Digital Compact Cassette
Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is an obsolete magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita in late 1992. Pitched as a successor to the standard analog cassette, and competitor to MiniDisc (MD) and Digital Audio Tape (DAT), it never became popular with the general public. It shared the same form factor as analog cassettes, and DCC recorders could play back either type of cassette. This backward compatibility allowed users to adopt digital recording without rendering their existing tape collections obsolete. The DCC was discontinued after October 1996.
DCC signalled the parting of ways of Philips and Sony, who had worked together successfully on the Compact Disc, CD-ROM and CD-i before. Based on the success of Digital Audio Tape in professional environments, both companies saw a market for a new consumer-oriented digital audio recording system that would be less expensive and perhaps less fragile. Sony decided to create the entirely new MiniDisc format (based on their experience with magneto-optical recording and Compact Disc) while Philips decided on a tape format that was compatible with their earlier analog Compact Cassette format. This decision was remarkable because Philips also had recordable-disc experience with CD-R and CD-RW. Around 1990 and 1991, the company was going through a difficult time, which may have played a role in their more cautious decision to go with a tape-based format.
DCC was developed in cooperation with Matsushita, and the first DCC recorders were introduced at the Firato consumer electronics show in Amsterdam in 1992. At that time, not only Philips and Panasonic (brand of Matsushita) announced DCC-recorders but also other brands such as Grundig and Marantz (both related to Philips).
More recorders and players were introduced by Philips and other manufacturers in the following years, including some portable players and recorders and car DCC player/radio receiver combinations.
In November 1995 at the "HCC dagen" computer fair in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Philips presented the DCC-175 portable recorder that could be connected to an IBM-compatible PC using the "PC-link" cable. This was the first (and only) DCC recorder that could be connected to, and controlled by, a computer, and it was only available in the Netherlands.
Philips marketed the DCC format in Europe, the United States and Japan. According to the newspaper article that announced the demise of DCC, DCC was more popular than MiniDisc in Europe (especially in the Netherlands), however in Japan, MiniDisc always outsold DCC.
DCC was discontinued in October 1996 after Philips admitted it had achieved poor sales and MiniDisc was winning. In hindsight it is clear that linear tape formats are not as versatile as disc type formats, and the advent of recordable compact discs (CD-R and CD-RW) makes the use of tape obsolete for consumer applications. It is also arguable that the DCC format could have been more successful:
- If it would have been possible to record analog tapes (in analog format), and/or
- If it would have been possible to use regular tapes (intended for analog recording) and record to them digitally, and/or
- If it would have been possible to make longer recordings without an interruption at the end of side "A" to switch to side "B", and/or
- If the recorders could have been linked to a computer like DCC-175, and/or
- If the DCC-175 with PC-link would have been released outside the Netherlands
Professional recording studios still use DAT machines because of their higher maximum sample rate (48 kHz), and frequently for their portability. ADAT machines are also still in widespread use in the recording industry.