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DAT - R.I.P.


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Just curious as to how many of you guys (or gals) out there still use Dats for anything.

 

As far as I'm concerned Dats are DEAD, and I don't really mind one bit...

 

I've been using Dats since 1989. I had a 15 bit casio machine that kinda sounded like crap. I owned a Nakamichi cassette deck (Dragon) that sounded better than that Dat machine !!!

 

The reason I'm knocking Dats is that recently I've been converting some of my old material, which is on Dat, over to HardDisk.

 

I have hundreds of old Dat tapes, and a good percentage of them are so fucked that they are basically useless. (Digital distortion all over the place etc.)

 

When they first came out with Dat, what was the expected life span of the tapes ?

 

I'm weary of playing back anything that was done more than 5 years ago.

 

Dat tapes are incompatible between certain manufacturer's machines, they use error correction schemes, tapes get stuck in machines, they basically suck...

 

I've mixed countless things to Dat over the years, but I'm glad that there are now other/better options out there.

 

Anyone else glad that Dats are Dead ?

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I used to have one of those Casio DAT recorders, and it was okay for doing live to 2 track remotes back in the late 80's, but hey, time and technology march on.

 

Most of my taoes still play back just fine - even the ones I did on the Casio. I think that out of all the DATs I have recorded over the years, I have had failures on maybe half a dozen tapes.

 

I now have a Sony PCM R300 that I bought a couple of years ago and it works fine, and I keep it in the studio "just in case" someone comes in with a old DAT they want transferred for whatever reason, but I just mix to computer and burn CD's all the time now. Almost everyone has a CD player, very few clients have DAT players at home. I can't remember the last time I dubbed to a cassette or DAT for a client to take home.

 

I much prefer using CD-R's over DATs, but I'll be keeping my Sony around for a while for clients who may need it.

 

Phil O'Keefe

Sound Sanctuary Recording

Riverside CA http://members.aol.com/ssanctuary/index.html

email: pokeefe777@msn.com

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I have a portable AIWA HHB 1 Pro Dat recorder i mostly use ....... whenever you use a portable recorder !

Then i put the usefull things on my HD but i don't use it to backup, i'm not a tape freak.

And somehow i feel the quality is even better then recordings straight to HD .

But i'm waiting for a tapeless portable recorder (better quality then Minidisc .)

The new Zoom PS-02, maybe http://www.samsontech.com/zoom/personal.html

when it costs a little less $$$$$, or with more memory....

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I keep my DAT around for compatibility, and because I have some older mixes on DAT I haven't transferred to CD yet. For portable recording, as I'm doing mostly effects and stuff, MD works just fine and is smaller, less expensive, uses cheaper media, and is more robust, but doesn't sound as good for critical recordings. But tape in general is on the way out, no doubt about it.
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