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.
