Audio recording was a relatively new innovation at the turn of the 20th century.  Steel recorders were the first dominant form of audio recording.  Early steel tape recorders featured a thin steel wire, which became magnetized to the intensity and polarity of electrical audio signals being recorded.  From the late 1940s to early 1950s, steel tape recorders cornered the consumer market as a less expensive alternative to other audio recorders.  The dominance of steel recorders would be short lived, as the magnetic tape recorder would soon emerge.

On this date, January 27th, in 1948, consumer magnetic tape recorders were sold for the first time.  Magnetic tape recorders had been developed at the same time as steel tape recorders, but it had taken slightly longer to perfect the technology.  In place of a steel wire, magnetic tape recorders use a thin magnetized coating on narrow strips of plastic.  Ampex and 3M would have the most influence in the growth of magnetic tape recorders.

By becoming more affordable and streamlined, magnetic tape recorders would eventually make wire recorders obsolete.  Magnetic tape recorders would become dominant in consumers’  home and office lives.  Magnetic tape had another important edge, as it would be embraced by the radio industry for allowing prerecorded programming.