When it comes to an artist’s "greatest hits" collections music fans are often at the mercy of a record company’s song selections. In many cases the chosen tracks are limited to the artist’s "best known" songs. And of course the "best known songs" are as a result of frequent radio airplay. However, frequent radio airplay does not necessarily mean a given song is (artistically) "better" than one from the same album which never saw (radio’s) light of day. In the case of the CD Cat Stevens’ Greatest hits a newcomer to Stevens’ music can rest assured this brilliant artist’s catalogue was properly represented.

The album Cat Stevens Greatest Hits was released in June, 1975. The album contains twelve tracks chosen from Cat’s five previous studio albums. The collection reached peak radio chart positions of: #’s 1, 6 and 2 in the U.S., Canada and U.K. respectively.

What makes this collection so valuable is its inclusion of lesser-known material in the same mix as the radio hits. For instance "Wild World", which reached number 11 on the U.S. radio charts, opens the album while the lesser-known (but equally beautiful) "Can’t Keep It In" and "Hard Headed Woman" bat third and fourth in the same line-up. It’s the perfect mix of the "known" and the "unknown."

Of course it doesn’t hurt to have "Oh Very Young", "Peace Train" and "Morning Has Broken" to help support the "lesser-known" tunes on the album. Each of these songs placed eleventh or higher on the U.S. charts while the album’s twelfth and closing track "Another Saturday Night" was a number one hit in Canada. This collection is a virtual hit machine. However, in keeping with our original theory it is also a collection properly representing Steven’s song catalogue (through 1975.)

The song "Sitting" may not have lit up the charts. But one listen will reveal the same songwriting brilliance as found in Steven’s (originally born Steven Demetre Georgiou) more well-known hits. The heavy-handed piano opening demands the listener’s attention as does Cat’s opening vocal sung in a confident growl: "Oh I’m on my way I know I am. Somewhere not so far from here. All I know is all I feel right now. I feel the power growing in my hair." The infectious (and quite powerful) melody is further supported by some of Steven’s most poignant lyrics: "Oh I’m on my way I know I am, but times there were when I thought not. Bleeding half my soul in bad company, I thank the moon I had the strength to stop. I’m not making love to anyone’s wishes, only for that light I see. ‘Cause when I’m dead and lowered low in my grave, that’s gonna be the only thing that’s left of me."

Also included in this collection is perhaps Cat Steven’s finest song "Father and Son". The song, a conversation between a father and his son, finds Stevens singing both roles. The deeper more confident voice is that of the father while the higher registered, desperate and sometimes angry voice represents the son. A true masterpiece yet thankfully this collection gives equal time to the lesser-known tracks "Moonshadow", "Two Fine People" and "Ready".

No greatest hits compilation can truly capture an artist of Cat Steven’s magnitude’s work. However, this collection of Cat Stevens’ greatest hits comes wonderfully close.

We all have one: an album that touched us so deeply that it plays in the background of our most profound memories, and yet somehow no one else you know has heard of it. For me, that album is the 1995 self-titled release from Canadian singer-songwriter Rebecca Timmons. A friend of a friend of my mom’s was in her band or something, and as a result, I had the good fortune of having a copy of it in the house where I grew up. The production quality is some of the best I have ever heard, and it features the talent of many wonderful session musicians, not to mention lovely Rebecca herself. Let me say a few words about a few songs on this scintillating, yet sadly obscure album.

"Angels" starts off very simply, with Rebecca’s beautiful, unconventional voice accompanied sparsely by piano. As the song goes on, it comes to its full, lush, orchestral potential, while remaining poignant and bittersweet. It also kicks off the album well by setting a precedent for unusual themes. Specifically, "Angels" deals with people who die young and how they are lucky, "because they don’t have to live in the shadows of the things they leave behind."

Rebecca betrays her rock and roll influence in "Up the Walls of the World". It is powerful and inspiring while remaining shrouded in enigma and metaphor. "Forever after, they’ll hear the laughter, the ones who rose up the walls of the world", the chorus goes. For me, it conjures an image of an army of free thinkers besieging and pouring into the walled garden of paradise.

