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• Reel-to-reel or open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette. In use, the supply reel or feed reel containing the tape is mounted on a spindle; the end of the tape is manually pulled out of the reel, threaded through mechanical guides and a tape head assembly, and attached by friction to the hub of a second, initially empty takeup reel. The arrangement is similar to that used for motion picture film.
• The reel-to-reel format was used in the very earliest tape recorders, including the pioneering German Magneto-phons of the 1930s. Originally, this format had no name, since all forms of magnetic tape recorders used it. The name arose only with the need to distinguish it from the several kinds of tape cartridges or cassettes which were introduced in the early 1960s. Thus, the term "reel-to-reel" is an example of a retronym.
• 7 inch reel of ¼ inch-wide recording tape, typical of non-professional use in the 1950s-70s. Highly suggestive of cheap and brittle acetate backing. Studios generally used 10½ inch reels on polyester or mylar backings.
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