Cassette tape and CD inventor Lou Ottens died at 94

The inventor of CDs and cassette tapes has passed away.

Lou Ottens, who is credited with not only inventing cassette tapes, but also helping to develop CDs, died this month at his home in the village of Dügel, the Netherlands. He was 94.

“We are very sad to hear that Lou passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 6, 2021,” said Otens’ daughter, Arine Otens. WTOP News.

Dutch engineer Ottens began working for the Netherlands-based electronics company Royal Philips in his early 20s. In 1960, eight years after the company he became head of product development, Dutch news Reported.

Within a year of the role, he and his team had created the world’s first portable tape recorder, an invention that would revolutionize the music industry, selling over a million units. In his third year in the role, he invented cassette tapes, a development inspired by Otten’s frustration with ODL’s open-reel magnetic audio tape recordings.

“I got annoyed with the clunky, user-unfriendly reel-to-reel system,” Ottens said in an interview about what inspired him to make compact cassettes, according to the publication.

Compared to reel-to-reel, their new analog magnetic tape recording format was considered a revolutionary and dull innovation. The new tape allowed listeners to easily record songs from the radio, a game-changer at the time – and the beginning of countless “mixtape” romances.

Otens’s team presented their inaugural plastic-enclosed cassette tape to the world at the 1963 Electronics Fair. “Smaller than a pack of cigarettes!” Promoted the music format.

Philips-patented tapes were a near-hit and quickly revolutionized the music industry, selling countless professional and DIY mixtapes, with sales of over 100 billion.

Then, in the 1970s, Ottens helped create the CD, co-producing CDs, Philips and Japanese electronics manufacturer Sony, which made its public debut in 1982.

Despite his heavy influence on modern music, he remained humble about his involvement.

“I don’t have a proud dial,” Otens said The interview After his 1986 retirement, saying that the creations were a team effort.

In another interview, he expressed a profound and presentable understanding of change, innovation and the inevitability of the passage of time.

“Everything in the world disappears when it has finished its time,” he said. “So I.”