PlayTape

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PlayTape 1200 player with inserted cartridge
Size comparison of compact cassette, PlayTape and 8-Track

PlayTape is a tape cassette format introduced in the United States in 1966 by Frank Stanton . PlayTape is a two-track system on endless cassettes . It was introduced as a compact competitor to the Fidelipac . The PlayTape cassette uses 3.175 mm (⅛ ″ ) wide tape. As with the Fidelipac or 8-track cassettes, the tape is on a continuous winding according to Bernard Cousino .

The playing time of the 57.15 mm × 95.25 mm (2¼ ″ × 3¾ ″) cassettes is between 8 and 24 minutes over two channels in mono. Stereo was planned, but cassettes recorded in this way were never offered. The PlayTape cassettes initially sold very well; in 1968 there were already cassettes with recordings by over 3000 artists.

When PlayTape was launched in 1966, records or tapes had clearly better sound quality, but were less suitable for traveling. In Europe, competing compact cassette of Philips and the DC International cassette of Grundig AG for this market, competed in the US Stereo-Pak ( "4-track") and the 8-track tape system from Bill Lear around this Market. PlayTape managed to fill the niche for a short time and produce mobile playback devices for on the go and for the car. Young people in particular bought the inexpensive players and cassettes. From 1968 onwards, 8-track cassette devices for home and car displaced PlayTape from the market.

The only automaker to equip vehicles with a PlayTape player as standard was Volkswagen . These radios are now rare collector's items.

Mail call

In 1967 Smith Corona (SCM) used this cassette format for his Mail Call , a device based on the design of the housing that had the PlayTape drive built in and was intended to convert the PlayTape cassettes as empty cassettes with recording times of 3, 6 and 10 minutes as a spoken letter with comparatively cheap postage . The endless tape was marked by a switching tape so as not to overwrite the beginning of the recording. In 1967, a 10-minute long distance call within the United States through AT&T cost $ 5.50 net, which today would be $ 42 net. Three minutes of an international call cost 12 USD (today that would be 92 USD).

Hipac

Hipac was a cassette format clearly based on PlayTape, which came on the market in Japan in 1971 and disappeared from the market after two years. In the mid-1970s, the advancement in children's toys was used for learning.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Billboard, July 16, 1966
  2. ↑ PLAYTAPE - THE 2-TRACK ALTERNATIVE ( Memento from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ databits: Retro Design: Smith Corona Mail Call Cartridge Tape Recorder , YouTube, September 4, 2016
  4. ↑ Techmoan: Voice Mail - 1967 Style: The MAIL CALL , YouTube, September 21, 2017
  5. ↑ Techmoan: Hipac - The lost tape: Pioneer's forgotten 1970s cassette rival , YouTube, September 29, 2017