Cassette History : A series of fortunate events

What influenced the Philips Compact Cassette?
This and more will be answered in this video event of the century.
Be the life and soul of any party by sharing the story of how 3M’s failed music cartridge made the Philips cassette possible. Learn why Philips' terrible deal with Sony was great for everyone else. Discover the only patentable feature of the compact cassette player.

00:00 Play
00:25 The ‘Inventor’
02:45 Proto-tapes
05:35 RCA’s attempt
09:15 3M’s attempt
11:09 Minifon attaché
12:30 It’s all about the width
13:59 Understanding the market
16:01 Cassette’s unique feature
17:06 Philips other 1963 cassette
18:09 Rivals
19:53 The deal of the century
23:00 Quick fire facts
24:30 Load “”
26:08 Eject

LINKS
My Videos
Other Links

FAQ
Q) Hey why didn't you mention (Insert endless-loop tape cartridge format here - e.g. Echomatic, Fidelipac, NAB Cart, 4-Track, 8-Track, Playtape, Hipac)?
A) This is about the cassette - it's a two reel system - a tape with a beginning and an end, as are the other formats shown - there's a family tree that extends through from Reel to Reel to RCA Sound Tape to Cassette. Endless loop systems aren’t part of this particular story. Something for another time.

--------------- SUBSCRIBE ------------------

------------- Merchandise -----------------

------------- SUPPORT ---------------
This channel can be supported through Patreon

*******Patrons usually have early access to videos*******

---------- Outro Music -----------

------ Outro Sound Effect ------

------ AFFILIATED LINKS/ADVERTISING NOTICE -------
All links are Affiliated where possible.
When you click on links to various merchants posted here and make a purchase, this can result in me earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network & Amazon.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON Sites (including, but not limited to Amazon US/UK/DE/ES/FR/NL/IT/CAN)

Asked every video:
Q) Why are there comments from a week ago when this video has just gone live today?
A) Patrons usually have early access to videos. I'll show the first version of a video on Patreon and often the feedback I get results in a video going through further revisions to improve it. e.g. Fix audio issues, clarify points, add extra footage or cut extraneous things out. The video that goes live on youtube is the final version.

[YodaPagoda]

A lot of my coworkers were former residents of the Soviet Union, and the Compact Cassette was a huge reason those people could get popular music. Tapes would get passed from person to person, recorded and passed off again. It's a pretty interesting story, really. It's how The Scorpions got to fill a stadium in a country that they'd never sold an album in.

[GadgetAddict]

I don't think there's anyone else on YouTube that could make this interesting, like you do 👍

[randomnickify]

"I'm sure you have places to be" Neah, sitting on my sofa, sipping my morning coffee while watching saturday Techmoan is exact place I want to be, do carry on :)

[michaelhowell]

I have watched almost your entire catalogue of videos over the past 1.5 years. Some of them several times over; nixie tube anythings, various VU meters forays, oscillogram thing-a-ma-bobs, plus anything featuring shiny chrome front panels. I think this is one of your best videos ever for several reasons: the respect and politeness you show to your audience by directing our attention to the collaborative effort involved, the amount of collective research you have done, you show real examples of the technology that you *own*, pricing information that puts the past into perspective and the cherry on the cake: your explanation of why the Philip's cassette succeeded when it could just as easily have failed.

This video involved years of "hidden" work, which you have brought together in one video. I and I'm sure many others appreciate the astounding amount of effort. I doff my hat to you. Thank you.

[bramvangansberghe]

I had a uncle who worked for Philips Hasselt in Belgium (location where the cassette was developed). His name was Gilbert E. Mestdagh and he was the chief of "mechanical designs".
So he was one of the engineers who worked on the compact cassette, his name is even included in the patent.

[Kae]

Like several products in your video, I also came out in 1959. In 1971 I asked for a portable cassette recorder for Christmas. In the weeks leading up to Christmas my parents would sing the song "L.A. International Airport" by Susan Raye, which was popular at the time and they would laugh and smile at each other. I didn't get it. When I opened up my cassette recorder on Christmas morning, they told me to press the play button. They had recorded that song off the radio with it! Thank you Mom & Dad, and thank you Techmoan for this wonderful video. :)

[Pressbutan]

7:03 if Technology Connections taught me anything, it's that RCA loved nothing more in that era than to patent things and license them out to fund the RCA labs.

*Jazzy saxophone music plays*

[reeffeeder]

Thanks for your continued dedication to your channel and the care you put into your videos. I have learnt so much from you and want to let you know your work is greatly appreciated and helping to preserve history.

[henriklilliecreutzjansson]

Starts watching this video when it got about 2000 views. A friend calls, puts it on pause, and we chat for an hour. Finishes the video, and refreshes the page: More than 20.000 views! Damn, that is impressive, and it made me smile even more today.
Thanks for posting (and creating) a new video.

[Proudbashamed]

Me when I first discovered this channel: "Obsolete media is fun to learn about, but why would anyone spend time and money collecting this stuff?"

Me now staring at my alarmingly fast growing cassette player collection: "Uh oh..."

[johnbonham]

The gentleman was what nowadays is known as “project leader”. And what a successful project it was!

[chillstar]

So glad I couldn't bring myself to dump the hundreds of tapes I have- was using them daily between when I was a lad in 1980 & the early 2000s. They're a history of my musical evolution from 10 year old to 30 year old.
I still have a decent player/recorder and love digging back through the memories.
Often amazed at how well they've lasted and good they still sound- even 30+ year old tapes that spent years rattling around on the dusty damp floors of various cars and bottoms of bags, often not in their cases, some played hundreds of times.
A fantastic format. Glad it's making somewhat of a resurgence.

[the_ultimo]

3M is still one of my favorite companies in existence, they make so many cool things and they make them so well.

[Milkman]

TechMoan is one of a handful of YouTubers that haven't annoyed me in any video they've made.

[goyadressunofficial]

Lou Ottens was also on the team at Philips that developed the compact disc, an invention he was more proud of. Regarding the RCA tape cartridge format, I think the cost and lack of portability were dominant factors in its lack of acceptance.

[Eligordon]

A series of fortunate events: me finding this video on YouTube front page minutes after being released.

[calebwilliamson]

Being from the US I rarely catch these this early. Just wanted say thanks for the years of entertainment!

[logicaldojo]

Saturday morning used to mean cartoons - now it means the new Techmoan video!

That RCA bit hits even better after just re-watching the CED series from Technology Connections. What a company!

[alangriffin]

Great video. It’s always more nuanced than something like, “Lou Ottens invented a format so good that it was universally adopted and everything else failed”.

[bielboyster]

Love your channel, Techmoan! Being a 97 kid fascinated with old media, this channel is a treat. Greetings from Brazil!