From needle to thread...

Tape recording for professional use and for more discerning domestic individuals come in only one form until the late 1980s - Reel-to-Reel.

Emitape made tape and spools not just for its own use but for the home market aswell.

Early domestic Emitape boxes (left) were keen to point out the pedigree of the manufacturers, displaying as they did the emblems of the three major EMI record labels - Parlophone, Columbia and His Master's Voice (HMV).

It was also used by "the leading Broadcasting Organizations" - presumably the BBC.

Each box contained a flyer insert advertising the various lengths and grades of Emitape, along with editing accessories (for cutting and joining).

EMI had the slogan, "The Greatest Recording Organization In The World" and had made a stab at creating a logo to embody this message in the late 50s (above).

However, this gave way to a much improved design which had started to appear on EMI record sleeves in 1964. This and a modernised 'EMITAPE' logo started to appear on tape boxes around this time (right and below).

EMI couldn't resist using the issue of commercial recordings on tape to plug the medium they were recorded on - egging people on to try it for themselves - as long as it wasn't for making copies of EMI records, that is!

Home taping was always seen as the preserve of serious audiophiles or the more well-off, partly because of the expense of the equipment and tapes, but largely down to the lack of user-friendliness. The Compact Cassette from Philips started to gain ground as a viable consumer format in the mid-late 1960s and the main market for blank tapes was seen to be shifting there. This would also be a more mass market than had ever existed (or would ever exist) for open-reel tapes.

Click below to continue our tour of EMITAPE boxes and spools.