4 ms·

This Hi-Fi Tape Recorder Changed Radio Forever

68 points by Jimmc414 2mo ago

joezydeco 2mo ago
Sent to Germany at the war’s end, Mullin eventually came across that technology at a radio station... Fun trivia: that radio station was in Bad Nauheim, Germany, which is where Elvis Presley was stationed during his stint in the US Army.
SoftTalker 2mo ago
The magnetic tape was produced by IG Farben, a lovely company if you like slave labor and holocausts.
- SanjayMehta 2mo ago
  The data was collated on IBM punch card machines, a lovely company if you like holocausts.
  - somat 2mo ago
    It does rise an interesting question, how much can you blame a company for the crimes of it's customers?
    - SoftTalker 2mo ago
      IG Farben was deeply involved with supporting all that unpleasant business, much more so than IBM.
      - akanet 2mo ago
        IBM was extremely involved in purposefully collaborating with the reich to run censuses to identify Jewish populations, not to mention running actual prisoner inventory at various concentration camps. They specifically made overseas subsidiaries to shield this activities from US sanctions at the time.
        matherial 2mo ago
        Right, which is still few steps removed from the actual genocide. IG Farben was a direct participant, to the point where a lot of their execs were tried and convicted at Nuremberg. But I'm not sure the focus on corporations is all that interesting here. The Allies eventually let most of the senior Nazi leadership walk free, and few in Germany faced any lasting consequences for what they did during the war (even IG Farben execs were released before too long). I think the idea was that they needed to govern the nation they have, and mass-imprisonment wasn't a viable strategy. It worked out in a pragmatic sense, but it was hardly justice for the millions of civilians exterminated by the regime.
        ahartmetz 2mo ago
        Germany and Germans involved in Nazi crimes benefited hugely from two or three things: The need to build a strong opposition to the USSR quickly, the experience of oppressive WW1 peace treaties leading to WW2, and more sympathy for fascism than communism in US political circles.
        rendx 2mo ago
        > which is still few steps removed from the actual genocide Like, one, or two.
        fragmede 2mo ago
        That's an interesting question. If we're only 6 degrees of separation away from the rest of humanity, it means I'm at most 6 degrees away from genocide and child slavery and all sorts of horrible shit. Means I'm also 6 degrees away from some wonderful soul warming stuff as well, but that's food for thought.
        rendx 2mo ago
        How is it "interesting"? I think it's fairly obvious: Anything you can act upon is your very own responsibility, and has influence on what is happening or not happening around you; be it one or six "steps" away from you. Anything on top of that is just a story you tell yourself. "Oh, me?! No, I just built the Jew inventory for the Nazi death camps, loyal to my American company!" Ah! Maybe they went to a priest to confess, and got absolved. All fine then. Nothing to see here.
    - PunchyHamster 2mo ago
      zero if they are just buying stuff off the market 100% if they knowingly pursue business relationship in search of money
ggm 2mo ago
I have been told (perhaps incorrectly) that the Phillips cassette tape dimension is based on being able to source the full track tape stock and split it. The same story is told about Eastman Kodak and 35/70mm film stock, as well as 16mm and 8mm with and without sound track.
- rzzzt 2mo ago
  No correlation with arms or ammunition manufacturing? That is what all dimension myths usually turn out to be. "That trashcan lid turns into an APC hatch cover if the process is converted to use aluminum."
bolangi 2mo ago
Long after the company was gone, the Ampex sign remained for years on the West side of 101 somewhere around Redwood City, was finally taken down ten or 20 years ago.
- paradox460 2mo ago
  Had to be 10 years ago, because I remember seeing it in the bay area when I lived there
- dtagames 2mo ago
  Ampex was already no longer a known brand when I grew up as a kid in Silicon Valley. I had to wait to become an adult to find out what that giant sign out there had been for!
amelius 2mo ago
I want to see an IEEE spectrum article on what it takes to build a modern LTO tape drive.
m463 2mo ago
This is what tape reminds me of: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=maxell+blown+away+guy&iar=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=maxell+blown+away+guy&iar=images

68 points by Jimmc414 2mo ago

Sent to Germany at the war’s end, Mullin eventually came across that technology at a radio station... Fun trivia: that radio station was in Bad Nauheim, Germany, which is where Elvis Presley was stationed during his stint in the US Army.

