“You made me a happy kid!” Cassette Tape Inventor Dies At 94yo, 80s & 90s Kids Pay Tribute

Lou Ottens, the inventor of the audio cassette tape, has died at 94 years old. His family announced on Tuesday (9 March) that the Dutch engineer passed away in his hometown of Duizel in the Netherlands.

Ever since the cassette tape was introduced in the 1960s, an estimated 100 billion units have been sold all around the world, reported BBC. It transformed the way people listened to music back then, a big change from vinyl records and other olden-day methods.

Ottens became the head of Philips’ product development department in 1960 when he and his team developed the cassette tape. It was presented at the Berlin Radio electronics fair in 1963 and soon became a worldwide success.

Ottens later struck a deal with Philips and Sony that saw his model confirmed as the patented cassette, after a number of Japanese companies reproduced similar tapes in a number of sizes.

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Upon hearing about his death, millennials have been paying their tributes to Ottens, most of whom probably grew up using cassette tapes. Some even commemorated the times that cassette tapes accompanied them throughout their childhood and how his invention had allowed them to make their own mixtapes.

• “Thank you for the music. Recording the charts off the radio on a Sunday onto cassette, making mixtapes, making radio shows, listening to favourite music anywhere on a Walkman, swapping music with friends, being able to play your own music in the car, all thanks to you!”
• “Still have a bunch of tapes from the 80’s. Ahh, making mixtapes – those were the days!”
• “My childhood was on tapes. We learned how to record just random stuff on them and after 20 years I managed to listen to them and it was epic. RIP master! You have made me, so many times, the most happy kid on earth. Just from those tapes.”
• “Great invention (of course)- Wow! (made about oh, 100 mixed tapes, at least, over the years, yes & lots of quality entertainment for several decades, yep). Thanks a lot & rest in peace.”

Some even remembered how they used a pencil to rewind cassettes back in the day.

• “I hear that, as a sign of respect, the mechanism to lower his coffin into the ground will be wound by a pencil.”
• “The kids today will never understand the value a pencil had in relation to a cassette.”
• “Can’t they stick a pencil in him and turn it a few times for an extra couple of years.”
• “Everyone make a mixtape and raise a pencil in his honor! “

What are some memories you’ve had with a cassette tape? Let us know in the comments below!

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