The economic and social significance of video cassettes (viewer-controlled playback system) is explored in this report. The potential effect of video cassettes on industrial training, education, libraries, and television is analyzed in conjunction with the anticipated hardware developments. The entire video cassette industry is reviewed firm by firm from the engineering and marketing aspects. Emphasizing the feeling that video cassettes are not merely another home entertainment vehicle supplanting network television, the authors admit that the success of video cassettes depends on product sales and their capability of promoting social change may suffer the fate of their print counter-parts: read by the faithful. The majority of the report discusses the current hardware situation and the industries supporting it. (MC)