"Stand On Your Own" is one of my favourite songs of all time. I used to scribble the lyrics in the margins of my diary when I was in the throes of that deadly torture they call adolescent girlhood. In the lyrics, Rebecca Timmons has falling stars streaming across the sky, imparting wisdom to a lost soul standing on the ground.

"Coming of the Dream" is another one that touches me so deeply, even now, that I can barely talk about it. It’s an ecstatic, tears-of-joy-streaming-down-your-face, saving-your-life kind of song that is choking me up even as I type these words.

My mother would sometimes put this album on in the background when we were entertaining. When Track 14, "Sleep", came on, everyone in the room would fall silent, and the hairs on the backs of our neck would stand up. One of us would be obliged to get up and change the CD. It’s an eery, skin-crawling lullaby about witch trials.

The last song, "Calling", is basically a six-minute opera. I could have written a paper about it in university. It’s enormously creative and very difficult to describe, though I am inclined to compare it to Bohemian Rhapsody, if Bohemian Rhapsody dealt with the nature of the universe and the dawn of a new age of enlightenment.

If you take a moment to peek at the track list here…

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1494805/a/Rebecca+Timmons.htm

…you will see that the album has 17 tracks, but only 13 of them are songs. The other four are intro tracks, only a few seconds long, which use sound effects to introduce the songs that follow. This is one of those creative techniques that, sadly, is no longer pragmatic for recording artists and labels who aim to make their releases compatible with the digital age. Albums are seldom played from beginning to end anymore, but instead are fragmented, their components scattered to the four winds of the iPod shuffle. While there are many things about the digital age that I love and embrace, I must admit that the decline of "the album" as an art form makes me sad. I have been complimented by some of my fans for shelling out the extra few hundred dollars to the printers to have all my song lyrics printed out in their entirety in my CD booklets. This, too, is becoming an archaic practice when consumers can easily look up your lyrics online. I’m just old school, I guess. But I’ll get off my soapbox now.

The music of Rebecca Timmons is unspeakably beautiful. Her poetry is profound, her voice expressive, and her style unique. You must not miss it. It’s a little heard to find, but you can still buy it online if you hunt for it.

Music has been a part of human culture for thousands and thousands of years. Instruments such as drums and flutes have been found to be over 4000 years old and artifacts have been found in every corner of the world. While music has served different roles for different cultures, every culture on this planet has utilized music to some degree. From drums leading soldiers on to battle, religious ceremonies or simply unwinding after a long day of working the land, music is entwined in human history.

While it is apparent that music is a part of human history, concerts today are bigger and better than ever. Live shows have come back in full swing with technology helping to create larger than life performances. Giant video, aesthetic lighting and fireworks are some of the elements that continue to make live concerts interesting. The quality of sound has greatly increased for a live performance as advances in technology has allowed for better speakers, instruments and production values. Furthermore many concert venues themselves are designed to deliver the most pristine and crystal clear melodies as advances in building materials has also contributed to the increase in live sound quality.

This is in contrast to when live shows started, when hearing the singer could be difficult, or the drummer would drown out the rest of the group. Live music is now a very important income stream for many artists and subsequently the quality of product, a live music performance, has increased in entertainment value. There are a number of concerts in different genres of live music that one can attend and find locally. There has also been an increase in the number of music festivals, where one can find and discover a multitude of new performers.

Live music does live on, and today there are more varied acts and options for a music fan than we had in the past. With the increase in the independent music scene, many artists support themselves, advertise and promote for their own show. This has created a condition where bands will work harder than ever to try and make it to the big time, going the extra mile to put on a good performance and capture the audience. This is true for all types of live music, as orchestral based performances and organizations are also relying on live shows to support their organization. Many shows incorporate extravagant performers, dancers and visual effects to enhance the emotional experience and value of the experience.

