My research topic was all about magnetic recording. So, what
the heck is magnetic recording anyway?
A little history lesson first…
In Germany, in the year of 1928, magnetic tape
was made so that sounds can be recorded. Magnetic tape is found in all sorts of
devices such as compact cassettes, reel to reel film, video cassettes, tape
recorders, 8 track tapes and many more. Before the digital era, Magnetic tape
recording was considered the best on the market because of the mere quality
that the playbacks provided. At first, the head designs for the tape were
needle-shaped, but were later improved to the circular shape. In around the
time of the 1930’s, a new technique called “AC biasing” was also developed, and
this improved the fidelity of the recording audio signal by increasing the
effective linearity of the recording medium. ***Interesting fact! *** Because
of the outbreak of World War 2, and other political tensions, these new
improvements were kept secret. That is, until allies of the German’s basically
spied and figured out that they had new radio improvements by the sounds of
their broadcasts. After the war, Americans were finally able to bring these new
improvements home.
Here—watch this video clip—it explains things much better
than I do!
The Cassette Tape
After Fritz Pfleumer invented magnetic tape, and after the
very first reel-to-reel tape recorder was developed, the cassette tape was
born. Before cassette tapes were developed, reel-to-reel devices were
expensive, and bulky, so they were not often used in households. However, in
1962, Phillips invented the compact cassette medium for audio storage, and
introduced it in Europe first, and then in the United States in November of
1964. Sound quality at first was not that great, but it dramatically improved
in the 1970’s!
When cassette tapes were first invented, they were primarily
used as dictation machines, and came in blank versions. However, they also came
in pre-recorded forms, and eventually made it HUGE in the music business.
Most people remember cassette tapes—unless, of course, you
are 10 years old. But, most of us probably remember using them to listen to
music when we were younger, or remember our parents using them to listen to
music. Maybe some of you still own a cassette tape? Cassette tapes were hugely popular in the
1970’s-the early 1990’s when the new compact discs came out. However, before
the 1990’s decline, cassette tapes made a large impact of society because of
how easy it was to listen to music. Recording and copying the music on these
cassettes were a great way for punk and rock bands to get their feet on the
ground. The Walkman and cassette tapes went hand in hand together, and with
each other boosted sales all over the world. Not to mention it paved the way
for CDs and MP3s.
This Video goes great with this!
The 8 track, what is it? This description pretty much sums
it all up. “An 8-track tape is a hard
plastic cartridge about the size of an external modem that houses a continuous
loop of non-digital (analog) audio data stored on magnetic tape. William Powell Lear, founder of Learjet,
invented and patented the 8-track tape and its corresponding player in 1963,
when he was looking for a simple, long-playing tape system to install in the
business jets that bore his name.
8-track
tapes, which can hold up to 45 minutes of sound, were introduced to the general
public in 1966 when the Ford Motor Company included 8-track players as a
cutting-edge automotive accessory for the Ford Mustang. The music recording
industry quickly saw the potential for a lucrative home player market and by
the early 1970's, 8-track tapes were replacing vinyl long-playing (LP) record
albums as the dominant format in pre-recorded music. Their lightweight plastic
casings made them ideal for travel -- and unlike vinyl records, 8-track tapes
didn't warp or skip.
By the early
1980s, advances in tape technology and noise reduction made the even smaller compact
cassette the system of choice and by 1983, record labels ceased production
of pre-recorded 8-track tapes altogether. Today, the adjective
"8-track" is synonymous with "quickly obsolete"(http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/8-track-tape). It seems
to me like these were going to be good, but since the cassette offered an
easier way to listen to music, it was out done by it.
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