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There have been rumors and rumors of rumors about a new tape system which was being developed jointly by Minnesota Mining and Maufacturing (3M) and CBS Labs (Columbia Broadcast System), and there have been several showings of the device to the trade within the past few months.

Mr. Canby has hinted at it, and in the April 1960 issue he surmised that it would be announced soon, perhaps in June. Actually it was first presented to the public - to all intents and purposes, although it was at the "IRE" show - in the middle of March.

In order to present this information to AUDIO readers direct "from the horse's mouth," we have secured the article beginning on page 19 from CBS Labs. It is authored by Dr. Peter C. Goldmark and others of the Laboratory staff and is, we believe, a thorough and excellent description of the new system and the equipment used. There are many interesting innovations in the tape player, and the job has been most thorough.

They have even developed a new reproducing curve for the slower and narrower tape. But it is not yet on the market, nor does Dr. Goldmark indicate that it is expected to be in much less than a year.

And now we come to the reason for this comment. While we feel it a duty to report on all new developments as soon as possible after they are "leaked" (verraten) to the public, we feel that the confusion engendered by premature announcements of this nature is not good for the industry, and not good, actually, for the consumer.

The prime example of this sort of lack of foresight was the announcement of stereo discs several months before
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• (1) there were any such records on the market and
• (2) before there were any stereo pickups to be had.

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What was the effect on the record and equipment markets?

Practically everyone stopped buying anything at all - records or equipment. They seemed to think that suddenly there would be a flow of stereo records and equipment and until then they would just wait. This reminds us of the man who says he wouldn't buy a gas turbine automobile because they are not yet perfected and yet he won't buy a car with a conventional engine because they might perfect the turbine soon.

When announcements of this type are put before the public, the natural reaction is to wait until the new device is ready.

No one knows for sure yet how well the system will work with production models, although it does appear to work perfectly with hand-built models. We do not mean to indicate that it is not capable of being perfected in the foreseeable future - only that it is not now here and that we do not know when it will be available.

The four-track reel-to-reel cartridge introduced by RCA almost two years ago has not completely taken over the tape recorder/ reproducer market yet, even though there are at least two manufacturers who make equipment for it, and some tapes - not a large catalog, to be sure - are available.

In any case, the 7 1/2-ips reel-to-reel system has already achieved a large degree of acceptance, and more and more tapes are being made available every month.

The Magnetic Recording Industry Association has taken the stand (den Standlunkt vertreten) that its members will continue to provide 4-track reel-to-reel equipment and tapes "as long as there is a market."

Just what this phrase means, we cannot be sure, but we hope it was just a poor choice of wording rather than a hedging statement.
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How many users does it take to constitute a "market"? Manufacturers cannot be expected to maintain a constant source of supply for a market of, say ten people, just as one doesn't expect to buy film for a camera type which has been obsolete for years or, more to the point, cylinder records for one's perfectly good Edison phonograph.

Ampex also came out with an announcement stating their position and pledging - both for itself and for its subsidiary, "United Stereo Tapes" - a "continuing flow of equipment and 4-track tape to serve" the still-growing 7 1/2-ips reel-to-reel market.

Furthermore, "Ampex will devote every effort to bring about industry-wide standardization on a cartridge concept, both through its own research and development and through close co-operation with the rest of the industry, "and when the cartridge concept is standardized, they will serve both markets on the assumption that the two concepts will serve basically separate markets".

We can only agree with Ampex that "for the convenience-minded buyer, the cartridge holds great promise", and that "for the discriminating, quality-conscious listener, the reel-to-reel concept will continue to offer unparalleled superiority".

If a new tape is required to make the 1 7/8-ips system work satisfactorily, why couldn't the same tape be used to still further improve the performance of the 7 1/2-ips system? This would seem to be the logical step.

We do not hold that anything is automatically better because it is cheaper - or, in more elegant terms, more economical.

We are, possibly, skeptical, but we do not presume to prejudge the new system this far in advance of its actual appearance. Nor was that the point of these lines - all we were trying to get across was that industry should keep quiet about its new products until they are actually ready for the public to buy.

The automobile industry follows this precept religiously - no information is put out about next year's line until the official unveiling throughout the country.

And the "automobile industry" has been a very successful one in spite of the many abuses heaped upon it.