This is a specialized site where one gets to know which band or artist is performing in a given town. Perhaps you want to go out for the night and are unsure what live music options are available; here is a resource guide to planning a great evening with friends. Perhaps you find yourself in a new town and are unsure of the local hotspots for live music, again, this is a resource guide to help you rock out! Musicians and bands who are also looking to promote themselves will find this resource site a great way of connecting with new fans and finding new bands to possible put on shows with. There will always be a market for live music, as long as artists keep pushing the creative envelope, we music fans will keep coming.

Patsy Cline is without a doubt one of the most successful and respected female vocalists of the 20th century. Evidence of that is in her groundbreaking awards such as in 1973 becoming the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Also in 2002, artists and members of country music voted her as Number One on CMT’s The 40 Greatest Women of Country Music. She was also ranked 46th in the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" by Rolling Stone magazine.

Patsy Cline was born on September 8, 1932 in Gore Virginia. Sadly at 30 years of age and at the height of her career she was killed in a plane crash in 1963.

Her first marriage was to a contractor named Gerald Cline in 1953 but it only lasted four years.

Her first performance on radio was in the Jimmy McCoy show. Her increasing appearances on local radio stations and events resulted in her attracting a large following.

In her early 20s Bill Peer, her manager at that time, got her signed to Four Star Records. By coincidence while at Four Star she met legendary producer Owen Bradley who worked for Decca Records. In 1960 Patsy signed on with Decca directly under the supervision of Owen. He had a reputation for working with and developing the careers of female country singers such as Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn and many more.

Owen felt that Patsy had a lot of potential and with the proper guidance would achieve higher successes. He felt that her voice would lend itself better to singing pop music although she did not seem that interested in it at the time.

In the mid 50s several important events happened to move her career along. In January of 1956 she made her network television debut on the Grand Ole Opry show. In the late fall of that year she auditioned for a television show broadcast in New York and she appeared on the show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.

The producers of the show insisted that she sing a song that she had recorded titled "Walkin’ After Midnight". Originally she was not keen on the song but Godfrey’s staff eventually won out. They also insisted that she not wear the cowgirl outfits that she had traditionally worn and instead wear cocktail style dresses.

Viewers of Godfrey’s show were so enthralled with Patsy that radio stations got many requests to play her records.

As fate would have it "Walkin’ After Midnight" reached #2 on the Country chart and #12 on the pop chart making Patsy one of the first country singers to have a crossover pop hit. The mid 50s were also memorable in that she met Charley Dick her husband. In 1958 they had a daughter named Julie and the marriage lasted for the rest of her life.

The early 60s were memorable for more hits such as her first one for Decca Records, "I Fall To Pieces". She then recorded the song "Crazy" written by Willie Nelson. She also had hits with "She’s Got You" and "Sweet Dreams."

And in 1961 she gave birth to a son named Randy.

Patsy’s voice was one of the best commercial voices to ever hit the recording studios. Even though she couldn’t read music and was basically self-taught she sang with perfect pitch. When she recorded a song she pretty much ‘owned’ it. This referred to the fact that when someone heard it, because it was so unique with her tone and phrasing that it would always be associated with her no matter how many other people recorded it.

Patsy was highly respected for her singing voice but even more so as a kind-hearted, good person who would help anyone in need. Honky Tonk pianist Del Wood said she would give anyone the skirt of her backside if they needed it. Loretta Lynn and Dottie West said that Cline always gave of herself to friends such as buying groceries and furniture for them when they were having difficulty making ends meet and even taking them on the road with her as wardrobe assistants. On occasion she would even pay a singer’s rent for a time, enabling them to stay in Nashville and continue to pursue their dreams.

Another story of her goodness is when she was involved in a horrific car crash accident where she was thrown into the windshield nearly killing her. Upon arriving at the scene Dottie West picked pieces of glass from Patsy’s hair and went with her in the ambulance. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital Patsy insisted that the driver of the other vehicle be treated first.

And so, not only was she a singers’ singer but a kind woman who did so much for others.

She truly deserves legendary status for her singing the Patsy Cline sound that was so evident in her recordings.

