Tag: Digital Compact Cassette

DAT – What is it?

Digital Audio Tape (DAT) was an audio recording and playback medium developed by Sony – introduced in 1987 – and was intended to be the successor to the audio cassette. It is somewhat similar in appearance but at 73 mm 54 mm 10.5 mm it is roughly half the size; its height being comparable to an triple-A battery stood on end. DAT was a digital technology with superior maximum quality as compared to a commercial CD and was capable of making perfect digital clones from a digital source unlike other standards of the day (Digital Compact Cassette and MiniDisc) that used lossy compression.

DAT – The Technology

Very similar to video recording technology of the day, DAT used a rotating head with a helical scan to record data. The method of data storage actually worked as a security measure of sorts and prevented splicing tapes to edit them which was possible on analog tapes, digital compact cassettes, and open reel digital tapes.

The DAT standard specified four sampling modes: 32 kHz at 12 bits, and 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz at 16 bits. It was possible to find non-standard recorders that allowed recording at 96 kHz and 24 bits (HHS). DAT was unable to record long durations at the highest sample rates. The same tape at one rate could record for 6 hours and at another rate a mere 90 minutes. Only so much tape can be packed into a DAT shell.

With the more complicated rotary head the recorder mechanism was significantly more expensive for a DAT recorder than for its stationary analog counterpart. Because of this Philips and Panasonic created the Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) a less impressive but certainly enviable stationary head design that had decent quality at a reduced cost. It was no match for the DAT because of its required lossy compression but overall it did a good job and proved a static head could be used for high quality digital recordings.

DAT – Was There Ever a Need?

Despite the RIAA’s lawsuits and lobbying against DAT manufacturers it eventually gained quite a following in the 1990’s in the recording industry. Back in the 1990’s a great many archival tapes were made using the DAT media. These archives are still available today in some places but the machines are no longer produced so unless these archives are transferred to another format it will become harder and harder with time to find archivists and audio transfer companies capable of transferring the media to a current format.

Because of DATs lossless encoding and high quality it induced no hiss or other electronic noise so became a favorite for creating perfect master copies. It is actually possible with enough digital equipment to create a complete digital chain between the microphone and the speakers on the CD player. With digital mixers and other digital hardware, analog induced problems could be completely eradicated from the majority of the process.

DAT In The Home

DAT, for many reasons, never gained a great deal of popularity with the general consumer. For the most part it was easier and less expensive to go with the alternatives. It was popular with some garage bands and boutique studios but the everyday Joe rarely saw one until their brief stint as sequential data back-up devices. Data backup tapes enjoyed a few years in the sun before being replaced by large and then ultra large external drives using the serial, parallel and later, USB ports.

Though the MiniDisc may have faded away from popularity, there is still marginal use in some parts of the world. Known today as Hi-MD, the format has come a long way in respects of its usability. Originally released in late 1992, MiniDiscs were intended to replace the analog audio cassette. First, however, Sony had to battle two other new formats that were also contenders in the attempt to replace the analog cassette tape.

The MiniDisc Wins the Format War But So What

The Digital Audio Tape (DAT) was doing well in professional recording studios but never caught on with the general public. Only a small number of prerecorded music DATs were produced and sold to the public.

Philips took the logical step of offering backwards compatibility by introducing a digital tape format called the Digital Compact Cassette. The DCC met with direct competition from Sonys MiniDisc and both prerecorded DCCs and MiniDiscs of popular artists were released and marketed to consumers. The magneto-optical disc technology allowed for random access of music, and withstood shock better. Although DCC was backwards compatible with the standard audio cassette, the market clearly favored MiniDiscs, and DCC was discontinued in 1996.

MiniDiscs however were never able to achieve a high level of success and were no real threat to the compact disc or even the analog cassette. Both MiniDiscs and standard cassettes were no match for the CD once CD-R technology became available. People were then able to record their music collections to CD. In the end, the compact disc moved on to become the undisputed king of the music sector. The MiniDisc floundered, then attempted a comeback of sorts, floundered some more and has now fallen by the wayside.

Limitations of the MiniDisc

Consumers were slow to adopt the MiniDisc for several reasons. Although more popular in Japan and Europe, only a limited amount of prerecorded music became available in the US – mostly new releases from Sony Music Entertainment labels. Also, recording on the MD format was notably frustrating for many people. Initially, there was no way to transfer the audio tracks from a PC to the MiniDisc and vice versa.

Sony responded to this problem by introducing software specifically designed for the purpose. This software also had issues in early releases regarding security and copyright locks that prevented the song from being further copied after being copied from the player. The newer Hi-MD has sought to address these issues, although sound files are still encrypted and decrypted when transferred, unlike standard files that are transferred directly. This means that the software must be active for all playable music transfers, which has been inconvenient to some consumers.

Even after the MiniDisc format received a makeover in the form of Hi-MD technology in 2004, not all of the issues that plagued the MiniDisc could be resolved. The Hi-MDs themselves can only hold one Gigabyte of music, and solid-state MP3 players simply had them beat for storage capacity and play times.

Conclusion

The MiniDisc is something of an oddity in audio history. Its innovation came at a time that made it almost obsolete before it was ever able to get off the ground. It failed in the music market because the older generations preferred audio cassettes and CDs, and the younger generation loved compact discs and eventually mp3 players. MDs suffered limitations with storage capacity that solid-state music players rapidly out paced. The inability to copy music to ones computer and vice versa also led to difficulties for the MiniDisc in popular use. At this point in time, MiniDiscs are pretty much gone. If you have any personal or family speech or music recordings, now is the time to get them transferred to a different format.