.
Thanks Mat. I saw the cassette movie. I had a cheap mono player in the 1970s. Hanimex. My first cassette I got was "Slade In Flame" 1974. I now own a Japanese Hifi cassette recorder like yours it does Dolby B and C (sadly not S) and can play metal tapes. A TDK Chrome or Metal tape with Dolby C sounds great to me. It's a shame tape mechanism technology has got worse in the 2000s. Best wishes.
I LOVED my cassettes. I’ve also been wanting to buy a reel-to-reel player....just to have on display on my mantel. Yes, you read that correctly.
I'll be honest my R2R is more decoration than anything else. They've got to be the most eye catchingly attractive consumer audio components. Some will spend 1000s on a painting that looks good but does jack all, so why not spend less on something that could also do something (even if you rarely, if ever, need to do that thing).
This was about as perfect a video as I could have imagined. It’s as if you crawled inside my brain and answered all my questions! WOW!
Oh no. I don‘t trust that AZ rubbish - even the German authorities who don‘t give a sh*t about the life of ethnic Germans banned it. Wish you all the best, Mat. And the video from you that bores me has not been made yet 😄
I really don’t want this to become a political channel. I stay away from all that deliberately. I just mentioned I’d had an injection - no biases or political leanings inferred or implied. I just turned up and got a jab and went home.
If it were two hours long I'd still watch it, albeit in smaller chunks. Another great video, interesting and we'll put together. I always look forward to your videos, and your subscriber and view stats prove you're way more interesting than you think you are.
Excellent episode. These kinds of things are the highlights of your channel. Who cares if "normal" peope find it boring...
I loved this video. As a hoarder (I mean collector) of odd formats, I liked how you tied them all in. Even ticked off my favorite oddballs, although I almost expected to see the Garrard cartridge in there. English pride and all that. ;) Funny that I saw the ad for the Philips stereo machines. I just posted pics on Facebook of the three badge engineered machines from Philips, Norelco and Ampex I own, and they are featured in that ad (well, the Philips is). The cool thing about them are the two attachments. One allows you to stack 6 tapes, similar to the Revere way, and after each tape plays it spits the tapes into a hidden bin. The other attachment is more involved - you stack the tapes, and as they finish playing, they're pushed into a chute which eventually pushes them all around so that they drop back onto the stack, B side up. I always assumed that Philips never intended the cassette to be hifi - slow tape speed, narrow tape, stereo heads had to be compatible with mono machines, etc. I always thought it was Advent, Fisher and Harman Kardon who led the way with the better decks later on. Sorry for the long post. I really liked the vid!
It’s funny you mention that particular Philips changer... Stay ‘tuned’.
I really enjoyed the "show and tell" format of this video, Mat. However don't be surprised if you get comments from upset Acorn Electron fanboys because you forgot to mention the Elk when talking about data cassettes. 😁
My parents weren’t teachers so I had a Spectrum. 😜
I don't think you could make something boring. Even if you tried really hard to, it would still come out interesting.
You need to talk to my Mrs.
That was a great round up Mat. I first saw the compact cassette when I went to a party in Norwich. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would be working for a company in London buying and selling Hi Fi & cassettes. Thanks for the full history, much of it I had never heard about.
Enjoyable as always, but this time I have a slight criticism on a technical aspect. Your voice comes through very harsh sounding. The sibilants are razor sharp. I notice that you wear your lavaliere microphone right side up, whereas you previously wore it upside down. If it's the same microphone as before, maybe it sounded better the other way? Of course there's no need to re-shoot the video, but perhaps it could be re-EQ:d? Not to bring you down. I always appreciate the effort you put into your videos!
Don’t worry about bringing me down - I’m on that already. It still sounds fine to my old ears so I’m probably the wrong person to try and EQ it as I wouldn’t know what to change to make it better. Yes I normally wear the mic the other way up because I prefer the sound that way, I think the clip got flipped.
This reminds me I should buy some more tapes. I'll head to Bandcamp but does anyone know anything interesting I should get?
