Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!ai-lab!life.ai.mit.edu!petrilli From: petrilli@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Chris Petrilli) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: The Future of DAT? Message-ID: Date: 23 Jun 91 22:40:39 GMT References: <9106222115.AA10855@world.std.com> Sender: news@ai.mit.edu Distribution: comp Organization: The Free Software Foundation Lines: 61 In-reply-to: bzs@WORLD.STD.COM's message of 22 Jun 91 21:15:30 GMT 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.