Today, on January 27, 1948 consumer magnetic tape recorders were sold for the first time. Magnetic tape recorders had been developed simultaneously as steel tape recorders, but it had taken slightly longer to perfect the technology.
In place of a steel wire, magnetic tape recorders use a thin magnetized coating on narrow strips of plastic. Ampex and 3M had the most influence on the growth of magnetic tape recorders.
By becoming more affordable and streamlined, magnetic tape recorders would eventually make wire recorders obsolete. Magnetic tape recorders would become dominant in consumers’ home and office lives.
