What is a Cassette Tape?
Also known as an “audio cassette,” “compact cassette,” or “tape,” the cassette tape is a recording format which was most commonly sold during the late 1970s through the early 1990s, featuring prerecorded music. The immediate predecessors of the cassette tape include the 8-track cartridge or “stereo 8” and the 12-inch vinyl LP or “record.” The compact disc (CD) replaced the cassette tape as the dominant prerecorded music format in the 1990s, while the MP3 and other types of audio files have taken over as the most popular music formats in the new millennium. The cassette tape got its name from the French word cassette, which translates to “little box.” Rectangular in shape, the cassette tape is comprised of two spools of magnetically coated tape at its center. The cassette tape was first manufactured by Phillips in the 1960s for the purposes of audio recording, and became mass-produced under the name musicassette, or “M.C.” in Germany by 1964. After undergoing several upgrades to improve
Also known as an “audio cassette,” “compact cassette,” or “tape,” the cassette tape is a recording format which was most commonly sold during the late 1970s through the early 1990s, featuring prerecorded music. The immediate predecessors of the cassette tape include the 8-track cartridge or “stereo 8” and the 12-inch vinyl LP or “record.” The compact disc (CD) replaced the cassette tape as the dominant prerecorded music format in the 1990s, while the MP3 and other types of audio files have taken over as the most popular music formats in the new millennium. The cassette tape got its name from the French word cassette, which translates to “little box.” Rectangular in shape, the cassette tape is comprised of two spools of magnetically coated tape at its center. The cassette tape was first manufactured by Phillips in the 1960s for the purposes of audio recording, and became mass-produced under the name musicassette, or “M.C.” in Germany by 1964. After undergoing several upgrades to improve