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Digital Compact Cassette
Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is a discontinued magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita Electric in late 1992 and marketed as the successor to the standard analog Compact Cassette. It was also a direct competitor to Sony's MiniDisc (MD), but neither format toppled the then-ubiquitous analog cassette despite their technical superiority and DCC was discontinued after 4 years in the marketplace. Another competing format, the Digital Audio Tape (DAT), had by 1992 also failed to sell in large quantities to consumers, although it was popular as a professional digital audio storage format.
The DCC form factor is similar to the analog compact cassette (CC), and DCC recorders and players can play back either type: analog as well as DCC. This backward compatibility was intended to allow users to adopt digital recording without rendering their existing tape collections obsolete, but because DCC recorders couldn't record (only play back) analog cassettes, it effectively forced consumers to either replace their cassette deck with a DCC recorder and give up analog recording, or keep the existing cassette deck and make space to add the DCC recorder to their setup.
DCC signaled the parting of ways of Philips and Sony, who had previously worked together successfully on the audio CD, CD-ROM, and CD-i. The companies had also worked together on the Digital Audio Tape which was successful in professional environments, but was perceived as too expensive and fragile for consumers. Furthermore, the recording industry had been fighting against digital recording in court, resulting in the Audio Home Recording Act and SCMS.
Philips had developed the Compact Cassette in 1963 and allowed companies to use the format royalty-free, which made it hugely successful but not a significant money-maker. The company saw a market for a digital version of the cassette, and expected that the product would be popular if it could be made compatible with the analog cassette.
Around 1988, Philips participated in the Eureka 147 project that eventually produced the DAB standard. For this, it cooperated with the Institute for Perception Research of the Eindhoven University of Technology to create the PASC compression algorithm based on psychoacoustics.
On 8 October 1990, Philips made the first formal announcement of DCC. Tandy Corporation announced at the same time that it would help Philips with the development and distribution through its Tandy and RadioShack stores. It was expected at the time that DCC recorders would be available in the beginning of 1992 and would cost several hundred dollars less than DAT recorders. Even though this first announcement already used the term "digital compact cassette" (without capitalization), some publications around this time also referred to it as S-DAT (Stationary-Head Digital Audio Tape), to distinguish it from R-DAT (Rotary-Head Digital Audio Tape).
On 5 July 1991, Philips announced that Matsushita had joined forces with them to develop DCC.
The first DCC recorders were introduced at the CES in Chicago in May 1992 and at the Firato consumer electronics show in Amsterdam in September 1992. At that time, not only Philips and Technics (brand of Matsushita) announced DCC recorders but also other brands such as Grundig and Marantz (both related to Philips at the time). Around the same time, Sony introduced the MiniDisc.
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Digital Compact Cassette
Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is a discontinued magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita Electric in late 1992 and marketed as the successor to the standard analog Compact Cassette. It was also a direct competitor to Sony's MiniDisc (MD), but neither format toppled the then-ubiquitous analog cassette despite their technical superiority and DCC was discontinued after 4 years in the marketplace. Another competing format, the Digital Audio Tape (DAT), had by 1992 also failed to sell in large quantities to consumers, although it was popular as a professional digital audio storage format.
The DCC form factor is similar to the analog compact cassette (CC), and DCC recorders and players can play back either type: analog as well as DCC. This backward compatibility was intended to allow users to adopt digital recording without rendering their existing tape collections obsolete, but because DCC recorders couldn't record (only play back) analog cassettes, it effectively forced consumers to either replace their cassette deck with a DCC recorder and give up analog recording, or keep the existing cassette deck and make space to add the DCC recorder to their setup.
DCC signaled the parting of ways of Philips and Sony, who had previously worked together successfully on the audio CD, CD-ROM, and CD-i. The companies had also worked together on the Digital Audio Tape which was successful in professional environments, but was perceived as too expensive and fragile for consumers. Furthermore, the recording industry had been fighting against digital recording in court, resulting in the Audio Home Recording Act and SCMS.
Philips had developed the Compact Cassette in 1963 and allowed companies to use the format royalty-free, which made it hugely successful but not a significant money-maker. The company saw a market for a digital version of the cassette, and expected that the product would be popular if it could be made compatible with the analog cassette.
Around 1988, Philips participated in the Eureka 147 project that eventually produced the DAB standard. For this, it cooperated with the Institute for Perception Research of the Eindhoven University of Technology to create the PASC compression algorithm based on psychoacoustics.
On 8 October 1990, Philips made the first formal announcement of DCC. Tandy Corporation announced at the same time that it would help Philips with the development and distribution through its Tandy and RadioShack stores. It was expected at the time that DCC recorders would be available in the beginning of 1992 and would cost several hundred dollars less than DAT recorders. Even though this first announcement already used the term "digital compact cassette" (without capitalization), some publications around this time also referred to it as S-DAT (Stationary-Head Digital Audio Tape), to distinguish it from R-DAT (Rotary-Head Digital Audio Tape).
On 5 July 1991, Philips announced that Matsushita had joined forces with them to develop DCC.
The first DCC recorders were introduced at the CES in Chicago in May 1992 and at the Firato consumer electronics show in Amsterdam in September 1992. At that time, not only Philips and Technics (brand of Matsushita) announced DCC recorders but also other brands such as Grundig and Marantz (both related to Philips at the time). Around the same time, Sony introduced the MiniDisc.