bzs@WORLD.STD.COM (Barry Shein) (06/23/91)
This past week's Economist magazine had an interesting article
regarding a new MD audio format soon to be released. It uses a 2 1/2"
disk, is rewriteable (MO) and holds 74 minutes of music. The MD is
"immune" to the tracking problems portable CD's have (if jostled CD's
often go silent as they find their place again.) They keep a buffer in
RAM which holds enough sound to keep playing while repositioning the
head.
Equally interesting were the comments in the article about the current
state of DAT. Out of 190 million audio players (of all types) sold
worldwide last year, only 150,000 of them were DATs. There are about
30 albums available on DAT media. Basically, the Economist concluded,
DAT is dead.
This would seem to reflect strongly on the DAT data backup industry,
is DAT about to go the way of the eight track tape? I still see DAT
vigorously promoted as an archive medium, but there might be cause for
concern if the article is even reasonably accurate.
Is 8mm tape going to capture a virtual monopoly on large backup media?
Is optical tape ever going to show up on the market, and will the
drives be affordable?
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P.S. Toshiba has announced that they will begin volume shipments of
16Mb DRAMs in the fall. NEC and others plan to join them about the
first of the year.
-Barry Shein
Software Tool & Die | bzs@world.std.com | uunet!world!bzs
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLDpetrilli@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Chris Petrilli) (06/24/91)
Barry Shein [Software Tool & Die] writes: This past week's Economist magazine had an interesting article regarding a new MD audio format soon to be released. It uses a 2 1/2" disk, is rewriteable (MO) and holds 74 minutes of music. The MD is "immune" to the tracking problems portable CD's have (if jostled CD's often go silent as they find their place again.) They keep a buffer in RAM which holds enough sound to keep playing while repositioning the head. I observed a long time ago that the reason a CD holds so little data (for it's technology, ~600Mb is ALOT) is more because of production techniques than inherint limitations. A while back I saw a machine from Thompson (of Europe) that was a write-once system (using a dye) that was capable of recording 4hrs on a standard CD, however, because it uses a argon laser is really not practicle. It could be done with a different laser (a semi-conductor blue laser perhaps, it was the spectrum that was important), however mass production was a problem, eliminating it as a contender for the next standard. The buffer can be applied to ANY system. I belive Sony just brought out a DiscMan that has a 4sec buffer. Equally interesting were the comments in the article about the current state of DAT. Out of 190 million audio players (of all types) sold worldwide last year, only 150,000 of them were DATs. There are about 30 albums available on DAT media. Basically, the Economist concluded, DAT is dead. The DAT has always been dead, thru no fault of its own. If the RIAA hadn't stalled it for so long, it would have grabbed hold quite nicely. As one of those 150K owners of DAT machines (Denon), I think DAT has a place in professional work right now, as the "consumer" machines are broken by the copy-bit system. You must also ask, "Of all the CD players sold, how many are HIGH-END, meaning over $500 in price." You will find that they are about the same percentage of the market as the DAT. This would seem to reflect strongly on the DAT data backup industry, is DAT about to go the way of the eight track tape? I still see DAT vigorously promoted as an archive medium, but there might be cause for concern if the article is even reasonably accurate. I belive that, with a few exceptions, 8mm is the dominant standard, mainly because Exabyte promoted it heavily and established a standard before one existed for DAT. Is 8mm tape going to capture a virtual monopoly on large backup media? Is optical tape ever going to show up on the market, and will the drives be affordable? Optical tape is already available (there is an article in SunExpert, the people in the same building concering optical tape.). The drives will be mainly for LARGE (many terabytes of information backup every month) installations. Chris -- | Chris Petrilli | petrilli@gnu.ai.mit.edu | I don't even speak for myself.
