DIGITAL COMPACT CASSETTE

A description is given of the Digital Compact Cassette system (DCC) and how it could be integrated with the existing analog Compact Cassette system (CC). An improved version of the CC cassette suitable for higher frequencies was developed and special DCC components were added to a CC mechanism, resulting in a first product for the consumer market in 1992. Two major efforts are described. One is the development of the Precision Adaptive Subband Coding algorithm (PASC) in order to lower the needed bit rate to be recorded on tape without affecting the audio sound quality. The subband structure and the principles of PASC coding are now widely accepted for use in high-quality sound application. The other effort is the design and production of a multitrack magnetic read/write head in thin-film technology, also suited for analog playback of CC, and meeting the price demands and quantities of the consumer market. By extensive use of integrated circuits, including a digital equalization of the magnetic read head and a complete digitalization of the PASC circuit, the number of discrete electronic components for a DCC system could be minimized.