The first commercial computers used punched cards and paper tape to store information. During the late 1940s, however, computer engineers began to explore other means of storage because the cards and paper were bulky, prone to damage and difficult to access. When magnetic recording technology emerged after World War II, computer designers were quick to see the possibilities such a technology could offer them. In 1949 J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly introduced BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer), the first computer to employ magnetic tape for storage. The plastic-based tape it used was able to hold far more information per unit size than punched cards. BINAC, however, was merely a stripped-down temporary predecessor of a more advanced machine called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer), completed by Eckert and Mauchly two years later. UNIVAC replaced BINAC's plastic tape with a stronger metal tape. Once better plastics...