Lou Ottens 1926-2021

Lou Ottens, who is credited with inventing the cassette tape, has passed away at the age of 94. As many of us who grew up in the 1980s remember, the cassette tape was for awhile the most dominant medium for purchasing, listening to, and recording music. Even after cassettes faded with the rise of the CD, they remained an inescapable part of the music lexicon, perhaps most notably with the concept of the “mixtape,” which remains with us today.

In memory of Ottens, let us know your favorite and most vivid memories involving cassettes. I have so many things I could mention, but the first thing that comes to mind is taping songs of American Top 40 in the late 1980s so that I could have all of the latest hits together on a Memorex.