Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Comparison of 1970s Phone-Mate 400S and 1984 Panasonic Easa-Phone KS-T1415D answering machines. There's not really a need for having a personal answering machine in 2022, but curiosity got the better of me when I saw a Phone Mate reel-to-reel answering machine available for $10. In this video we compare it to the Panasonic answering machine of my childhood. These machines are strikingly similar in design, with the 1973 answering machine being controlled by switches and the 1980s one by logic circuits.


0:00 Intro
0:25 Machines in the movies
0:53 History Lesson
1:32 Tape Based Answerers
1:47 Digital and VOIP
2:03 Phone Mate Wiring
2:30 Test call on Phone Mate
2:50 Thanks for calling a 1973 Answering machine
3:35 Test call on Panasonic Easa Phone
4:15 You can't do this with Voice Mail!
4:45 Dual Cassette Tape Transport
5:05 Endless Loop Cassette
5:35 Phone Mate Under the Hood
6:03 The Tape Loop Control Switch
6:58 Standard Reel to Reel Tapes
7:22 No Belts No Capstan No Problems
7:38 Panasonic shared drive mechanism
8:05 Severe Battery Corrosion
9:03 The Message Received Flag
9:20 Conclusion