If you are looking for a brief list of downtempo artists, then here are some commonly known bands that belong to this genre. These artists produce electronic music which combines elements of jazz, soul, funk, hip hop, ambient, and dub. Downtempo is closely related to trip hop, and ambient music, being somewhere in between those two. While being more rhythm-driven than ambient, the beat is usually slower and less impulsive than in trip hop. Without further ado, here are five examples of downtempo artists.

Kruder & Dorfmeister

Named after its members Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, this Austrian duo mostly creates remixes of pop, hip-hop, and drum and bass songs. Madonna, Roni Size, Count Basic, Depeche Mode, and David Holmes are just a few of the artists that they have remixed. Sampler-processed vocals, echoes, and deep basslines are blended with trip-hop type of beats. This gives their music an unhurried, subtle, and serene mood.

Boards of Canada

It is one of those downtempo artists who is often considered as one of the downtempo electronica music pioneers. This music duo from Scotland can be distinguished by their unique musicscapes. Consisting of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin, Boards of Canada combines innocent child-like melodies with psychedelic and darker-colored sound textures, creating warm and melancholic moods. Their music videos contain themes of childhood, nostalgia, and nature.

Air

A music duo from France, founded by Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. Their main influences include the synthesizer sounds of the 1970s, Pink Floyd, Vangelis, and the soft rock duo The Carpenters. With its atmospheric sounds, Air is somewhat similar to Röyksopp and Sigur Rós. In their debut album Moon Safari, they combined symphonic and disco-like elements, to create ambient, but at the same time joyous tracks.

Zero 7

It is a British duo, consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. When compared to other downtempo artists, their music is often said to be most similar to the aforementioned Air. Lush picturesque soundscapes and atmospheric sound effects are common to both artists. Zero 7 can be recognized by their laid-back grooves, gentle use of brass, and soft melancholic melodies, that are supported by colorful ambient textures, Rhodes piano, and sweeping strings. This all gives their music a delightful and seductive mood.

Thievery Corporation

Thievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C. based duo, founded by Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their songs reflect their appreciation for a broad range of different music styles – dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern, and Brazilian are mixed with a lounge aesthetic. Their music also addresses political issues, opposing war and exploitative trade agreements, while supporting human rights and food programs.

The downtempo artists listed here are just a tip of the iceberg – there are numerous other bands that make this music style much more diverse. However, by listening to any of those abovementioned artists, one should get a better understanding of this genre and its overall character, since all these bands use elements specific to downtempo music.

Contrasting your verses and your choruses is a great way to keep your songs interesting. There are so many different ways to achieve contrast from Verse to Chorus to Bridge. You can sing your vocals in a different range than the section before. You can start your vocals on a different beat that you did in the section before. You can play different chords on the guitar. You can play the same chords to a different rhythm. The list goes on and on.

If you really want to improve the experience of your song for your listeners, you can tie the contrast of your song into the meaning of your lyrics.

Let me show you what I’m talking about.

First let’s take a listen to the first verse and chorus of the song "It’s the End of the World As We Know it (And I Feel Fine)" by REM. It’ll come up on a quick YouTube search.

The first thing you probably notice about this song is the fast pace, and craziness of the verses. That’s this song’s "thing." That’s who it is. It’s a big ball of chaos. Well, in its verses, anyway. The chorus (starting at "It’s the End of the World…") is slow, and drawn out. At least compared to the verses.

Contrast between sections is the way we distinguish one section from another. One (of the many) ways to achieve such contrast is to change the rhythm and length of your phrases between sections. This is the main strategy this song uses to achieve contrast between its verses and chorus. The verses are super quick and choppy, while the chorus is comparatively drawn out. It’s a pretty effectively strategy.

If the lyrics in the verses actually hold any meaning, they seem to be about chaos. And if there is no actual meaning, then by definition that still makes them chaotic. So the verses are really about chaos, which of course ties back to the whole "End of the World" idea.

When the chorus hits, it simply proclaims "It’s the end of the world as we know it" three times as a summation of what’s happening in the verses. But the coolest part happens on the fourth line of the Chorus, in the line "and I feel fine." After a crazy, fast paced verse, which gets summed up by the first three lines of the chorus, the phrase "I feel fine" is the most drawn out, with the longest notes of anything we’ve heard so far. What we hear is "and I feel fine," while the mood of the music is the most relaxed compared to everything else we’ve heard in this song.

