What to Do with a Tape Recorder (until the hi-fi arrives)
February 1963 Popular Electronics

February 1963 Popular Electronics Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Remember tape recorders? They were a big deal in 1963 when these comics appeared in Popular Electronics magazine, but they began going the way of the typewriter about three decades ago when solid state voice recorders hit the market, but now smartphones with sound recording have made even those devices seem outdated. In fact, when my daughter's house burned down a few weeks ago, all of the on-site conversations with the insurance adjuster, fire marshal, and housing contractors were recorded to ensure an accurate account of what was said by all parties. In North Carolina, law does not require you to apprise other parties taking part of the conversation that they are being recorded, so long as the person doing the recording is an active participant in the conversation (aka "one-party consent"). Of course everyone of my era remembers how Mission Impossible made the "This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds" feature of Jim Phelps' tape recorders famous. But I digress... back to the tape recorder era. These four comics were drawn by Mr. Bill Hutchinson back when not only were such devices still the only option for civilians, but they contained vacuum tubes to boot. Enjoy! 

What to Do with a Tape Recorder (until the hi-fi arrives)

By Bill Hutchison

... then the Lone Ranger mounted his white horse ..."       ... don't let anyone kid you; you are the brainiest executive this company, or any company, ever had ..."

"That is NOT my voice! You've .!!!! You've fiddled with those controls to make it sound awful."     "He read in POP'tronics about someone who recorded porpoises talking together."

Posted November 8, 2021
(updated from original post on 4/15/2014)