thoth@uiuc.edu (Ben Cox) (06/24/91)
bzs@WORLD.STD.COM (Barry Shein) writes: > The MD is >"immune" to the tracking problems portable CD's have (if jostled CD's >often go silent as they find their place again.) They keep a buffer in >RAM which holds enough sound to keep playing while repositioning the >head. This is not something that is unique to the MD format; CD players could do this as well and remain in compliance with CD standards -- this is a feature of the player, not of the media. Now, it may be that the MD standard states that the players must have this feature, but there is nothing saying CD's can't. >Equally interesting were the comments in the article about the current >state of DAT. Out of 190 million audio players (of all types) sold >worldwide last year, only 150,000 of them were DATs. There are about >30 albums available on DAT media. Basically, the Economist concluded, >DAT is dead. DAT may be dead as a consumer media, but there are plenty of DAT machines in professional recording studios worldwide (I work with 5 of them on a daily basis), and they are not going to be abandoned too easily -- look at how many PCM Beta's are still in use (unfortunately :->). As a consumer medium, perhaps one that we will see overtake DAT is the new Philips DCC format, although the MD may beat DCC to the punch, because of its random access (while DCC is still a tape, and thus serial access). Of course, Studer recently introduced their D470(?) write-once CD recorder, which writes CDs playable on any CD player... Prices are astronomical, but with a few other manufacturers having announced similar products, they may be dropping rapidly. These will probably find their main use in the professional recording studio, though, as DAT has. It is important to remember that although products may drop out of general consumer use, they may still be vital for professional applications (like Beta VCR's -> PCM digital audio). -- Ben Cox thoth@uiuc.edu
tony@jassys.UUCP (Tony Holden) (06/26/91)
bzs@WORLD.STD.COM (Barry Shein) writes: > > Equally interesting were the comments in the article about the current > state of DAT. Out of 190 million audio players (of all types) sold > worldwide last year, only 150,000 of them were DATs. There are about > 30 albums available on DAT media. Basically, the Economist concluded, > DAT is dead. At least as far as audio is concerned I'm just waiting for prices to come down. DAT has a lot of advanages over a cd for some of us. But I also have a 8mm at work for what it's worth. I don't think people care if it it's DAT or 8mm. They just look at all of those zeros :-) -- Tony Holden live on the edge, tony@jassys Bank in Texas
jcb@NCD.COM (Jim Becker) (06/28/91)
bzs@WORLD.STD.COM (Barry Shein) writes:
This past week's Economist magazine had an interesting article
regarding a new MD audio format soon to be released. It uses a 2
1/2" disk, is rewriteable (MO) and holds 74 minutes of music. The
MD is "immune" to the tracking problems portable CD's have (if
jostled CD's often go silent as they find their place again.) They
keep a buffer in RAM which holds enough sound to keep playing
while repositioning the head.
There is also a system that Philips has been working on that is the
same form factor as audio cassette, but has the underlying workings of
VCR technology (tilted spinning head..). It's all digital, and
includes the hardware for backwards compatability to analog audio
cassettes - a nice design win!
This is where I would place a bet, if there is anything new that will
take a foothold. There's an article in one of the recent Fortune
magazines on this new contender, with comparisons against CD, audio
cassette and DAT.
-Jim Becker
--
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-Jim Becker / jcb@ncd.com / Network Computing Devices, Inc. (NCD)thoth@uiuc.edu (Ben Cox) (06/28/91)
jcb@NCD.COM (Jim Becker) writes: >bzs@WORLD.STD.COM (Barry Shein) writes: >There is also a system that Philips has been working on that is the >same form factor as audio cassette, but has the underlying workings of >VCR technology (tilted spinning head..). It's all digital, and >includes the hardware for backwards compatability to analog audio >cassettes - a nice design win! The Philips format is called DCC. It uses a cassette that is the same shape and size as the ordinary cassette, but there are some differences: o The tractor holes only open on one side (like a videotape); the other side is flat and unbroken. Record companies like this because that gives them maximum label space. o There is a shield which moves aside to cover/uncover the tape, kind of like a 3 1/2" floppy disk. o The head is not tilted, nor does it rotate. It's a stationary head, which is arranged in 18 tracks (9 per direction in the same 1/8" width!!!) which read the audio data without moving the head. The tape moves at the same (I believe) cassette speed of 1+7/8 ips. o Philips uses a data compression method which involves varying the bit resolution of the audio data depending on the amplitude and frequency information in the audio signal. It's supposed to be pretty hot. o The specification includes auto-reverse, so you do record on both directions, but the tape never flips. This is done with two sets of gaps (I believe it's two sets of 9 gaps, hence the 18 tracks) rather than by flipping the head like some cassette decks. o The specification for players also includes another set of analog heads with which to play ordinary analog cassettes. >This is where I would place a bet, if there is anything new that will >take a foothold. There's an article in one of the recent Fortune >magazines on this new contender, with comparisons against CD, audio >cassette and DAT. The info above was found in an article by Ken Pohlmann in a recent MIX magazine. -- Ben Cox thoth@uiuc.edu
mathew@mantis.co.uk (Industrial Poet) (06/29/91)
jcb@NCD.COM (Jim Becker) writes: > There is also a system that Philips has been working on that is the > same form factor as audio cassette, but has the underlying workings of > VCR technology (tilted spinning head..). It's all digital, and > includes the hardware for backwards compatability to analog audio > cassettes - a nice design win! Last I heard, the Philips DCC system used a stationary head, and not a rotating helical scanning head as used in your VCR. It gets away with this by using some advanced data compression. The stationary head is seen as an advantage; DAT players are expensive to build because you have to worry about tracking problems, just like you do with video recorders. mathew