The pioneer of the cassette and CD disc is gone

Lou Ottens, the man behind the technology of cassettes and CDs, has passed away at the age of 94 at his home in Duizel, the Netherlands.

Ottens, who studied to become an engineer, began his career at Philips in 1952, and eight years later he became the head of the company’s new product development department. In less than a year, Ottens and his colleagues developed the first portable cassette recorder, which sold over one million units immediately.

Soon after, he revolutionized tape technology by replacing what he considered impractical reels with cassettes that could be carried in a pocket. The plastic-casing cassette, released in 1963, was marketed at the electronics trade shows with the slogan ”smaller than a cigarette butt”.

Before long, the Japanese had copied the cassette technology for their own use with their own versions, but Ottens managed to strike a deal with Sony to standardize the Philips-launched cassette model. It became an international hit, and by some estimates, c-cassettes were sold over 100 billion units.

However, Ottens did not stay idle in his labs; he continued working on CD technology. This also became a joint standard of Sony and Philips, which has since been sold in even double the number of cassettes.

In 1986, Ottens finally retired. He was often asked how he himself felt about his inventions that brought music to millions of listeners. To this, Ottens always replied that he did not take pride in his inventions: they were, in his opinion, the results of teamwork.

The only thing that, in Ottens’ own words, remained a disappointment over the years was that Sony – and not Philips – came up with the most ideal partner for the c-cassette, the Walkman cassette recorder.

Ottens himself was able to put the formats in order of preference. When asked for an opinion on the new arrival of cassettes, his answer was clear: ”Nothing beats the sound of a CD.”.