It’s a strategic use of lyrics married to their meaning. Not only do the verses imply chaos through their words, but they also do so with how the mood of the music makes us feel. In a contrasting way, the chorus slows down and feels more subdued, which is perfectly fitting by the time "I feel fine" kicks in on the last line. It makes us feel fine, when we’re otherwise surrounded by all this chaos.

It’s a great strategy. I recommend you try a similar approach in one of your own songs and see how it feels. Have fun with it.

The joy of music is that it is new every time it is played. There is no such thing as a definitive version of anything. A composer indicates intention, but, whatever the piece, the music only comes to life when it is interpreted. A programme of Romantic violin sonatas by Brahms, Grieg and Franck might, to the uninitiated, appear to be potentially run-of-the-mill. But such an assumption would ignore the potential interpretive contribution of two superb musicians, Joaquín Palomares and Bruno Canino.

The duo performed on 11 February 2012 in the first concert of La Nucia’s Spring Festival in the town’s beautiful Auditori de la Mediterrània. They have played together many times and their perfect understanding was in evidence from the very first notes of the Brahms second sonata. Joaquín Palomares’s violin playing was, as usual for him, supremely lyrical and was able to communicate the long melodic lines of Brahms’s style. And Bruno Canino’s piano playing throughout went way beyond the role mere accompanist. The almost tangible communication between the two players gave both shape and meaning to the music’s narrative.

Less familiar to most in the audience was Grieg’s third sonata, considered the best of the composer’s three works in the form. Palomares and Canino blended the elements of folk song, dance rhythms and northern toughness into a truly impassioned performance of a beautiful work. The contrasts were strong whilst at the same time the performers retained a wonderful balance that made perfect musical sense. Palomares and Canino together led their audience through the tableaux of the work’s scenes, endowing the whole with shape and thus accessibility.

Their final piece, the Franck sonata, is nothing less than a masterpiece. In the hands of Palomares and Canino, the piece played out almost like a novel, sounding like a mixture of confession and personal experience related with some pain but delivered with resolve. The catharsis of the final movement was striking, the virtuosity of the duo’s playing quite breathtaking.

The audience demanded and received no less than three encores and were treated to performances of the Brahms Scherzo, Tchaikovsky’s tender Melody and the haunting favourite, the Meditation of Thais by Massenet.

Joaquín Palomares and Bruno Canino offered their combined virtuosity to create a superb concert of mainly well-known music. But the quality of their playing was such that the experience became special, even for a listener who came to the concert familiar with the music. It was great music faultlessly played and beautifully interpreted.

While Mahler was inspired in his compositions by Beethoven, Liszt, Bruckner and Wagner, like all of the masters he developed his own style of composing. He was known as one of the world’s greatest opera conductors, but wrote no operas himself. He was more than a passable pianist but left no piano compositions of any consequence, likewise with his chamber music. His instrument of expression was the orchestra, and he was a master of orchestration with a lifetime of practical knowledge gained from his conducting duties and a gift for creating themes that lent themselves to orchestral development.

Mahler’s symphonies 1-4 were influenced by the German folk poem collection Das Knaben Wunderhorn. Each of the first four symphonies used material from songs Mahler had written to the texts of selected poems from the collection, but his symphonies 5,6 and 7 were purely instrumental. The Sixth Symphony is one of Mahler’s most conventional as far as the first movement structure. He sticks to the traditional sonata form with exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. The symphony consists of four movements. There is some controversy as to the proper order of the two middle movements. Some conductors put the Scherzo directly after the first movement, some revers the two. The following video of the symphony has the Scherzo as the second movement, the Andante as the third.

