Music appreciation: Amid cassette tape creator s death, we remember his legacy – the mixtape Mike Snider, USA TODAY
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If you ever made – or listened to – a mixtape, please press the pause button for a few moments to mark the passage of Lou Ottens, the engineer who oversaw the development of the cassette tape.
The onetime head of product development at Philips Electronics, Ottens, 94, passed away in the Netherlands on March 6, according to the NRC Handelsblad newspaper. He oversaw the creation of the cassette recorder as an alternative to cumbersome reel-to-reel tapes.
The music recording and playback format, which hit its peak in the 80s, led to ubiquitous portable music listening – it was smaller and more convenient than 8-tracks – and endless sharing of mixtapes among friends and romantic partners, both present and potential.