Dutch Engineer Who Invented the 'Cassette Tape' Passes Away

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] Dutch engineer Lou Ottens, who invented the cassette tape in the 1960s, has passed away, BBC reported on the 10th (local time). He was 94 years old.

According to his family, Ottens died last weekend in his hometown of Duizel, Netherlands.

In 1960, Ottens became the head of product development at Philips. There, he and his research team developed the cassette tape, which was launched at the 1963 Berlin Radio Electronics Fair. The cassette tape then gained worldwide popularity, with an estimated total sales of over 100 billion units.

On the 50th anniversary of the cassette tape invention, Ottens recalled in an interview with Time magazine, "It caused a sensation from day one."

Ottens later participated in the development of the compact disc (CD). CDs have sold over 20 billion units to date.

When Philips released the CD player in 1982, Ottens commented, "From now on, the traditional record player has become outdated."

Ottens retired four years later.

He revealed that his biggest regret in his career was that Sony, not Philips, created the iconic cassette tape player known as the 'Walkman.'

The cassette tape he invented declined with the advent of CD players, MP3 players, and smartphones but has recently regained popularity.

Many artists, including Lady Gaga, are releasing their music on cassette tapes.

The number of cassette tapes sold in the UK in the first half of last year increased by 103% compared to the same period the previous year.

In the United States, cassette tape sales in 2018 increased by 23% compared to the previous year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.