Recording music from the radio was undoubtedly the easiest way to "preserve" our favorite songs, even when the presenters started singing over them. However, in 1987, a company called Personics launched a system for creating legal personalized cassettes. Users could buy songs individually, prepare their "definitive compilations" and receive the final tape in a matter of minutes…
Personally, I have to admit I don't have great memories of cassettes. All the tapes that were here ended up devoured by humidity, and it was also not possible to access "good equipment" for more solid reproduction. But the format itself was never to blame: the record labels did everything possible to reduce costs, and that caused many "official" cassettes to hit the market with terrible quality.
That detail, added to the classic practice of recording songs from the radio (or duplicating cassettes that were already copies of previous ones) and the loss of popularity suffered by the 45 RPM single, created the ideal conditions for the Personics custom tape service to emerge in May 1987. In other words, iTunes in the analog era.
Personics: Creating the Ideal Cassette in 1987
YouTuber VWestlife explains in his most recent video that the Personics system used a series of stations or kiosks, where users could explore the available catalog, listen to 15-second samples, and finally fill out a form defining their selection. The maximum audio limit was 90 minutes, or 32 songs. Song prices ranged from 50 cents to $1.50 (between $1.35 and $4 adjusted for inflation), and in about five minutes, the user received the finished tape, with laser-printed labels, and a personalized case that included their name and the assigned title (if they chose one).
The tapes were duplicated in a high-speed system using digital sources (120 CDs per kiosk, hard drives were prohibitive and not large enough), but most importantly, Personics always favored Sony or TDK High Bias tapes, guaranteeing superior audio quality to commercial albums. Initially, the Personics catalog was limited to 450 songs, but it continued to expand at a rate of 200 songs per month. Another interesting detail was that users could record sound effects, at a ratio of three for the same price as a song.
Personics also launched a print publication offering "shortcuts" or preconfigured cassettes, and free songs. At the same time, the versions of the songs available on Personics were explicit, meaning no censorship, no beeps, no changed lyrics. Now, how did they avoid piracy? While they couldn't do anything once the cassette left the store, the truth is that each tape carried a serial number that identified the responsible employee for its creation, and a remote system received daily sales reports from their stores.
Unfortunately, the good reception was not enough, and Personics ran out of spirit in December 1990, declaring bankruptcy (it ended up adopting a phone sales system). What happened? In one word: record labels. Personics did its homework and managed to obtain appropriate licenses for all its songs, but the masterminds wanted total control over their material (say, forcing the sale of entire CDs instead of singles), and they gave the thumbs down. The music business depends on hits, and without access to hits, Personics had nothing really.
