I'm going to force people to read into my rant on this one. It's just too old school for most people to remember, but it should ring a few bells for a few.

DAT

That's it. Digital Audio Tape.

How is it the ultimate head unit?

Well it's actually the ultimate REPLAY unit. Some of the best music I heard in the mid 90's was recorded onto one of these units and played back through an external D/A converter. Keith Johnston of Reference Recordings used to haul one around to live performances he went to as a spectator, not a recording engineer. Oddly enough his simple mic technique resulted in some pretty fantastic recordings.

So the next time one of you true music lovers goes to your favourite symphony or jazz recital, haul a little DAT recorder with you and relive the performance in your car later.

...I'm going to get flamed on this one. I just know it....

Oh well,

Adam

 

don't musicians hate it when audience members record the performance?

 

Funny thing...you've paid for it.

 

I remember the Alpine DAT player from the late 80s. Wicked expensive then and it still is now when someone puts one up on Ebay here and there. Like to the tune of over $1k

 

DAT is still used a fair bit I beileve, or it was a few years ago when I was in college. great stuff!! I wish it had caught on more, but cassettes and mini recorders are just too cheap and convenient.

 

I still have the Alpine 5700 DAT player, it's a sweet looking piece.........

 

DATs are cool. But nowadays it's simple and cheap enough to have a hard-drive recording setup that's just as good....

 

Depends on the band. Hell, Counting Crows(my favorite band) have a bootleg trading forum on their official website.

Trade but don't sell.

 

DAT rocks. Still one of the best recorders out there. Was about to grab an early 90's sony unit, but was still iffy on paying high asking prices. Grabbing a portable unit and hooking it up to an aux in would be awesome though.