Lou Ottens, the former Philips engineer who gave the world his first compact cassette, passed away. According to the Dutch news agency NRC Handelsblad, Ottens was 94 years old when he died on March 6.
Ottens started working on the cassette in the early 1960s. The path NPR tells the story, he wanted to develop a way for people to listen to music that was accessible and accessible in a way that large reel-to-reel tapes were not at the time. So he first created a wooden prototype that would fit in his pocket to help guide the project. He also worked to convince Philips to license its invention free of charge to other manufacturers. Philips launched the first “compact cassette” in 1963, and the rest, as they say, is history. But that was not the end of Ottens’ career. He went on to help Philips and Sony develop the CD.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of cassette tapes for musical culture. We wouldn’t have mixtapes and playlists without them. What’s more, they allowed people to listen to their favorite songs and albums on the go. No ads or radio DJ input. This is something that defines how people have liked music ever since. And despite all its flaws, in recent years, cassette tapes have had a kind of resurgence in popularity. In 2016, sales of the format increased by 74%. Two years later, they grew another 23 percent with the help of soundtracks from Weird stuff and Guardians of the Galaxy.