Cassette deck

A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio compact cassettes. Consumer electronics formerly used the term deck to distinguish them from a tape recorder, the "deck" being part of a stereo component system, while a "tape recorder" was more portable and usually had a self-contained power amplifier (and often speakers).

Although the two terms became used interchangeably, a recorder is typically thought of as a low-fidelity portable device, while a deck is considered a high fidelity component.

History

Origins

The concept of a tape recorder that would use tape reels permanently housed in a small removable cartridge (cassette), dates from the early 1950s. At that time reel to reel recorders and players in common use, but required large individual reels and tapes which had to be threaded by hand. Various manufacturers attempted to commercialize this concept, but a major difficulty was getting sufficient playback time with the low-performance tapes of the time - though by the early 1960s, tape formulations had improved enough to make the concept viable.