Magnetic tape cartridge and magnetic tape cassette both refer to a small plastic unit containing a length of magnetic tape on at least one reel. The unit may contain a second "take-up" reel or interoperate with such a reel in an associated tape drive. At least 142 distinct types have been known to exist.
The phrase cassette tape is ambiguous in that there is no common dictionary definition[1][2][3] so depending upon usage it has many different meanings, as for example any one the one of 106 different types of audio cassettes,[4] video cassettes[5] or data cassettes [6] listed at The Museum of Obsolete Media.
The phrase cartridge tape is also ambiguous with 36 different types of audio,[4] video[5] or data[6] cartridges listed at The Museum of Obsolete Media.
From time to time the terms tape cartridge and tape cassette are used to describe the same product.
Cassette tape, a two-spool tape cassette format for analog audio recording and playback and introduced in 1963 by Philips
DC-International, a format that was created by Grundig after Phillips had abandoned an earlier format that was being created alongside the Compact Cassette
8-track tape, continuous loop tape system introduced in 1964
PlayTape, a format similar to 8-track that was created by Frank Stanton
HiPac, a format created by Pioneer as an alternative to 8-track to be used outside of North America
Mini-Cassette, a small cassette tape cartridge developed by Phillips for dictation machines and data storage for the Philips P2000 home computer
Microcassette, a small cassette tape format that used the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a much smaller cartridge developed by Olympus
Picocassette, a cassette tape cartridge format that was half the size of the Microcassette made by JVC
RCA tape cartridge, a cartridge tape created by RCA and introduced in 1958 meant to take the hassle of handling unruly tapes easier
Elcaset, a format introduced in 1976 by Sony based on the RCA tape cartridge that was supposed to be more convenient than its predecessor
Digital Audio Tape (DAT), a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987
Digital Compact Cassette (DCC), a magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita in late 1992 and marketed as the successor to the standard analog Compact Cassette
NT (cassette), a small cassette tape created by Sony that was smaller than a Picocassette only used for dictation machines but had plans to be used in music
^"Cassette ... Also called cassette tape". Dictionary.com. Retrieved April 20, 2020. a compact case ... : used for recording or playback of audioorvideo ..., and for storage of data by some small computer systems. ... (emphasis added)
