He forgot the most important blow to the betamax: JVC licensed VHS, SONY refused to do it and wanted to take the whole video market as a monopoly. So VHS was available, in cheaper prices from multiple manufacturers and with ever increasing options while SONY and BetaMax had couple of models.. Not the first time SONY has lost something over greed, BluRay almost went with the same route (allthou there were several companies developing it from the start).

BetaMax cassette was 1h with the short play (and better quality), 2h with long play (later over 3h). Even on that machine he demonstrated.. The real reason for video cassette wars going for JVC was licensing and price dropped obviously with competition. But BetaMax was around almost for the entirety of video cassette history, collectors often wanted theirs in BetaMax for better sound and slightly better picture quality. Sound difference was noticeable, picture,, naah, not so much (i was there when this war happened...)

Sony was offered to join JVC before either had come out...

Yes, and thankfully consigned there.

Sorry but aside from nostalgia I have no desire to see cassettes ever again. Vinyl might have some superior audio, but absolutely every single aspect of listening to music now is an improvement over cassettes.

My backpack had one pocket filled with cassettes and batteries. It was almost a status symbol to have one. Sadly my daughter doesn't even know what this is and it's a great piece of history.

yep, my backpack in highschool.... 1 or 2 schoolbooks, whatever fiction I was reading and about 20 cassettes 'cos you never know if today was a Slayer day, an Iron Maiden day or a Sepultura day (I listened to a lot of metal in my teens)

Your video, Kids React To Walkman (Portable Cassette Players), has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I had a few AM/FM Cassette types from different brands in the 80's. I only bought ones that had a tracking screw for adjusting the path of the tape over the tape head.

"I'm just thinking about how many cassettes you would need"

*sigh* too true!

I heartily concur sir, as the last 2 months in a row have netted me two (count 'em) 2, perfectly functional as the day Sony made 'em, sports walkmanz (in Sony yellow), one with, one without AM/FM radio, both cassette players fully functional as the day they were made to last forever.

Uhhh, the am/fm receivers in those things?? Long and strong, highest quality imaginable.

The goddamn things are indestructible and 2 aa's last longer in one of them than in any device made since that requires em...

Uh....one was 5 dollars new in the box from a garage sale, one form a thrift store for $4.04. Incidentally, when these things were on the top of Xmas lists new...they cost about $125-$150 US back in early 80's dolla-Do the math, bitches.

I wear your grandma's clothes, motherfuckers!

I suppose it's only a slight bit less pointless than building the world's largest 8-track cassette.

I've heard him talk in the past about wanting to do some experiments that Discovery thought were too mundane, so they never did them, such as testing if analog audio, such as vinyl records and audio cassettes, actually do sound better than digital audio, such as CD and MP3.

In this clip it seemed like he was talking more about big experiments they weren't allowed to do rather than experiments that were too small.

My mixtapes were beat matched and all.. About 3 songs in a row, 2 from LP and one from cassette. Making one meant really planning.

Had a 64 Dodge Dart with a simple old-tech Kenwood cassette-only player, no vol controls, etc., via external amp, came with the car. It began to drag and stall in cold weather but I could spray butane into it and ignite it and that was enough to free-up the capstan and cause it to play until it dragged again in about an hour.

....carried butane in the car to refill the Colibri-

what's a "cassette tape?"

I was fully expecting this to be a bait-and-switch with it just being a cassette faceplate with an intricate touchscreen solid-state memory all-in-one system underneath.

used to listen to Valby back in summer camp back in, oh, 1990? -- it was a 'dirty' cassette tape that got passed around the bunk, on the B-side of a 'Jerky Boys' tape that was before anyone knew who they were...