Old Tech

[Undertoad]

I think high-quality wire recorders were developed in Germany in order to record Hitler's speeches.

Interesting: recording tape, cassette, 8-track, reel-to-reel is just oxides of that same metal of that recording wire, magnetized and read by a head. It's just applied in a thin layer onto a long plastic tape and magnetized and read by a head.

AND videotape is just oxides of that same metal, applied to a thicker plastic tape and magnetized and read by a head.

AND floppy discs are just oxides of that same metal, applied to a plastic disk and magnetized and read by a head.

AND hard drives are just oxides of that same metal, applied to a firm, spinning disk and magnetized and read by a head.

Only when we got to optical disk was it no longer a magnetized surface read by a head. Then, it became pits in metal, read by a laser.

And that's where the story ends, because in the future, everything digital will be kept in solid state memory.