The use of magnetic tape to record and play back audio or video is obsolete by today’s standards, but as Scribd engineer Evan Long demonstrates (via The Verge), it can still make for a very interesting modern experiment! In a bizarre mingling of technologies separated from each other by several decades, Long has managed to create a functional reel-to-reel tape player from nothing but an iPod touch and a Square credit card reader!
Starting with the reader and some old tape reels, Long separated the two halves of the Square reader so the tape would glide straight through, plugged it into the iPod, set it between the reels, and used some custom audio recording software to set the magic in motion!
It’s unclear whether this is actually a real experiment, or just a hoax, but the principles are all sound – the iPod touch audio jack can be used as a microphone input, and the Square reader has all the characteristics necessary to interpret magnetic tape. Check out the video above to see it in action and decide for yourself!