Digital Compact Cassette - Technology - Cassettes and Cases

Cassettes and Cases

DCC Cassettes were almost identical to analog cassettes, except there were no "bulges" where the tape-access holes were located. The top side of a DCC cassette was flat and there were no access holes for the hubs on the top side (they were not required because auto-reverse was a standard feature on all DCC-cassette players and recorders), so this side could be used for a label. A spring-loaded metal slider similar to the sliders on 3.5 inch floppy disks and MiniDiscs covered the tape access holes and locked the hubs while the cassette wasn't in use. Cassettes provided several extra holes and indentations so that DCC recorders could tell a DCC cassette apart from an analog cassette, and so they could tell what the length of a DCC tape was. Also, there was a slider on the DCC to enable and disable recording. Unlike the break-away notches on analog cassettes and VHS tapes, the slider made it easier to make a tape recordable again, and unlike analog cassettes, the slider would protect the entire tape and not just one side.

The cases that DCC cassettes came in generally didn't have the characteristic "folding" mechanism of the old analog cassette (which was hated because it was fragile). Instead, DCC cassette cases tended to be simply plastic boxes that were open on one of the short sides. The front side had a hole that was almost the size of the cassette, so that any label on the cassette would be exposed even when the cassette would be in its case. This allowed the user to slide the cassette in and out of the case with one hand, and it reduced production costs, especially for prerecorded cassettes because a label was needed only for the cassette, not for the case. Format partner Matsushita did however produce blank cassettes (under their Panasonic brand) with a clam-shell style case. Because DCC cassettes had no "bulges" near the tape access holes, there was more space in the case behind the cassette to insert e.g. a booklet for a prerecorded tape, or a folded up card on which users could write the contents of the tape. In spite of the differences, the outside measurements of the standard DCC cases were exactly identical to the cases of analog cassettes, so they could be used in existing storage systems. The Matsushita design clam-shell case was slightly thinner than an analog cassette case

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