I'm not gonna tell you what to buy, but watch out for releases from NewRetroWave, they're a good label and they frequently release music on physical media: https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/
Fascinating! Yes, it could have done with being a little shorter, but I loved this type of history, just talking to camera. Don't underplay your ability to engage an audience - it's one of your key strengths, and having you talking for a while is entertaining. I hope the video does well!
I ran out of things to cut out - after a while anything else I removed broke a reference in another section. It could do with being ten minutes shorter.
In terms of meat on the bone, this is a full-on pot roast.
Great video. I learned a lot that I didn’t know. I didn’t find it boring at all. The only thing that I find a little bit of an omission is that you don’t mention *where* Lou Otten and his team developed the cassette - and the CD - and that would be Hasselt, Belgium. Where I just happen to live, of course. The Philips factory is gone, but the old buildings and the site are nowadays used by tech companies. I do hope the town council will name a street after Lou Otten. Thank you for the video.
The facts around this are vague. Mr Ottens’ Product Development team were in Hasselt but there are other records that mention a team of people working on the development of the cassette in Eindhoven. I believe Mr Ottens regularly travelled between the two. What percent took place at which location I’m not sure. I chose to just leave it all out to avoid making a mistake.
Cute chapter titles! Next time, press play after inserting the cassette ;)
That cassette player doesn’t function unfortunately otherwise I would have.
That was really good. "Invention" is such a misunderstood concept - every "invention" comes out of a context of enabling technologies, previous attempts, market conditions, complementary products, etc. Your video really does a good job of debunking the idea that a single person or small team ever "invented" a product out of thin air.
Fantastic video and as someone who was born in 1989, I can say that it seems that most people today think of the cassette as the "free" music format. But it seems that most people have forgotten why and I think its because (as you said yourself) the walkman. There are hundreds of music formats but cassette is remembered because it symbolized freedom. People for the first time were able to go outside and listen to music. Which changed everything. But yeah its annoying when one person gets all the credit. I know its about brevity but it is upsetting sometimes. It would be like saying Apple invented the MP3 player when in fact, they just marketed it well and history is written by the victors.
Enjoyed this video as ever Mat. Do you know the date you were on The World Tonight? Would like to catch up on BBC Sounds. Good to hear you’ve had the vaccine too, I had the AZ vaccine but my side effect was sleep, and lots of it.
I forget the info now, but if you look in the previous post I know I noted it down in there. I’m not sure how long the shows are available to stream though.
That is, for sure, a great video. Fine research, good presentation, cool informations. Enjoyed it. All the infos. The video is missing "moaning". You're not talking about bad things about products you can buy. But isn't that what people like to see on YouTube? The mass loves moaning. Let see how much views you get. Don't get me wrong, I like the way your clips is done and I think you're doing these videos because you really love it. And you can feel it.
You could get a minifon today. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Minifon-Attache-the-Protona-Watch-Spy-Recording-Device-1959-/313295172553?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
It’s OK - I don’t want one, it’s cheaper to show a picture.
Obit to Lou Ottens in Wednesdays Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/17/lou-ottens-obituary
Really interesting summary of the tech. Many thanks!
What a timely video because did you know that Lou Ottens... Never mind.
Congrats on the vaccination Mat! I'm a week away from the 2nd dose of my Moderna vaccine here in New Jersey. Super psyched about it. Looking forward to watching the video when my workday is over. Stay safe and healthy out there!
A 32 Minute Techmoan video on a Friday, you’re spoiling us! Can’t wait to watch it 😀
Mat, As usual, you are too critical of yourself. Your style and content are far better than you allow yourself credit for. Here in the US most people are getting the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines. The second dose of Moderna hit me like a ton of bricks for 36 hours.
I’ve heard that about the second dose for some. If things go to schedule mine will be in June.
The P800! Loved those things as a kid, hand me downs. Too bad the screen cracked so easily
Good to know I'm not the only one that dreams of cassettes...