I liked the Elcasset. thought it would really take off. It didn't. Even after a second try... then it was called a DAT. Well, they looked alike.
Preceeding that foible was the off shore invasion of the "Quadraphonic" receiver and eight track player which played 4ch 8 track tapes. A lovely affair. Just no software. I sold mine as soon as I returned to the States.
But the biggest 'white elephant' was the very first auto reverseing casset deck. Akai made one. I think I bought the only one they made cause I never saw another.
the player would FLIP the entire casset over physically and then start playing again... But you had to put a short piece of 'sensing' tape onto the casset, so the machine would know it was at the end of the tape. Dumb machine.
Dumber me for getting it. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.