Tape recorder

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This article is about machines used for audio (sound) recording. For video
recording, see video tape recorder. For the tape systems used for computer data,
see tape drive.

A reel-to-reel tape recorder

An audio tape recorder, tape deck, or tape machine is a sound recording and

reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic
tape for storage. In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by moving
the tape across a tape head that polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in
proportion to the audio signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape
deck and the cassette deck, which uses a cassette for storage.
The use of magnetic tape for sound recording originated around 1930 in Germany
as paper tape with oxide lacquered to it. Prior to the development of magnetic tape,
magnetic wire recorders had successfully demonstrated the concept of magnetic
recording, but they never offered audio quality comparable to the other recording
and broadcast standards of the time. This German invention was the start of a long
string of innovations that have led to present day magnetic tape recordings.
Magnetic tape revolutionized both the radio broadcast and music recording
industries. It gave artists and producers the power to record and re-record audio
with minimal loss in quality as well as edit and rearrange recordings with ease. The
alternative recording technologies of the era, transcription discs and wire
recorders, could not provide anywhere near this level of quality and functionality.
Since some early refinements improved the fidelity of the reproduced sound,
magnetic tape has been the highest quality analog recording medium available. As
of the first decade of the 21st century, analog magnetic tape has been largely
replaced by digital recording technologies.