How Cassette Tapes Invented The Internet & Are CRUCIAL Today
Preorder The “Mixtape” Mixtape at http://diggingthegreats.com
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I thought tapes were dead, but it turns out theyāre STILL the backbone of the digital world today.
Welcome back to Mixtape, this is the final episode in my four part series on how cassette tapes changed the world. Weāve already looked at the past, but today weāre looking at the present and future of tape. Not only did cassettes sort of, invent the internet, tape is more important than ever.
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PATREON
This series is made possible by the direct support of viewers like you through Patreon. Get behind the scenes videos, extended edits, and more by becoming a member at http://www.patreon.com/diggingthegreats
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CREDITS
Written and Produced by Brandon Shaw
Cinematography by Ace Barro
Intro and Credits Animation by Jeriah Dunk
Story Editing by Simon Adler
Music by Andrew Reyes and Brandon Shaw
You can listen to āCassetternetā, Simon Adler’s full Radiolab story that helped inspire this piece here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-NcFbIfTe4
To learn more about Simonās work, check out http://www.windstarsolutions.com or my video where he sent me a very strange package: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfRSBEqueL8&t=1115s
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THANKS TO
Amir Rahimi – Rappin’ and Snackin’: https://www.instagram.com/rappinandsnackin/?hl=en
Corodata: https://corodata.com/
Zack Taylor, Kendon Shaw
Everyone who supports Digging The Greats on Patreon, especially Josh Nelson and Sam Deka in the Executive Producer Tier
http://www.patreon.com/diggingthegreats
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#mixtape #cassette #musichistory
@VLuddd
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Peak
@powderedtoastman3093
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Don't see the point in this series
@djozlioni
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Zoran Modli did something similar in Serbia, in terms of broadcasting the software! Truly remarkable people.
@StefaNonsense
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
As someone who is from Eastern Europe (Romania to be exact) and who occasionally talks on their channel about media piracy subculture that came out of the communist-era black market, I can add to the transmission of software via radio waves that in the post-communist era there would be TV shows that would dedicate the last 5ish minutes to broadcasting software, which likewise, you only had to record the audio of. I am pretty sure this happened in the UK first, but I can only speak from my perspective. The series was dope sauce!
@CarbonSolutions
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Enjoyed every minute of this. Thinking back on it, Iām really amazed you were able to fit a feature documentary into a multi-part series. Each episode had its own narrative arc, was packed with great audio and visuals, and all laddered up to a broader story. This is some really brilliant storytelling – bravo, sir š
@CarbonSolutions
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Really like the theme music youāve done for this series. That doubled piano/bass melody reminds me of RJD2
@mixit313
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Bravo! So Dope!
@joung_god
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Im not a guy who often comments on YT. But this series was crazy work. I really loved the style, the music, the guests and everything else! Of course we wouldāve all loved to hear the phone call at the end of episode 3. Iām reaching 19 years old and when I was twelve, I got my first Walkman. I listened to all the tapes of my parents and really felt the music, because it was PHYSICAL. At school people made fun of me for it, well the teachers didnātā¦ they LOVED it. Nowadays seeing tapes and portable players resurfacing, I canāt wait to listen to my tapes again. I even have some of my very own mixtapes, made just for me. As youāre saying, its a very special feeling indeed, receiving tapes because you know: That took time! Time someone invested in me, time they chose to invest in me. A very heartwarming feeling. Thank you so so much for providing 12/10 content this last month. I hope to see more like thisā¦ maybe on the vinyl boom? -LAS
@SmallBlogV8
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
This is a great little series, with eye-opening stories in each episode well worth the time.
After the end of Ep.3, though, we must ask: what about Megan?! Did she not want to be in the video?
@nabiln85
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
No way there wasnāt a Megan post-credit scene šššššš
@alexlindbjerg
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Did you just put Curtiss King on your mixtape šš
@Spark972
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
That computer-cassette thing is all my childhood and what got me into computers and the mixtapes/mixes radio broadcast got me into Djing. What a flashback ! š
@KingKongsFather
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Amir got mad joints!
@gastonmanuel2687
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Great series. I loved everything about this format. Thank you š
@viktor5534
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Damn, I didn't Amir was as paranoic as I about playing our tapes, and we both collect hip hop :))
@JasonKenway
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Just magical, thank you.
@IndyVisuals
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Thank you for putting the time to make this, this was very informative
@Made_SoWell
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Great series!
@mmbeno
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
ABSOLUTE CINEMA. Thanks Brandon…
@BeatsByBigFMC
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Bravo to your team. Brilliant series. Looking forward to Season Two when we finally find out what happened with Megan š®
@Vertigo11
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Great series!
