100 Years of Magnetic Recording Milestones: 1898 to 1998

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N/A (November 11, 1998) – IBM introduced the world’s highest capacity hard drives for notebook and desktop PCs at 14 gigabytes (GB) and 25 GB, respectively. The 25 GB drive is 5,000 times the capacity of the first hard drive product, introduced by IBM in 1956.
1998 IBM announced the microdrive, the world’s smallest and lightest hard drive revolutionizing the handheld PC, digital camera and other industries.
1998 IBM introduced the fastest hard drive (10,020 RPM) shipping for video streaming,for use with servers.
1998 Desktop PC hard drives average 4 cents per megabyte (MB), down from $10,000 per megabyte in 1956 when the first hard drive product was introduced. (Disk/Trend)
1997 IBM introduced the first hard drive with giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads, the most advanced recording head.
1996 IBM was first to achieve one billion bits per square inch on a hard drive platter.
1996 IBM launched its first OEM magnetoresistive (MR) head business unit.
1991 IBM introduced the first hard disk drive with MR recording heads.
1980s Eight-track tapes are discontinued.
1984 The thin-film magnetoresistive (MR) recording head is first used in a storage device, an IBM tape drive.
1978 Sony introduced the first digital recorders for studios.
1976 Panasonic and JVC introduced a competitor to Betamax, the VHS system.
1975 Sony introduced the Betamax home video system.
1973 IBM announced the first modern-day fixed Winchester hard drive, the 3340.
1971 IBM introduced the first flexible “floppy” disk drive.
1966 IBM introduced the first disk drive with a wound-coil ferrite recording head.
1965 Ford and Mercury, in conjunction with Motorola and RCA-Victor records, introduced “Stereo-8” or “eight-track” format tape players as an option in certain luxury cars.
1963 The Philips compact audio cassette is introduced. This became the most successful audio magnetic recording product.
1956 IBM was the first company to ship a computer hard drive, RAMAC 305. It stored 5 MB, was the size of two large refrigerators and cost $10,000 per megabyte.
1956 The first successful TV recorder was built by Ampex. The first taped TV broadcast took place on November 30, and featured Douglas Edwards reporting the news on CBS-TV.
1953 IBM made its first tape drive, the 726.
1951 Mincom, a division of 3M Co., demonstrated television recording, followed by RCA in 1953.
1950 The first catalog of recorded music on tape appeared in the United States.
1948 Ampex started delivering audio tape recorders.
1947 Rangertone, Inc., of New Jersey introduced a professional tape recorder. (Source: Rutger’s.)
1944 The American Telegraphone Co. went out of business.
1940s Bing Crosby funded work to dramatically advance audio recording technology. This helped revolutionize the radio and later the TV industries.
1935 AEG announced the development of the Magnetophon, an audio recording device. The same year, the German radio authority begins to use this device for broadcasting.
1903 The American Telegraphone Co. was formed to manufacture the Telegraphone.
1900 Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph’s voice is recorded on the Telegraphone at the Paris International Exhibition.
1898 Danish inventor and engineer Valdemar Poulsen unveiled the first magnetic recording device, the Telegraphone, the first telephone answering machine. On Dec. 1, Poulsen applied for the patent.

Source: IBM

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