#microcassette

Cassettes were primarily used for music recording, and did in fact die out the way most people assume. There are some companies still making new cassette tapes, but any new cassette players are generally considered junk in comparison to their older counterparts. If you want to get into listening to music on cassette it's generally recommended to get a player from the 80s, 90s, or early 00s.

However!!

People wanted to record stuff other than music. So then came the microcassette, and the microcassette recorder. These were often labelled "dictaphones" (not to be confused with the company dictaphone which made microcassette recorders). They were typically thinner and longer than cassette players, and were much more comfortable to hold in hand.

You might have seen microcassette recorders in media from the 90s and 00s. It was The Way to record notes. Examples can be seen in old police shows, the first saw movie, and more.

In fact, police often did have microcassette recorders. And of higher audio fidelity than the average consumer.

But here's the fascinating part!

Around two years before the microcassette there was a nearly identical format introduced for the exact same purpose. The mini-cassette.

The only difference between the two is that the holes where the spindles of the tape player go are a different width. So you can't play a minicassette on a microcassette recorder, and vice versa.

In fact, they're so similar that if you go on ebay and search one type, you'll often find the other one too. Either because ebay thinks they're interchangable, or because a seller has mislabelled them. And that's not to mention the number of cassette players that are labelled mini, but actually it just means that they're portable and not that they play mini-cassettes.

And going back to my original point, my original fascination, the mini-cassette recorder was less popular. It's also the one that's still being made.

(Feel free to correct me i would love to find out that there are still microcassette recorders still being made)