RIP Lou Ottens, inventor of cassette tape and the 1st model of the cd

F1nut

Lou Ottens, the Dutch inventor of the cassette tape and the first model of the cd, has passed some days away at the age of 94.

Ottens (1926 - 2021) was as manager of a Philips factory also the inventor of the compact cassette which was introduced in 1963. In an interview five years ago het said in all modesty he could not understand what people still saw in that outdated 'thing' in the 21st century.

In 1979, as director of the Audio Division of Philips, he laid also the foundation of the cd. In march that year, immediately after a press conference in Holland where it was shown, Ottens, a commercial colleague and a number of technicians, flew to Japan. In their luggage they had some compact discs and laboratory players. The purpose of the trip was to find supporters for making the compact disc the world standard.

The delegation visited a number of electronics companies, During that visit, Sony offered to further develop the system jointly. The introduction of the first players took place in Japan in October 1982. In 1986 the CD-ROM was introduced and in 1988 the CD-R (ecordable).

Lou Ottens subsequently became director of the Video Division, where Video 2000 was introduced at that time. He retired in 1986.

mhardy6647

Quite a career he had, eh?

casettebirthday_v2-lrg by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I did not know that one individual at Philips had featured prominently in both of Philips' major audio format standard achievements!

mrbigbluelight

Imteresting !
I wonder if it was by accident that a #2 pencil fit ever so nicely into the hub of the tape reel or if some clever design engineer incorporated that on purpose.

gmcman

What an era, RIP.

Never had good luck with the #2 pencil, was just loose enough to barely work.

This was my tool of choice for taking up the slack.




Also put some miles on this.

mhardy6647

gmcman wrote: »

...
Also put some miles on this.

Cool. I think we have one of those for DVDs.

pitdogg2

R.I.P.
I listen to CD's daily thank you for the technology.

JayCee

gmcman wrote: »

Grew up w/cassette and VHS. Used anything that would work to take up slack but never saw hand winders. VHS "Be kind, rewind" machines, yes. Obviously, hand winders were not the tool of folks that use microwaves, washing machines, newspapers, spray paint and stream music. Perhaps, folks that purchased tape in bulk and made 60.3, 93.2, or 123.4 minute tapes. I hated when I created a mixed tape and the song was cut off. Led to many hours of using the tape counter to find the exact time the leader came into play, hitting rewind, re-queing the source, starting the source, hitting record, followed, finally, by a hand fade w/the knob. Perfection. Now, that, I miss about tapes. Works of art when pulled off successfully.

Back on-topic...really interesting to know Mr. Ottens was so instrumental in the industry. Never heard of him until 2 days ago and have benefited greatly from his work. RIP.

[Deleted User]

Here's a nice photo of Mr. Ottens.

skrol

Cassettes provided so much enjoyment for me in my youth. I still some of my old tapes on occasion today. Thank you Mr. Ottens.

JayCee

Good article, here:
https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/international/soundstage-uk/1535-remembering-the-cassette-and-its-inventor-lou-ottens

Especially interesting when you ponder his audio journey...
"Ottens lived to a ripe old 94, giving him a complete experience of all but Edison cylinders as viable formats. He was born during the era of 78s and the ascent of radio, so he witnessed the development and release of every medium up to streaming."