Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape, has died at 94
Source: Yahoo! News
The inventor of cassette technology, Lou Ottens, died at the age of 94 at his home in Duizel, Brabant, Belgium. It was in 1963 that the first plastic encased cassette tape was presented at an electronics fair with the slogan “smaller than a pack of cigarettes!”
Beginning his career at Philips in 1952. Eight years later, he was named to the top spot of the product development department. By 1961 Ottens and his team had created the first portable tape recorder, and in 1963 the cassette tape, which revolutionized the much-larger reel-to-reel tape system.
The tapes were quickly copied by the Japanese but in different formats, so Ottens made a deal with Sony to use the mechanism patented by Philips to introduce a standard cassette. That model had a global rollout and DutchNews.nl reports that over 100 billion units were sold worldwide.
But Ottens wasn’t done innovating: He went on to develop the compact disc, which again became a Sony-Philips standard and which sold over 200 billion units.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lou-ottens-cassette-creator-dies-165139012.html
Dutch engineer Lou Ottens, 1926-2021, and his famous creation.
Over 100 billion cassette tapes have been sold since Philips introduced them in 1963 - but not satisfied with the sound quality, Ottens helped introduce the CD in 1982.
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Rest easy, Sir! 
I owned hundreds of Grateful Dead bootlegs on cassettes.
I'm not sure what it is, but the shiny side has dark marks that look like squiggly tracks... as if miniature worms or ants have been tunneling through. It's completely unplayable. 
But fortunately, I can still listen to it on Spotify.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgettable..._with_Love
...best overall performance for me, 45 minutes a side, perfect hour and a half of rockin' up PCH. I still have hundreds of my mix tapes. The 120's didn't hold up well after repeated use; tape felt flimsier, thinner. They still play and sound great, but keep 'em away from magnets yo.
R.I.P. Mr. Ottens. Your invention got me started on the road to playing the right song at the right time.
(still have a pile in the basement)
My mother preferred the Maxell 90s (she recorded talk shows she listened to during the day) and I liked the TDKs for music.
My favorite was the Sony CHF.
Very crisp sound - especially if recorded on a (c. 1980) Pioneer tape deck.
The 1990s-era Sony metal tapes were great too.
My tape deck was an Aiwa, Technics turntable, Pioneer receiver and four Advent speakers. I spent many hours with my 400 plus LPs.
Good Times! 
When cable repair guys come they make fun of me but I don't care. Each of my pieces of music have good memories for me.
The thing I have been super pissed about is cassettes for cars. An old boyfriend used to install them and they became hard to come by. Now they are extinct. I can't drive well unless I have music I know and like (seriously). That meant that ALL my driving music was on MY tapes... 
but the great thing is that you can just go home, pull out a few albums and make another tape for free. 
...recording Dr. Demento's weekly radio show on KMET (Westwood One Radio baby!). I'd then use that as a Master, and use my Nakamichi cassette deck to record the songs from the show I wanted to keep. Collected over 800 novelty tracks off the air that way.
I followed such things like this pretty closely in the '80s. I ripped mix tapes from my record collection, like many back then. The RIAA sued Phillips to make them stop making cassette recorders altogether and it went to the Supreme Court.
In what was a rare victory for the little guy, the Supreme decided I had a right to record a back-up copy of vinyl albums I bought. The RIAA claimed it would be the end of the recording industry and they tried again when CDs were introduced. In the end they won because when was the last time you saw a burner on a new computer? Now it's subscription where everybody pays a monthly fee. Either way, home recording did not put a dent in the industry.
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I was pretty fussy. I would never use Normal Bias tapes. They lacked treble and were meant for voice recording. CRO2 Chromium Oxide was the way to go.
And CRO2!
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