it always feels nice to reminded about things that were once so much a part of your life, but are almost forgotten now, isn't it ?
am sure today's pic will give such a feeling and bring forth memories of our younger days - at least for those of us who can't claim to be so much in our 'youth' anymore :)
cassette tapes (or audio cassettes ) were the most popular format for recorded music in the 80s and 90s, till they were replaced by CDs and later by MP3s ...
am sure today's pic will give such a feeling and bring forth memories of our younger days - at least for those of us who can't claim to be so much in our 'youth' anymore :)
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| From mundane monday |
cassette tapes (or audio cassettes ) were the most popular format for recorded music in the 80s and 90s, till they were replaced by CDs and later by MP3s ...
TDK was easily the most popular and sought after brand of audio tapes. TDK is a japanese company, and apparently stands for Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo. (if you have a lot of free time during the day, maybe you could try practicing the pronunciation.) TDK tapes were held in high esteem, and it was very common for relatives and friends who lived abroad in the 80s to bring blank TDK tapes to those back in india.
the tapes were commonly of either 60min or 90min duration, with the recording split into two sides of equal duration. during playback, once the recording on one side finished, the tape had to be reversed and inserted again to hear the recording on the other side :) later, more advanced cassette players also came with auto reverse options.
despite their many limitations and the frustration they caused users, they ruled the roost for a long time before being edged out by compact discs....
other popular cassette tape/audio tape brands included maxell and philips...
i guess audio tapes will soon become collector's items and increase in value... (if they aren't already !)
a popular indian brand was coney.
ReplyDeleteand sony with their advent of the walkman made the audio cassettes even more popular. sony made transparent shell tapes too.
do you also remember how to make these tapes read only ? there used to be small tabs on the edge. one per side of recording. breaking the tab would render the tape read only to prevent being able to erase/overwrite.
of course, reversing it simply needed u to seal the slot with a cellotape
but next time dont separate audio tapes and pencils.
oh yeah i do remember coney & sony, and the erasure prevention tab. i think the same tab mechanism was also on vhs tapes, right ?
Deleteand here's something i did mean to include as part of the original post but forgot in haste :) - http://www.sevenforums.com/chillout-room/174695-funny-geeky-cool-pics-2-a-136.html#post2007655
yes the same tabs on VHS tapes too... only that VHS tapes had only one of them. but conceptually the same.
ReplyDeletemy dad taught us to regularly open audio / video tapes and use cellotapes on the underside of the tape. the tapes we used would now and then split and had to be bandaged :)