Hi Graeme,
11 Mar 98, Graeme Jaye writes to Rick Nolan:
 > Which is one good reason why it is not a lot of use as an archival
 > medium.  As far as 'consumer quality' DAT is concerned, I only know
 > four or five people who have such a machine in a domestic
 > environment - and they are all in the audio business.  Ordinary
 > mortals are just not interested.
You are probably right ;-) what I meant is that the machines that
are available here for about $1000  (NZ) are a waste of time,and
"professional" DAT tape recorders that are specificly manufactured
for the audio recording industry are not a whole lot better as far
as reliability is concerned.
 > I apprecite the merits of the argument - and I suppose there may be
 > a grain of truth in there somewhere - but there are many similar
 > sized mechanisms (eg QIC40/80 transports) which have a far more
 > demanding role asked of them (audio is pretty forgiving - more so
 > than data) and they seem to work well enough for years on end.  So
 > maybe the problem lies with the manufacturers for not taking enough
 > care in the first place.
There is quite a difference between a QIC backup drive that is used
(usually)  for a few minutes per day than a Pro DAT deck that is in
use 12-16 hours continuously 7 days a week. I'm talking about machines
that sell for US$20,000+ and rarely go two months without needing
the services of the manufacturer...most of these machines only come
with a 90 day manufacturers guarantee (with good reason too !)
 RN>> CD-R is dead
 >
 > I can't go along with that.  On what basis do you make that claim?
Just my observation of the market,I beleive that in 24 months at most
you will not be able to even buy a CD-Rmachine
 RN>> DAT is dying
 >
 > If anything, I would have said it was DAT that was *already* dead.
Not amongst small small studios ;-)
 RN>> I need something better right now :-)
 >
 > Better in what respect?  Perhaps you might care to produce a wish
 > list of your requirements?
Reliable,high quality digital recording medium (rules out CD-R)
because of the problems that occur with CD-R disks quite frequently
not being able to be read by a standard single speed audio CD drive,
that is preferably cheap and acceptable to CD manufacturing plants.
Today DAT is it.
Now for a change ;-) I need urgently a laptop PC that has at least
3 midi in and 3 midi out ports (and six would be better)
Is there available an off the shelf laptop PC or card/whatever
combination that will do this ?
Regards,
Rick
--- GoldED/2 2.42.G0614
---------------