DAT (1987) - Digital Audio Tape
Introduced in 1987 for the professional studio market, digital audio tapes quickly claimed the high ground in professional recording industry circles. DAT's never garnered consumer market penetration because of the high cost of DAT players. However, they remained a mainstay of the pro-audio world because of their relatively low price and digital storage capabilities.
Our own government was a major contributor to the DAT never making in-roads into the consumer market. Bowing to corporate "pressures" (and not surprisingly, that of the voters who put them there) a stiff tax was added to each DAT tape sold. The collected funds were used to "compensate" the powerful music industry for songs that could possibly be pirated. Our constitutional doctrine of "innocent until proven guilty" sadly and frighteningly, got tossed out the window. Most insiders "in the know", view it as just another case of flagrant "corporate welfare" in operation at it's best, and the best politicians that money could buy .. Not to be beaten, the DAT manufacturers quickly re-designed machines that could utilize less expensive computer-grade DAT tape to circumvent the steep tax. The damage to the consumer marketplace however, was done and sadly never recovered.===from the web..
Hope this helps..
Ray
Topic: What is the history of DAT machines (Read 3790 times)