Yep, like with most computers, any cassette player will do, even a PC's sound card paired with a WAV file or good quality MP3. Not a lot of systems utilized proprietary tape drives. Top of my head, Atari 8-bits and Commodore 8-bits were the two biggest proprietary offenders when it came to cassette drives (some, like the APF Imagination Machine's, were obviously built in).

I doubt the Tandy engineers conceived of sound output, just like Commodore's engineers with the PET didn't. Heck, they didn't even bother with color. That's what makes the original Apple II such a progressive design--color AND sound. No matter how limited, that's what probably helped with the platform's longevity above all else, through the TRS-80 line did have a heck of a run, with Model x stuff in Radio Shack stores into at least 1990 (albeit mostly on clearance by then).

Sadly, I can't recall the first time I heard speech on a computer or videogame system. I certainly have vivid memories of the speech in Impossible Mission, which I believe was the first game I bought along with my 1541 disk drive (it was between IM and Bruce Lee if I recall), though I'm nearly 100% positive I heard computerized speech well before that.

I agree, it's much, much harder to be "wowed" these days. Back then, we were "wowed" all the time (sounds dirty). As I've stated many times, I still have a fondness for synthesized speech.

Books!
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.