@MrBuliths
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
š„š„š„ intriguing series. Dope content. Looking forward to see what you do next.
@codymccormick7317
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
This series is incredible. Iād never given cassettes a second thought, but after watching this, Iāve already purchased a cassette player and I can already imagine how much I can do with it. Recording loops, tape degradation stuff, making mixtapes. Itās been years since Iāve been so excited about making music, and the first time Iāve ever been so excited about curating music. Thanks for making this, itās incredibly inspiring.
Also canāt wait to hear your mixtape ā¤ļø definitely the coolest YouTuber merch
@MrAmillz88
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
We need to get this nominated for somethingā¦ No idea what but something lol
@Magnifca-Mente
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
So Good!
@berniedoman7161
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Not sure where the ā30 years lifespanā comes from? I have cassettes up to about 50+ years old that work fine (sure, you may have to change pads, but tape itself is fine)
@breanahaj-taylor
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
I really enjoyed watching this series! I got into collecting cassettes last summer, and so seeing this was so coolā itās well produced and insightful! Would love to get the mixtape! And now I definitely want to get one of those cassette players, too! How do we enter the giveaway on patreon?
@rappinandsnackin
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Honored to be in this episode and a part of this series. Salute homie, y'all did an amazing job with this series!
@ragar4790
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Great series on cassettes, Cassettes were life for me listening to music at home in my bedroom on twin deck player and playing tapes in my Sony pullout deck in my car. Every payday was a trip to the music store to buy another hip hop album on cassette.
@Pause_El_Te
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Beyond brilliant. My favorite content on 2025. Big up DTG š„ā¤
@edwardmowton9825
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Isn't it hard to believe that DVS took until the 2000's to be invented? When tapes did this back in the 80's?
@thePhantom_music
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Did I miss what happened with the girl? That is what I was most invested in after all.
@miclo_ssx
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
What happened with Meagan ??? Why the blue ball ;/
@willyoubethere0396
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
This was amazing and all, but… bro, what happened with Megan, tho? š
@RealKingLeo
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
This was so awesome man, thank you. š«”
@RauldeJesus-j1u
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
I like DTG in general, but I REALLY dug this series
@Treeo-j5i
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
I had acquired a few blank cassette tapes few years ago and now after watching this, I'm totally gonna try to make my own mixtape, excellent series dtg! Now all i just need is a radio with a working cassette player…
@ChilledGreese
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
I've loved every second of watching this amazing series, it's an important piece of media and everyone involved should be very proud! I'm trying to move away from streaming services so you better believe I hit that pre-order as soon as I found out! Looking forward to listening to the tape and to support whatever you do nextš¤š»
@pshilaire
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
So impressed to see a functioning Commodore 64 in 2025 !
@Schumanized
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
You desrve an Emmy bro!!!
@DiceBambu
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Commodore64 and ZX Spectrum were my life in the early eighties! Press Play on tape.
@PC__________1973
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Awesome series bro, dope storytelling, animation and bass chops! well done š … one other aspect to the tape story for me were mixtapes made specifically for the driving experience….cruising with friends, heading to shows, school, etc. that played a big part for us back in the day.
@ASillyLlama
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Series was awesome, man! It made me pull out my boombox which has a tape deck in it and play around with it. Might make my own tape after watching this!
@juST_LuKe-fw1ck
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
this was an amazing series, tapes are just amazing.
@eggolise
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Very cool!
@DojoOfCool
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
Old head here who started working in a record store while in high school so been thru vinyl, reel to reel albums, 4-tracks tapes, 8-track tapes, the evil cassettes, then CD's. Cassettles suck and still do. I've been a musician, live sound mixer, recording engineer in days before digital anything, worked in music school for awhile in charge of recording classes to cassettes for students to buy. I've lived thru cassette hell. Want that cassette to last 30 years you better get real good at maintaining your cassette deck or else it will eat your cassette or screwup the audio because the heads build up magnetism. Oh I could go on but I''ve said enough, I'll stick with my CDs and streaming.
@arisdulgerian2053
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
I used to love buying cassette singles. And some full albums.
@synterium1687
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
You dont know how cool this is to me I love the amount of detail and cool cinematography you packed into this with incredible storytelling and the soundtrack is just stellar. You can clearly tell the thought that went into everything here it was made with passion and was effective and compelling and has a message. This is what makes youtube so good keep making cool shit
@jonntischnabel
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
The background music at 17:00 was annoyingly loud.
@ElroyGoffney
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 am
That was amazing! Great job, homie! That Commodore 64 thing was totally new to me.
Comments are closed.