I. Allegro energico, ma non troppo. Heftig, aber markig - The work begins with the orchestra playing the first theme, a brisk march in the home key of A Minor. The first theme is rounded off by a motif that happens throughout the symphony, a major chord played in the trumpets accompanied by a march rhythm in the percussion, and while the trumpets play the home note and fifth of the chord, one of the trumpets lowers the third of the chord and transforms it to a minor chord. The second theme is heard, a soaring melody that Mahler’s wife Alma, claimed to represent her. The exposition begins with a development of the march theme, which is suddenly transformed into an idyllic setting complete with the gentle clinking of cowbells. The march theme reappears with vengeance and is whipped into a climax which leads directly to the recapitulation. The march rhythm persists, and begins a coda that develops the march theme even further. The ‘Alma’ theme reappears in a grand manner and ushers in the triumphant ending of the movement.

II. Scherzo: Wuchtig – This scherzo is one of the strangest Mahler ever wrote. It opens with the timpani beating out a rhythm, almost as if to mock the preceding seriousness of the timpani’s rhythm of the first movement march. The brass also chimes in with slurs and slides after the end of the first section of the scherzo, almost as if they thumb their noses at the preceding drama. Through it all, the orchestra keeps up the parody and the sarcasm until with a few quiet titters, the movement ends.

III. Andante moderato – This movement serves as a contrast to the drama of the first movement and the bitter sarcasm of the second. It also give the listener a chance to breathe easy before the last movement.

IV. Finale: Sostenuto – Allegro moderato – Allegro energico – There is really nothing in the previous three parts of the symphony that prepares the listener for what happens within this movement. The movement begins mysteriously and has a shattering reprisal of the timpani rhythm of the first movement. The orchestra wanders as if it is caught in a maze. It breaks out here and there, but returns to its brooding meditation. The orchestra breaks out in a march similar to what has been heard in the first movement, but it is even more frantic. The orchestra reaches two climaxes, after which the celebrated ‘hammer blow of fate’ occur. The timpani motif of the first movement is heard throughout the final section as the orchestra gets more and more frantic, as if it is struggling to avoid the inevitable. There is a quiet agitation before the end, and the orchestra slowly dies away before a shattering, incredibly loud climax signals that all the energy expended in the struggle has been concentrated into one last ‘big bang’ that creates nothing but destroys all.

There is no wonder why Mahler’s sixth is among the least performed of his works. Mahler’s world of the Sixth Symphony, in the final cataclysmic climax, shows that it is all for naught. We cannot escape our fate. The world of the Sixth Symphony can seem like a world of senseless struggle, bitterness, heartache and loss. For most people to reflect on this is not an easy thing. It has been noted that on the night that he was to premiere the work Mahler paced backstage, wringing his hands and sobbing. He did not authorize the symphony to be subtitled ‘Tragic’, but the work does fit the title.

Don’t make foolish mistakes while shopping for your acoustic guitar. Follow the guidelines below, and you’ll end up happy with your purchase.

1. Go through the stores and catalogs and narrow down the field of possibilities. My daughter bought a very good guitar — sounded fabulous — but she was just not happy with the look of the thing. So we took it back and threw ourselves on the mercy of the store owner. He allowed us to trade it in for the model that still sounded good (same maker), but looked "cool" in her point of view. Had we narrowed down her choices based on appearance to start with, I’d have saved two hours and five bucks of gas. Lesson learned.

2. Talk to someone who’s owned the model you’re interested in. If you know someone in person, go to them and have them play it for you, and talk with them about their experience. If you don’t know any such person, then go to a competent review site or magazine, and see what lot’s of users have to say about that particular guitar.

Now, a word of warning: you have to ask yourself, "Who is it that leaves reviews?" Well, there are only two classes of people. First is the person who has a real chip on their shoulder. They come in and flame the acoustic guitar victim for any number of reasons. Read these reviews, but if the issue was customer service, that actually doesn’t reflect on the guitar at all; just don’t buy from that vendor. The other type of reviewer is the rabid fan, and if they happen to just be thrilled to finally have an instrument so they can go on America’s Got Talent, they’d write a raving review about a two-by-four with rubber bands attached. Take it all with a grain of salt.

