Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer who invented the cassette tape and helped develop the compact disc decades later, has died. He was 94. Amsterdam-based news outlet Nrc Handelsblad confirmed the news but didn’t provide details.
Working to alleviate the challenge of huge reel-to-reel decks and the portability of recordings, Ottens began working on the audiocassette when he was named head of new-product development for Philips in the early 1960s. He used a pocket-size block of wood as a guide for the cassette’s future size and shape.
His brainchild would go on to account for sales of an estimated 100 billion units worldwide.
The cassette was a dominant format for music sales from the late 1970s — when record companies complained about the scourge of “home taping” — until the rise of the CD in the mid-’80s. After accounting for just 4.6% of U.S. music sales in 1973, they outsold 8-track tapes for...
Working to alleviate the challenge of huge reel-to-reel decks and the portability of recordings, Ottens began working on the audiocassette when he was named head of new-product development for Philips in the early 1960s. He used a pocket-size block of wood as a guide for the cassette’s future size and shape.
His brainchild would go on to account for sales of an estimated 100 billion units worldwide.
The cassette was a dominant format for music sales from the late 1970s — when record companies complained about the scourge of “home taping” — until the rise of the CD in the mid-’80s. After accounting for just 4.6% of U.S. music sales in 1973, they outsold 8-track tapes for...
- 3/10/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
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