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The standard C60 cassette, extensively in style within the audio cassette period, supplied half-hour of playback per facet at the usual playback pace of 1.875 inches per second (4.76 cm/s). To realize this, every C60 cassette housed roughly 281.25 ft (85.73 meters) of magnetic tape, which measured 1/8 inch (3.81 mm) vast and 16 µm (0.0006 inches or 0.0159 mm) thick.
This thickness balanced sound high quality and sturdiness, making the C60 an ordinary selection for on a regular basis recording and playback. Nevertheless, some producers, similar to Maxell, provided C60 cassettes with barely longer tape, as much as 295 ft (90 meters), to increase recording time barely past the usual half-hour per facet. This minor variation allowed for a bit of additional playback time, although it didn’t considerably affect the cassette’s normal playback expertise.
As compared, C90 cassettes, which provided 45 minutes per facet, used a thinner tape measuring roughly 10 – 11 µm. This discount in thickness allowed C90 cassettes to carry round 426 ft (130 meters) of tape throughout the similar compact cassette housing, thus accommodating the prolonged playback length. Nevertheless, this thinner tape got here with a trade-off.
Whereas the C90’s elevated recording capability was handy, the diminished tape thickness made it extra vulnerable to put on, stretching, and potential degradation in audio high quality over time. The thinner tape additionally elevated the chance of “print-through” echo, the place sounds from one layer of tape imprint faintly onto adjoining layers, creating ghostly echoes throughout playback.
Extending tape size additional, C180 cassettes have been developed, providing as much as 90 minutes of recording per facet. To suit this prolonged length right into a compact cassette, the tape was made even thinner than the C90 normal. Nevertheless, the fragility of this ultra-thin tape made it impractical for many functions. The C180 cassette’s tape was susceptible to breaking, tangling, and experiencing excessive ranges of print-through echo. These points finally restricted its use to particular, low-demand conditions, because it was deemed too unreliable for normal recording or playback.
Curiously, C74 cassettes have been produced with a singular function: they have been particularly designed to document the 74-minute length of an ordinary audio CD, permitting for seamless CD-to-cassette transfers. This format gained reputation amongst customers who wished to create cassette copies of their favourite CDs for moveable or automobile audio techniques with out the necessity to break up tracks throughout a number of tapes.
