Japan Audio Fair Offers Peek at New Digital Tape Recorders

A new generation of digital audio tape recorders, including one small enough to slip into a purse and others capable of near-flawless direct digital recordings from compact discs, debuted Wednesday at the Japan Audio Fair.

The models are the first to be introduced since record and electronic industry groups agreed in July on a new worldwide DAT standard that opens the way for widespread marketing of the high-quality recording equipment.

Aiwa said its new HD-X1 DAT recorder is the smallest on the market at 3.7 inches by 5.7 inches. With an extra adapter, the 1.3-pound machine also can record video--up to 3,600 still images on a two-hour tape.

The model will go on sale in Japan on Oct. 21 for $555, Aiwa spokesman Kohji Morino said. The cheapest previous DAT machines in Japan cost about $720.

But like Japanese DAT recorders manufactured before the July agreement, the HD-X1 can’t make direct digital recordings from CDs, and instead must convert their signals to analog form, resulting in a slight degradation of sound quality.

Aiwa expects to redesign the HD-X1 after official approval is given to the new international DAT standard and won’t export it until then, Morino said.

Disappointing Sales

Both DATs and compact discs use digital technology to reproduce music with low noise and distortion and high dynamic range.

But sales have been disappointing during DAT equipment’s 2 1/2 years on the market in Japan because of high prices and initial opposition from record industry groups, which feared that DAT’s ability to make high-quality tape recordings would encourage pirating.

Under the July agreement, new DAT equipment will be able to make near-perfect direct digital recordings from digital sources such as CDs, but will add a “flag” signal to the tape to prevent any second-generation copies from being made.

JVC, Pioneer, Sony, Technics and other makers displayed new DAT models meeting the new standard, but said marketing would be delayed until government agencies in Japan and overseas give their approval.

“Companies in the lead hope to market their new models by January or February,” said Naomichi Kohri of JVC. “And I think we’re one of the companies out in front.”

Kohri said JVC hopes to sell the cheapest of its three new DAT models for less than $720, “but we’re not sure whether we’ll be able to manage it yet.”

DATs “haven’t caught on because their cost is still rather high,” an analyst said. “But we’re optimistic that the market will start improving soon, after the new recorders come out.”

Like new models from other firms, Sony’s new recorder shows that DATs have become a technically mature product. Inside the Sony model, there no longer is a maze of wires since much of the complex circuitry has been incorporated into new integrated circuits.

But with sales of DATs finally expected to rise, Sony officials displayed what they said will become the ultimate sound recording device--a compact disc recorder.

“Technically, it’s ready, but we’re facing the same copyright problems as DATs,” said Gen Ichimura, a Sony technician. “We’ll have to wait until they are solved.”

The machine, called a rewritable compact disc magnetic optical recorder, uses the same digital circuitry as CD players. But in addition to playing regular CDs, it can record on disks made of a special alloy by magnetizing minute spots on the surface that then deflect light, corresponding to the pits on the surface of a CD.

Sony says the disks can be re-recorded 10 million times and have the same life as a regular CD. The CD magnetic optical recorders will cost about the same as current CD players, while the special disks will be cheaper than regular CDs, Ichimura said.