SoftTalker 2mo ago

The magnetic tape was produced by IG Farben, a lovely company if you like slave labor and holocausts.

SanjayMehta 2mo ago
The data was collated on IBM punch card machines, a lovely company if you like holocausts.
- somat 2mo ago
  It does rise an interesting question, how much can you blame a company for the crimes of it's customers?
  - SoftTalker 2mo ago
    IG Farben was deeply involved with supporting all that unpleasant business, much more so than IBM.
    - akanet 2mo ago
      IBM was extremely involved in purposefully collaborating with the reich to run censuses to identify Jewish populations, not to mention running actual prisoner inventory at various concentration camps. They specifically made overseas subsidiaries to shield this activities from US sanctions at the time.
      - matherial 2mo ago
        Right, which is still few steps removed from the actual genocide. IG Farben was a direct participant, to the point where a lot of their execs were tried and convicted at Nuremberg. But I'm not sure the focus on corporations is all that interesting here. The Allies eventually let most of the senior Nazi leadership walk free, and few in Germany faced any lasting consequences for what they did during the war (even IG Farben execs were released before too long). I think the idea was that they needed to govern the nation they have, and mass-imprisonment wasn't a viable strategy. It worked out in a pragmatic sense, but it was hardly justice for the millions of civilians exterminated by the regime.
        ahartmetz 2mo ago
        Germany and Germans involved in Nazi crimes benefited hugely from two or three things: The need to build a strong opposition to the USSR quickly, the experience of oppressive WW1 peace treaties leading to WW2, and more sympathy for fascism than communism in US political circles.
        rendx 2mo ago
        > which is still few steps removed from the actual genocide Like, one, or two.
        fragmede 2mo ago
        That's an interesting question. If we're only 6 degrees of separation away from the rest of humanity, it means I'm at most 6 degrees away from genocide and child slavery and all sorts of horrible shit. Means I'm also 6 degrees away from some wonderful soul warming stuff as well, but that's food for thought.
        rendx 2mo ago
        How is it "interesting"? I think it's fairly obvious: Anything you can act upon is your very own responsibility, and has influence on what is happening or not happening around you; be it one or six "steps" away from you. Anything on top of that is just a story you tell yourself. "Oh, me?! No, I just built the Jew inventory for the Nazi death camps, loyal to my American company!" Ah! Maybe they went to a priest to confess, and got absolved. All fine then. Nothing to see here.
  - PunchyHamster 2mo ago
    zero if they are just buying stuff off the market 100% if they knowingly pursue business relationship in search of money

ggm 2mo ago

I have been told (perhaps incorrectly) that the Phillips cassette tape dimension is based on being able to source the full track tape stock and split it. The same story is told about Eastman Kodak and 35/70mm film stock, as well as 16mm and 8mm with and without sound track.

rzzzt 2mo ago
No correlation with arms or ammunition manufacturing? That is what all dimension myths usually turn out to be. "That trashcan lid turns into an APC hatch cover if the process is converted to use aluminum."

bolangi 2mo ago

Long after the company was gone, the Ampex sign remained for years on the West side of 101 somewhere around Redwood City, was finally taken down ten or 20 years ago.

paradox460 2mo ago
Had to be 10 years ago, because I remember seeing it in the bay area when I lived there
dtagames 2mo ago
Ampex was already no longer a known brand when I grew up as a kid in Silicon Valley. I had to wait to become an adult to find out what that giant sign out there had been for!

amelius 2mo ago

I want to see an IEEE spectrum article on what it takes to build a modern LTO tape drive.

m463 2mo ago

This is what tape reminds me of: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=maxell+blown+away+guy&iar=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=maxell+blown+away+guy&iar=images