Do you remember Digital Audio Tape (DAT)? Released in 1987 I do and soo wanted a deck, but they were prohibitively expensive at the time (equivalent to around £4000 in today's money) and remained that way. It brought digital audio perfection to the cassette format by leveraging the helical scan method used in VCRs of the time, a really neat solution for creating the bandwidth needed for high quality digital recording and could make bit perfect copies of CDs. Unfortunately, it was destined to fail due to SCMS that was imposed on it by the recording industry scared shitless about "piracy" taking away their vice-like grip over music sales and also general developments in digital technology that simply made it obsolete, much like the audio compromised analog version before it.
I mean, like today, rather than have two bulky decks side by side, queuing up the tapes and recording in realtime by pressing play and record at the same time, for me to make a copy of a digital audio recording on my PC, it's as simple as duplicating a file with the mouse, something that happens in milliseconds: copy > paste > done. It can be done in the same folder with a different name, or created in a different folder or drive / drive partition. The computer handles it just like any other file such as a PDF, video file, or anything else as it's all simply digital bits with a filetype associated with them.
This can be done on the lowest end, cheapest PC you can find too and even one from 30+ years ago could do this, so you can see how this makes a DAT deck completely obsolete. There's loads of other advantages with modern ways of handling digital recordings, such as digital music creation with digital audio workstation software, but I think this alone illustrates the point very well.
However, those DAT decks really got my motor running when I looked at them, especially the well engineered and well styled ones like the Sony DTC-670 in this video and they still do. I'd love to have a brand new example to collect, along with some brand new shrink wrapped tapes to go with it. Heck, if the box of the DAT recorder was still sealed, I'd even keep it that way to preserve that factory fresh newness and never even see it, let alone use it. Yes, that's how extreme I'd be about something so rare and precious. Let's hope that box isn't just filled with bricks...
I only ever got to listen to a DAT deck once in a hifi shop when I asked for a demo of its recording ability. Of course, me being me, I was interested in boundary conditions, so did a test recording and deliberately drove it past 0dB, ie the maximum possible level for a digital signal. I expected a harsh clipping sound, but instead I heard a kind of mush, becoming ever mushier as I increased the input level, making the overload sound a lot more gentle on the ears, so the deck must have had some system for limiting the damage. I'd have loved to have bought it on the spot, but luckily for my wallet and credit rating, my credit card wasn't conveniently available at the time.
And of course, before the clipping occurred, the sound quality was awesome.
The video does a mini review, a tour of the deck, starting at 8:53 if you're interested.
*SCMS = Serial Copy Management System that prevented the creation of bit perfect second generation digital copies, pretty much negating the whole point of a DAT deck. There were gadgets that could strip out the SCSM copy protection bit from the bitstream, but that was always in a legal grey area and not many people would invest thousands of pounds in DAT decks only to have to rely on something sketchy like that in order to make their perfect copies.
I mean, like today, rather than have two bulky decks side by side, queuing up the tapes and recording in realtime by pressing play and record at the same time, for me to make a copy of a digital audio recording on my PC, it's as simple as duplicating a file with the mouse, something that happens in milliseconds: copy > paste > done. It can be done in the same folder with a different name, or created in a different folder or drive / drive partition. The computer handles it just like any other file such as a PDF, video file, or anything else as it's all simply digital bits with a filetype associated with them.
This can be done on the lowest end, cheapest PC you can find too and even one from 30+ years ago could do this, so you can see how this makes a DAT deck completely obsolete. There's loads of other advantages with modern ways of handling digital recordings, such as digital music creation with digital audio workstation software, but I think this alone illustrates the point very well.
However, those DAT decks really got my motor running when I looked at them, especially the well engineered and well styled ones like the Sony DTC-670 in this video and they still do. I'd love to have a brand new example to collect, along with some brand new shrink wrapped tapes to go with it. Heck, if the box of the DAT recorder was still sealed, I'd even keep it that way to preserve that factory fresh newness and never even see it, let alone use it. Yes, that's how extreme I'd be about something so rare and precious. Let's hope that box isn't just filled with bricks...
I only ever got to listen to a DAT deck once in a hifi shop when I asked for a demo of its recording ability. Of course, me being me, I was interested in boundary conditions, so did a test recording and deliberately drove it past 0dB, ie the maximum possible level for a digital signal. I expected a harsh clipping sound, but instead I heard a kind of mush, becoming ever mushier as I increased the input level, making the overload sound a lot more gentle on the ears, so the deck must have had some system for limiting the damage. I'd have loved to have bought it on the spot, but luckily for my wallet and credit rating, my credit card wasn't conveniently available at the time.
And of course, before the clipping occurred, the sound quality was awesome.The video does a mini review, a tour of the deck, starting at 8:53 if you're interested.
*SCMS = Serial Copy Management System that prevented the creation of bit perfect second generation digital copies, pretty much negating the whole point of a DAT deck. There were gadgets that could strip out the SCSM copy protection bit from the bitstream, but that was always in a legal grey area and not many people would invest thousands of pounds in DAT decks only to have to rely on something sketchy like that in order to make their perfect copies.
