Cassette Tapes

For nearly 20 years (early 1970's through the late 1990's) cassette tapes were one of the top ways to listen to prerecorded music.  Music lovers had the opportunity to take blank cassette tapes and capture their favorite songs or anything else for that matter.  

Frequently called audio cassettes, a compact cassette tape is defined as a magnetic tape sound recording format.  During the very beginning, cassette tapes for sale were created for the sole purpose of dictation.  However cassette tapes history showed a dramatic shift to more non-professional applications. 

During 1964 Phillips introduced the the trademarked name Compact Cassette to the United States, just two years after the company invented it for audio storage.  Cassette tapes were first introduced in Europe in August 1963 before being unveiled in America.  The compact cassette became dominant in the wake of Sony's pressure on Phillips to license the format for free. 

As you probably already know, compact cassettes are compromised of two tiny spools.  Between every spool there is a magnetically coated plastic tape that is passed and wound.  A durable, protective casing holds the spools and all other parts safely inside.  On the cassette tape there are a couple of stereo pair tracks (4 altogether) or two monaural audio tracks. 

In short, there will be one stereo pair or one monophonic track that is either played or recorded as the tape moves in one direction and the second pair when moving int he opposite direction.  To reverse the tape you have to either take it from the cassette player manually and flip it over or have the player change the tape movement itself. 

In the beginning sound quality was second rate for cassette tapes, however as technology advanced, the sound quality of audio tapes greatly improved.  By the late 1970's, audio cassette tapes were the number one alternative to twelve inch vinyl LP's.  Needless to say, blank cassette tapes are extremely versatile and once again, for decades people have relied on audio cassette tapes to save their favorite songs for all sorts of occasions.

If you would like to have a little fun with your blank cassette tapes and put your creative mind to work, you can dress them up using stickers or markers.  You'll appreciate your tape so much more using original names and funky designs to keep this old school way of recording music and information alive.  Now it's true that CDs and DVDs have begun to replace blank cassette tapes.  But rest assured, they are not obsolete and neither are tape recorders.  Both can still be found in in stores at affordable prices.

Although technology is always evolving, there are still many uses for cassette tapes.  Not only are they ideal for recording music, but they can be used by college students to record class lectures.  Or used by employees to record meetings.  Or keep one around to record your thoughts and ideas.  Even if you do need to change storage formats in the future, you can always convert cassettes to MP3!

No doubt about it, having blank cassette tapes at your disposal can boost your creativity and allow you keep your music or thoughts close.  Even better, you don't have to be an expert to use them.