CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports:

Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer who invented the cassette tape and helped develop the compact disc decades later, has died. He was 94. Amsterdam-based news outlet NRC Handelsblad confirmed the news but didn’t provide details.

Working to alleviate the challenge of huge reel-to-reel decks and the portability of recordings, Ottens began working on the audio cassette when he was named head of new-product development for Philips in the early 1960s. He used a pocket-size block of wood as a guide for the cassette’s future size and shape.

His brainchild would go on to account for sales of an estimated 100 billion units worldwide.

Read the full article.

Lou Ottens Dies: Cassette Tape Inventor Who Later Helped Develop CDs Was 94 https://t.co/tUBW3IHXwp

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 10, 2021