3. If you can, "kick the tires." If you can hold, play, and get a feel for each acoustic guitar on your short list, then by all means do so. Each guitar has a slightly different character. This is mainly true between makes and models, but even in the same model there can be slight variations of tone. If you just don’t have a music store in your area, or the ones you have are all junk mills, then don’t be afraid to watch YouTube videos and eventually order from an online vendor. Again, good review sites can be a lot of help here because they will compiles videos, user reviews and photos into one place for you. Just be sure you get a site ranked in the top three or four pages of Google, and that you visit several, so that you get a more authoritative viewpoint.

In summary, wait to buy the right acoustic guitar, but use these three methods to avoid buyer remorse – Enjoy!

The 90′s saw the development of a number of new audio formats. There were competing companies that wanted their new ways of listening to music to prevail. The early 90s saw the introduction of the MiniDisc and even the initial release of the.mp3 audio file. Phillips unveiled their version of digital audio in 1992 with the high quality Digital Compact Cassette. Unfortunately however, the DCC was an expensive and short lived endeavor.

At the introduction of the DCC in 1992, Phillips had high hopes for a product they expected to take over the role of the standard cassette tape. It was a lofty goal given that every year more than 2 billion cassette tapes were sold and 200 million players were being sold alongside them. It wasn’t necessarily a bad push, but there was stiff competition in the recordable digital market, especially from the MiniDisc.

Companies wanted the attention of consumers and digital music could be made much crisper and free of the quality issues from the wear and tear of analog formats. The problem with the digital cassette tape compared to the analog cassette, however, was that digital audio requires a lot more tape. This meant that unlike the Compact Disc, the digital audio on the DCC had to be compressed.

The music at the time was recorded by sampling it as much as forty-eight thousands times per seconds. Data is stored in binary and in this case, each of the samples is represented by a number written in a 16-digit string of binary (0′s and 1′s). With a stereo, two channels means two signals so storing a single second of music requires 1.5 million 1′s and 0′s.

Put it all together with additional memory requires for control and error calculation and a single second of music requires 2.8 million 0′s and 1′s – or about 2.8 megabits. At the time of the product launch, we were still sticking floppy discs in our computers and even the most powerful floppy discs used in personal computers at the time could only hold about 4 seconds worth of digital music.

In order to get all of that data packed into a digital cassette tape, developers realized that it would have to move extremely slowly. If the digital cassette tape moved at a standard speed it would need to be extremely long. Using technology from video cassette recorders, Phillips was able to create a DCC that would move tape slowly however read quickly while carrying a large amount of data.

At the time, Phillips was well respected for their ability to stay on top of advanced technology and create quality products. With the benefit of their development teams, they were able to use data compression to reduce the binary needed to store the digital music. This allowed them to use linear tracks and reduce the overall amount of tape.

A Complicated Technology

Even with compression though, cramming all of that data into linear tracks is far from easy. A standard analog tape has only four tracks – two stereo channels on each side of the cassette tape. The Phillips DCC, using tape of the same width as standard analog cassettes, had 18 tracks with 9 going in one direction and 9 going in reverse. Eight of those tracks would contain the music while the 9th track was all control information.

Because of this, a sophisticated recording head was developed in order to read all 9 tracks in parallel. This sped up the flow of information onto and off of the digital compact cassette. It’s also why the machine was backwards compatible; the sophisticated head could easily play simple analog cassette tapes. With the sophistication of the digital compact cassette however it’s easy to see why a standard cassette player couldn’t read the digital tape.

A Question of Quality

At the time, the biggest concern was whether or not the compression of the data on digital compact cassettes would damage the music. During the launch of the product and the period leading up to, journalists spoke with various individuals in the music industry and many attested that the Philips system sounds as good as compact discs of the time, which used no compression at all.

With the quality being comparable to Compact Disc and MiniDisc technology, what led to the downfall of the Digital Compact Cassette? It seams people were ready to move away from tape and sales of the competing MiniDisc (despite being lower in quality), beat the DCC. It had a short run of only 4 years and was discontinued in October of 1996. What once seemed like a fantastic advancement in technology quickly turned into a niche product for audiophiles.