| One of the most popular recording media, magnetic | | | | tape was made known to the rest of the |
| tape is an important part in the history of the | | | | international community. |
| audiovisual. For anyone interested in the structure and | | | | The initial form of the magnetic tape could not be |
| the features of the product we should mention the | | | | used for both audio and visual applications since the |
| fact that any magnetic tape consists of a very thin | | | | latter required more bandwidth than the former. It |
| strip of plastic that is magnetized. A German | | | | took a while longer before the system was |
| invention, the magnetic tape used to be the most | | | | perfected to serve television purposes as well, and |
| reliable audio and video recording medium before the | | | | Sony was one of the companies with the highest |
| appearance of the compact disks. When first | | | | contributions to the development of the |
| introduced in the entertainment business, magnetic | | | | videocassette recorders. However, we cannot |
| tape marked a true revolution in both broadcasting | | | | oversee the fact that for a significant period of time, |
| and recording sectors. If before the introduction of | | | | the magnetic tape was widely used for the storage |
| the magnetic tape all the radio and television shows | | | | of computer data and IBM was a leading pioneer on |
| were live, afterwards, recording allowed for the panel | | | | the market in this respect. |
| diversity. | | | | For a long time, magnetic tape made the more |
| Presently, there are plenty of other applications | | | | advantageous choice if compared to storage disks, |
| where magnetic tape serves well, however, the | | | | and this was usually due to the lower cost per bit. |
| development of the new technologies marked a fall | | | | Nevertheless, the market for products that rely on |
| in the popularity of the item, though it is still very | | | | magnetic tape storage is drastically reduced given the |
| widely used. The very appearance of the magnetic | | | | fact that the improvements made for disk storage |
| tape in the late 20s, relied on a much earlier | | | | capacity and price have been more than significant. |
| discovery: that of the magnetic wire. Once the | | | | Presently, magnetic tape is widely used in the media, |
| invention was acknowledged further steps were | | | | mainly for backup purposes, but the tendency is that |
| taken in the direction of improving the fidelity of the | | | | of leaving the place for the more advanced devices |
| audio recording. It was not until the aftermath of | | | | that rely on virtual memory above other things. |
| World War II that the discovery of the magnetic | | | | |