From: lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: DCC -- JUST SAY NO!  (was: The end of cassettes,
Date: 17 Nov 92 01:30:05 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

In article <TONYB.92Nov16135326@oberon.juliet.ll.mit.edu> tonyb@juliet.ll.mit.edu ( Tony Berke ) writes:
>
>As a semi-pro studio engineer that currently sees his products
>released exclusively on cassette, I couldn't disagree more.  I turn
>out great-sounding cassettes, digitally mastered, then duped in realtime
> on Chrome-bias tape with Dolby-B, on good decks.  These sound great
>on great home systems, but sound like sh*t on many of my
>unsophisticated customers' car systems, which often lack Dolby and/or
>a Chrome EQ setting.  Even when they do, many people don't know what
>they are, and don't set the switches properly.  From them, I get
>complaints that my recordings sound "too shrill".  Gee, I wonder why?
>
   Sadly Tony, the "typical" pre-recorded cassette is pretty sad.
   Some have gotten better, and some audiophile companies release
   pre-recorded cassettes that can push the medium.  But most are
   garbage, and easily beaten by a dub off a CD with a middle of the
   line home deck.


>First of all, many (most) of the analog cassette playing equipment
>that makes its way into low- and mid-fi setups is so terrible that the
>move to digital-quality sound would be a clear advantage.  One might
>not always need the signal-to-noise ratio that digital has to offer,
>but the lack of wow and flutter, speed error, etc, is almost always
>audible.
>
    Hopefully.  And particularly in the Walkman type systems which
    universally sound like crap.  I've had very young kids barf upon
    returning to a cassette type "walkman" after listening to a 
    portable CD player.   And my understanding is that DCC is aimed
    right at this free-spending yuppie-in-training crowd.  

    For a home system, I'll take DAT.  BUT I just might buy a DCC
    deck to dub CD's for a decent portable or car system.  

>
>My guess is that DCC systems will all sound pretty good, and the
>problems will all show up in the reliability department.  In the past,
>it has seemed to me that it is MUCH easier for a big profit-driven
>mass marketer to ignore sound quality than it is for them to ignore
>reliability.  Assuming that there is enough consumer demand to keep
>the development effort going, my assumption is that there will
>eventually be a bunch of not-bad sounding cheapo DCC players built
>into car and walkman audio systems.  This will be good for lots of
>people (who will enjoy their music more, even if they don't know why),
>not just big record companies.
>
    
    Hopefully with a recording company behind it, there will be lots
    of GOOD pre-recorded DCC stuff.  
    [What's the technology look like for mass market duplication?
    Can it be screwed up like the typical Cassette, or are they 
    pretty much forced to turn out good sound like on a CD?]

    Unfortunately, MD is also sponsored by a huge recording company.
    It could get interesting.  Of the two, I would prefer MD if the
    sound is approximate...tape tangles are not my idea of fun, and
    I've seen too many of them.   


>I don't want to specifically endorse DCC -- I am in no way convinced that
>the tapes or the players will be reliable in the near term.  However, the
>world DOES need an easily recordable digital playback system.  I'd rather
>it be a cheap full-bitrate CD-compatible system, but if DCC is what it
>takes to get all those boomboxes into a compatible realm of  higher-fi,
>I'm all for it.
>
   Amen.  Hopefully MD and DCC can co-exist and Sony and Phillips
   will have the brains to offer pre-recorded software on the
   competitor's medium.  Otherwise we're likely looking at another
   Beta-VHS type war which nobody won.  The consumer gets crappy
   video and Sony got screwed--deservedly but screwed anyway.

   I wonder what will happen to DAT?  Maybe move upscale into a
   high-end only medium like classic reel-reel?  With companies like
   Telarc, Shefffield, etc. offering pre-recorded DAT tapes and not
   too much else?  

   IMHO what killed DAT was the lack of pre-recorded software and
   cheap playback units...
Newsgroups: rec.audio