Cassette Blog
When you mention that Lou Ottens, the inventor or the cassette tape, died this year at the age of 94, most people probably won’t care or even remember his name. For myself and many Generation X humans like me, the cassette was the most important and powerful form of media in our lives. Cassettes made my generation’s heavy, clunky record collections portable, multi-track recording insanely affordable, and journaling as well as note taking via audiotape an exciting way to capture a piece of space and time. Mr. Ottens’ invention, created out of frustration, helped dull the sting of boring commutes for billions of traveling people worldwide and gave artists access to another dimension of audio recording creativity that was previously reserved for the wealthy or those individuals signed by a record label. No young person of the modern age could imagine or appreciate the impact that such a seemingly simple invention had on the generations before them. While cassettes seem to be a f
