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Object 1

Cassette tape

Competition for the gramophone record

The ‘compact cassette’ rolled off the production line of Dutch electrical giant Philips in 1963. The company developed the cassette recorder at the same time. The ‘tape’ was expected to displace the gramophone record, but nothing could be further from the truth.

All the same, it was incredibly popular. After twenty five years of existence in 1988, some three billion cassette tapes had been sold. Philips already had a successor to the tape by then: the compact disc was released on to the market in 1982. The record or LP and the cassette tape were by now being hit hard: the Dutch were hardly buying records or tapes any longer.

Contributors
Jasper Visser
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