The 1972 Desktop "iPod for cassettes" device

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by PaulKTF, Oct 12, 2017.

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  1. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    This piece of hardware came out in 1972 and it was basically an iPod for cassettes- it allowed you to put 20 cassettes in it for continuous play.



    I have to admit that I probably would have really wanted one of these babies! :)

    Did anyone here ever have one or know someone who did? Just curious...
     
  2. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    That's called a "carousel".
     
  3. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I suppose you could call it that, yeah. Like the thing with horses.
     
  4. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    Like the thing with CDs. The term has been in use for music media changers long before iPods existed.
     
  5. Colin M

    Colin M Forum Resident

    Never had a slide projector?
     
  6. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    No. They were popular/in-use before my time, but that is a good comparison!
     
  7. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Whatever you call it, it's pretty neat.
     
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  8. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I had one that was a tray you could load 7 cassettes into, it was a mitsubishi and from the 80's.
     
  9. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
  10. Mike Pinkerton

    Mike Pinkerton Member

    Location:
    Virginia
    You misunderstand, the toroidal slide holders in slide projectors were called carousels.
     
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  11. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Ah, okay... I know they functioned in the same way but didn't know they were actually called that. Thanks!
     
    Mike Pinkerton likes this.
  12. Thermionic Dude

    Thermionic Dude Forum Resident

    Cool! Didn't know Mitsubishi ever made one of those.

    I had the Pioneer CT-WM77R 6+1 changer, which appears to have been very similar:
    [​IMG]
    The changer worked and sounded quite well, and the record deck was as good as any other decent quality mid-price unit at the time. Despite the mechanical complexity, it never had a hint of trouble in 5 years of heavy use.
     
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  13. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I like the looks of that one much better. That Mitsubishi what part of an entire system that included an equalizer and some god awful huge speakers. At the end of the day the tape deck was probably the best part of the system.
     
  14. Thermionic Dude

    Thermionic Dude Forum Resident

    I can only imagine the 80s splendor of that Mitsubishi "rack system"! That was the era where graphic equalizers, "100 wpc", and 3-way tower speakers with 15" woofers were king, along with your car verbally reminding you to wear your seatbelt and showing you the car's "performance" on a snazzy digital gauge cluster.

    (Damn it, I just caught your signature line and almost snarfed Pepsi out of my nose; hilarious!)
     
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  15. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    Thanks to Don Draper.
     
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  16. jeffreybh

    jeffreybh Gunter Gleiben Glauchen Globen

    Location:
    Texas
    Thanks for sharing that thing is really cool! 20 cassettes! When I was younger I had really wanted one of these Sony TC-C521 5 cassette carousels

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. Thanks for posting this. Never knew these decks existed.

    Best Wishes,
    David
     
  18. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Bad enough having a simple cassette player mechanism screw up, this looks like a repairman's delight...
     
  19. SammyJoe

    SammyJoe Up The Irons!

    Location:
    Finland
    Kinda cool and I have never seen such device. That's really neat.
     
  20. Damien DiAngelo

    Damien DiAngelo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    Techmoan's You Tube channel is so cool. I've wasted so much time watching his videos of obscure and obsolete tech.
    Highly recommended!
     
    Pinknik likes this.
  21. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Yeah, he really does put together great videos- very informative, and well edited too!
     
    Damien DiAngelo likes this.
  22. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Not to be argumentative but all of this is much more like a jukebox or stacking lp’s on a spindle than it is an iPod.

    Other than data storage and a new format, the big thing for the iPod is song shuffle. Other than 45s on a juke box (which very few people had in their homes)the iPod was the first time song shuffle was an option. I think it fundamentally changed the way people consumed music. You could hit next with these cassette changers and it would stop at a break in the signal on the tape but it was enough of a hassle and break in the action that i didn’t use it often.

    So not really a first but a next for stacking albums for continuous play.
     
  23. Agitater

    Agitater Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    They were called photo slide carousels by Kodak, originally. Don Draper is fiction, Kodak is real.
     
  24. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Kodak still exists?

    (Just kidding).
     
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  25. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    They held the patten for the first digital camera in the 70’s but didn’t do anything with it because they saw it as a threat to their film business
     
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