Sony Tapes
Also fascinating is this presentation pack of sample Sony C60 cassettes, which would have been handed out to delegates at a press launch or dealer event. Note the presence of no fewer than three Type I (ferric) cassettes - CHF (budget), BHF (midrange) and AHF (premium).
One step up is CD-alpha, Sony's Type II proposition...and nothing to do with digital discs. That the top-of-the-line product contains 'ferrichrome' (FeCr, or Type III) tape, instead of the new-fangled metal formulation, would suggest that it dates to the late 1970s. The sixth tape is unlikely to be metal, as it lacks the identification holes.
Did Sony include it to fill an embarrassing space earmarked for a cassette that simply wasn't ready in time? Manufacturing metal tapes was, with the era's technology, allegedly proving to be a greater challenge than expected.
And what, if anything, is recorded on this magnetic mystery? The Thoughts of Chairman Morita? The seller, who wanted £40 for the pack, certainly didn't know...
TDK's MA-R type IV ('metal') tape - here in C60 format - is to this day a style icon. Whenever you saw a cassette deck in a glossy magazine advert or catalogue, one of these die-cast beauties was sure to be loaded (certainly until the tapes with little 'open reels' came along!).
They were somewhat expensive, a MA-R C90 selling for around a fiver in the mid-80s. The seller wanted £100 for this shrink-wrapped C60 specimen...the effects of inflation, eh?