It was good while it lasted. Almost 40 years – an enviable lifespan for many a product. Alas, at the end of this year all production of VHS cassettes will cease. Forever. The younger but bigger brother of the audio cassette is poised to follow in the latter’s footsteps on the road to extinction, its black tape and the rattle of forwarding or rewinding a particular scene lost to the youth of today.

If it is any consolation, we all already know that video killed the radio star. Now it has become clear that DVD has driven VHS into extinction. But soon – probably much sooner than many of us think – streaming will make discs an item that is just as dead in the water.