The origin of the cassette tape can be traced back to 1888, when English inventor Oberlin Smith published an article introducing the idea of recording sound on magnetic tape. In 1928, German engineer Fritz Pfleumer developed Smith's ideas and created a recording tape by bonding a thin coating of oxide to strips of paper or film.
In 1963, the Philips Company of the Netherlands introduced a compact, durable recording device called the audiocassette. This invention improved upon earlier models, which were complicated and unwieldy.
The Philip's Company's audiocassettes, also known as cassette tapes, consisted of thin plastic tapes that have magnetic coatings of iron oxide and chromium dioxide. Sounds are recorded by realigning the magnetic particles on the strip. The resulting pattern remains on the tape, allowing it to be rewound and replayed as often as desired.
The audiocassette's housing protected the tape from damage so that the sound quality was preserved. The cassette made it easy to advance or rewind to a specific place on the tape, and it could be stopped and ejected at any point. The convenience of the cassette catapulted it beyond its competitors, LPs and eight-track tapes.