Cassette tape (storage)
More info
- Creator
- Philips
- Released
- 1963
- Type
- Magnetic tape cartridge
Philips' Compact Cassette from 1963, repurposed in the 1970s and 80s as cheap storage for home computers that couldn't afford a floppy drive.
The Compact Cassette was designed by Philips in 1963 for dictation and music — not data. But its ubiquity and pocket-money price made it the obvious storage for early home computers. Programs were modulated into audio tones (see the Kansas City standard) and saved on the same decks people used for mixtapes.
Loading a game meant two minutes of screeching FSK and a hope that the head's azimuth was aligned. The ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 (with its digital Datasette) and countless others shipped this way until floppies got cheap.