Discs were the main method of recording and playing music for the first half of the twentieth century, but sound recording on steel tape was used in the 1930s by radio stations. In 1935, two German companies developed a strong plastic tape, which had a layer of iron oxide on the surface. This invention eventually made it possible for smaller, domestic tape recorders to come into use. In 1963, Philips introduced something they called a “compact cassette”, which contained a thin tape within a plastic case. This was much lighter and more convenient for home use.
A cassette tape, tape cassette, or only cassette – is a rectangular and flat container that helps record & play audio and video. The original cassette tape only recorded audio, and that was enough. Usually, cassette tapes are made of plastic. But some models come with metal constructions. Cassettes have the sole purpose of transporting the magnetic tape. This is where the data comes from (sound & video signals).
These cassettes can be inserted in a recorder, so they can be used to record audio and/or video directly. And without having to handle the tape by hand – the cassette will do it automatically. When the cassette is put inside a player, then the magnetic tape will do its job to provide the audio or video from its small guides on tape. In short, a cassette tape allows users to transfer data around in magnetic tape – conveniently.
Magnetic Tape
On blank magnetic tape, the magnetized particles are all facing in the same direction. Electrical signals created by recorded sounds because the magnetized particles to move into patterns that match the sound signal. When the tape is played, the head “reads” the magnetized particles and creates electrical signals to match them, which are relayed to a loudspeaker to be played. In order to wipe the recording from the tape, all that needs to happen is for the tape to be passed through a strong magnetic field, which lines up the magnetized particles once more.
Magnetic recording, method of preserving sounds, pictures, and data in the form of electrical signals through the selective magnetization of portions of a magnetic material. The principle of magnetic recording was first demonstrated by the Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen in 1900, when he introduced a machine called the telegraphone that recorded speech magnetically on steel wire.
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