Expensive Tape Recorder
Encyclopedia
Expensive Tape Recorder is a digital audio
program written by David Gross while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. Gross developed the idea with Alan Kotok
, a fellow member of the Tech Model Railroad Club
. The recorder and playback system ran in the late 1950s or early 1960s on MIT's TX-0
computer on loan from Lincoln Laboratory
.
and other programs that took their names in the spirit of "Colossal Typewriter
". It is unclear if the typewriters were named for the 3 million USD development cost of the TX-0. Or they could have been named for the retail price of the DEC
PDP-1
, a descendant of the TX-0, installed next door at MIT in 1961. The PDP-1 was one of the least expensive computers money could buy, about 120,000 in 1962 USD. The program has been referred to as a hack, perhaps in the historical sense or in the MIT hack
sense. Or the term may have been applied to it in the sense of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
, a book by Steven Levy
.
]
According to Kotok, the project was, "digital recording more than 20 years ahead of its time." In 1984, when Jack Dennis
asked if they could recognize Beethoven, Computer Museum meeting minutes record the authors as saying, "It wasn't bad, considering." Digital audio pioneer Thomas Stockham
worked with Dennis and like Kotok helped develop a contemporary debugger. Whether he was first influenced by Expensive Tape Recorder or more by the work of Kenneth N. Stevens
is unknown.
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
program written by David Gross while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. Gross developed the idea with Alan Kotok
Alan Kotok
Alan Kotok was an American computer scientist known for his work at Digital Equipment Corporation and at the World Wide Web Consortium...
, a fellow member of the Tech Model Railroad Club
Tech Model Railroad Club
The Tech Model Railroad Club is a student organization at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and one of the most celebrated model railroad clubs in the world, because of its historic role as a wellspring of hacker culture...
. The recorder and playback system ran in the late 1950s or early 1960s on MIT's TX-0
TX-0
The TX-0, for Transistorized Experimental computer zero, but affectionately referred to as tixo , was an early fully transistorized computer and contained a then-huge 64K of 18-bit words of magnetic core memory. The TX-0 was built in 1955 and went online in 1956 and was used continually through the...
computer on loan from Lincoln Laboratory
Lincoln Laboratory
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and development activities focus on long-term technology development as well as...
.
The name
Gross referred to this project by this name casually in the context of Expensive TypewriterExpensive Typewriter
Expensive Typewriter was a text editing program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer that had been recently delivered at MIT. Since it could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter , it may be considered the first word processing program, although it was not WYSIWYG, having no CRT display. It was written...
and other programs that took their names in the spirit of "Colossal Typewriter
Colossal Typewriter
Colossal Typewriter by John McCarthy and Roland Silver was one of the earliest computer text editors. The program ran on the PDP-1 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman by December 1960....
". It is unclear if the typewriters were named for the 3 million USD development cost of the TX-0. Or they could have been named for the retail price of the DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
PDP-1
PDP-1
The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
, a descendant of the TX-0, installed next door at MIT in 1961. The PDP-1 was one of the least expensive computers money could buy, about 120,000 in 1962 USD. The program has been referred to as a hack, perhaps in the historical sense or in the MIT hack
MIT hack
Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are practical jokes and pranks meant to prominently demonstrate technical aptitude and cleverness, or to commemorate popular culture and historical topics. The pranks are anonymously installed at night by hackers, usually, but not exclusively...
sense. Or the term may have been applied to it in the sense of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution is a book by Steven Levy about hacker culture. It was published in 1984 in Garden City, New York by Anchor Press/Doubleday...
, a book by Steven Levy
Steven Levy
Steven Levy is an American journalist who has written several books on computers, technology, cryptography, the Internet, cybersecurity, and privacy.-Career:...
.
The project
Gross recalled and very briefly described the project in a 1984 Computer Museum meeting. A person associated with the Tixo Web site spoke with Gross and Kotok, and posted the only other description known.Influence
According to Kotok, the project was, "digital recording more than 20 years ahead of its time." In 1984, when Jack Dennis
Jack Dennis
Jack Dennis is a computer scientist and retired MIT professor.Dennis entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949 as an electrical engineering major; he received his MS degree in 1954, and continued doctoral research and received his ScD in 1958...
asked if they could recognize Beethoven, Computer Museum meeting minutes record the authors as saying, "It wasn't bad, considering." Digital audio pioneer Thomas Stockham
Thomas Stockham
Thomas Greenway Stockham was an American scientist who developed the first practical digital audio recording system, and pioneered techniques for digital audio recording and processing as well....
worked with Dennis and like Kotok helped develop a contemporary debugger. Whether he was first influenced by Expensive Tape Recorder or more by the work of Kenneth N. Stevens
Kenneth N. Stevens
Kenneth N. Stevens is Clarence J. LeBel Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. Stevens heads the Speech Communication Group in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics , and is one of the world's leading scientists in...
is unknown.
See also
- PDP-1PDP-1The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
- Digital recordingDigital recordingIn digital recording, digital audio and digital video is directly recorded to a storage device as a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure for audio and chroma and luminance values for video through time, thus making an abstract template for the original sound or...
- Expensive TypewriterExpensive TypewriterExpensive Typewriter was a text editing program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer that had been recently delivered at MIT. Since it could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter , it may be considered the first word processing program, although it was not WYSIWYG, having no CRT display. It was written...
- Expensive Desk CalculatorExpensive Desk CalculatorExpensive Desk Calculator by Robert A. Wagner is thought to be computing's first interactive calculation program.The software first ran on the TX-0 computer loaned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Lincoln Laboratory...
- Expensive PlanetariumExpensive PlanetariumExpensive Planetarium is the star display written by Peter Samson for Spacewar!, one of the first interactive computer games. Conceived and written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students including Stephen Russell who programmed it, the Spacewar! game first ran in early 1962 on the PDP-1...
- Harmony CompilerHarmony CompilerHarmony Compiler was written by Peter Samson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . The compiler was designed to encode music for the PDP-1 and built on an earlier program Samson wrote for the TX-0 computer.]...