Sadly, an icon of music format recently passed away. Lou Ottens, who is credited with leading the invention of cassette tapes, passed away on Saturday at the age of 94. He is also one of the contributors to the invention of the compact disc.

While working for Dutch-based Philips, Ottens wanted to create a smaller, cheaper version of the clunky reel-to-reel music format. In 1963, the "compact cassette" was released to the world. Interestingly, in later years, Ottens himself stated that tape was "prone to noise" and distortion and believed that compact discs were superior. We send our condolences to Ottens' family. A longer retrospective of Ottens' life can be found at NPR.