A cassette tape is a small, rectangular plastic case that contains magnetic tape used for recording and playing back audio. It was popular from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, allowing people to listen to music and record sounds. The tape inside the case moves past a playback head in a cassette player, converting the magnetic signals into sound. Cassette tapes typically hold about 30 to 90 minutes of audio, depending on their length. They were widely used for personal music collections and mixtapes, and many people enjoyed the tactile experience of creating and sharing their own recordings.