Someone found a way to store data on a cassette tape via a 56k modem, and you can try it too

While people usually get started on a project to solve a problem or explore a new place, some of them are done because “well, why not?” For example, someone has devised a way to store and retrieve data from their PC to a cassette tape with the aid of a 56K modem, and while it’s a ton easier to just stick the file on a USB drive and call it a day, you can’t deny that this method is pretty darn cool.

Storing files on a cassette tape via a 56K modem is slow, but intriguing

Alright, so if you were born this side of the turn of the 21st millennium, I’ll catch you up on what’s going on here. See, back in my day, programs and games were stored on a cassette tape. If you wanted to load an app onto your computer, you’d hook up a cassette player to your PC, insert the tape for the app you wanted to use, press play, and the tape would play noises corresponding to the program’s binary.

The computer would hear these noises and build the app using the stream of audible binary. Once the tape was finished, the PC would then have all the binary it needed to run your program. It took about 20 minutes to load a single game, and it sounded awful. You didn’t miss much, trust me.

However, Jesse T on YouTube (thanks, Hackaday) realized that the 56K modems that powered dial-up internet connections also used sound to transmit data. So, they made a system where a computer would send data to a modem, which would then send the file in audio format to a cassette player, which could then record the sounds and store the data on a tape.

When they wanted to load the file, they could set up the PC, hit play on the cassette tape, and have it beam the sounds to the modem that sent the data to the computer. Jesse added a board in the middle that handles the process, including feeding the modem a fake dial tone to trick it into thinking it’s connected.

If you want to give this project a try for yourself…well, first of all, make sure you have a 56K modem, cassette tape, and player still lying around. Then, head over to the project’s GitHub page for the code and the board schematics. Because let’s be honest; if you want to keep your files secure, nobody’s going to look for a document on a tape from the 90s.