Digital information is stored on the tape using a
delta distance
encoding scheme. The "1" distance is approximately 1.75 times
longer than the "0" distance. The magnetic polarity is
irrelevant, only the distance is important.
This is very similar to the Apple II cassette modulation scheme.
Hmm.. Woz worked for HP at the time...
If you look at other early cassette tape "standards" they tend
to be more FSK-like than distance-encoding type. e.b. Kansas
City Standard.
The other comman standard at about this time -- used by the HP 9830 on
cassette tapes, on the Tekky 4051 on QIC cartrisges and by the HP65/67/41
on magnetic cards was to have 2 tracks. A pulse on one of the tracks is a
'0' bit, a pulse on the other is a '1' bit. Coincident pulses on both
tracks might be used for something like a file marker or a byte marker
(the HP 9830 does the latter).
-tony