Website tag: Formats

Pocket Rockers

Pocket rockers are 2-track loop tapes manufactured by Fisher-Price Toys. They were sold in large American retail chains in 1988. The 1″ x 1,5″ tapes featured two tracks and were playable only on special Pocket Rockers tape machines, packaged with miniature album sleeves and a free pop quiz.
The tapes were sold from 1988 until 1992, when they were only sold at Toys “R” Us stores at heavily discounted prices. Some 40 different titles appear to have been around, from such diverse acts as Bon Jovi, the Fat Boys, Tears for Fears, T’pau, Belinda Carlisle and Kim Wilde. Kim’s tape contained the tracks You Keep Me Hangin’ On and Say You Really Want Me.


DCC

The Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is a magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita in late 1992 and marketed as the successor to the standard analogue Compact Cassette. It was also a direct competitor to Sony’s MiniDisc (MD) but neither format toppled the then popular analogue cassette despite their technical superiority.

DCC was envisaged as a cheaper alternative to DAT (the format established in recording studios) – which had by 1992 also failed to sell in large quantities. DCC shared a similar form factor to 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.

Pre-recorded DCC’s were also sold for a short time. Only two Kim Wilde DCC’s were ever released: Love Is and The Singles Collection 1981-1993.