Dr Balbir Singh
One of the foundations of our civilisation is its ability to use language and writing to record and store knowledge for subsequent generations by various means. Paintin1gs, written language and music have enabled people to pass ideas and experiences to their descendents.
The methods for creating durable knowledge have evolved along with civilisation itself. Stone, papyrus, paper, paint and ink worked for hundreds of generations. The moveable type printing press began the mass reproduction of written information.
Photography made objective and subjective recording of visual information possible.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries, research was first carried out on the nature of sound and speech, and the possibility of creating mechanical devices to record and reproduce music (both vocal and instrumental) as well as speech.
Pioneering scientists such as De Kempelein and Leon Scott who lived in 18th and mid 19th century led to Thomas Edison’s invention of a working phonograph in 1877, which recorded sound and speech on foil or wax for playback at a later time.
Other inventions of the era such as the telephone showed that electricity could be used to reproduce sound.
In early 19th century, several scientists made fundamental discoveries about magnetism. Michael Faraday demonstrated that magnetic fields can produce electrical current and vice versa.
In 1888, a scientist named Oberlin Smith explained the basic theory of all magnetic sound recording and described a magnetic thread recorder/ player in great details. However, he never built his device and the theory remained untested. In 1894, a Danish telephone technician named Valdemar Poulsen rediscovered the principles of magnetic recording and made a steel wire recorder/player.
In 1899, he filed a patent for a steel wire magnetic ‘Telegraphone’ and built and demonstrated a prototype in 1900 at the Paris Exhibition. It was the first successful magnetic sound recorder/player.
However, the sound volume level was low since no method of electrical sound amplification was available then.
One further development rekindled the practical use of magnetic recording. The first was electronic amplification using vacuum tubes or Tiode valves as they were called. This gave magnetic recorders/ players the sensitivity and power for loudspeaker playback.
Improvements in the use of wire recorders/ players continued through the 1940s.
Philips invented the Compact Cassette (CC) for sound recording and data storage. The CC, a plastic, magnetic tape is often referred to simply as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape. The company first introduced the CC in Europe on 30 August 1963 (at the Berlin Radio Show), and in the United States (under the Norelco brand) in November 1964, with the trademark name Compact Cassette. CCs were mass-produced under the name musicassette, or “M.C.,” in Germany by 1964.
The cassette tape got its name from the French word cassette, which translates to “little box.” Rectangular in shape, a CC consists of two miniature spools, between which a magnetic tape is passed and wound. These spools and their attendant parts are held inside a protective plastic shell.
By 1966 over 250,000 recorders had been sold in the US alone and Japan soon became the major source of recorders. By 1968, 85 manufacturers had sold over 2.4 million players. The CC went on to become a popular (and re-recordable) alternative to the 12-inch vinyl long playing gramophone records during the late 1970s.
Prerecorded music cassettes were launched in Europe in late 1965. The Mercury Record Company, a U.S. affiliate of Philips, introduced M.C. to the U.S. in July 1966. But it didn’t become a widespread consumer technology until much later, especially in India, because of import restrictions.
The tape recorders using CCs welcomed regular users into the musical experience, like nothing else before it. People could record or erase record and edit, a musical album at home and pass it around.
It also made the listening of music much more private and portable — you could carry your tape player or Walkman around, listen to it alone. Mass producing cassettes was much easier than gramophone records, allowing younger and poorer listeners to own music. Finally it rocked India too. The music industry, long dominated by the Gramophone Company of India (GCI) and its HMV label (Little Nipper), was pushed out. It took a Delhi businessman called Gulshan Kumar and his company, T-Series, to perform that feat.
Small companies created devotional songs and folk music, songs in regional languages and the like.
Performance of classical musicians from 30 minutes to 60 minutes was available on a CC. Most middle class households had a portable CC recorder/player. It was a direct gift of cassette culture. Most of them even today have dozens of pre-recorded CCs.
How long do audio cassette tapes last? When properly cared for, an audio cassette tape can last 30 years or longer. However, many factors like equipment malfunction and heat can shorten that lifespan considerably.
CCs were partly thrown out by compact discs. Today there are three-in-one players available which play CDs, CCS and a radio.
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