DC International & the forgotten cassette format war (that was more like a brief skirmish)
It’s been a couple of months since I showcased a ‘forgotten’ format, so I've pulled this one out of the to-do pile - it's Grundig's DC International. There was little to go on when trying to research the behind the scenes conflict that lead to this format's creation, it seems like everyone concerned would rather just forget the whole debacle.
I aim to publish this video early next week.
This video also features a longer than average ‘comedy’ outro that should either be avoided or viewed depending upon your preference. There are a couple of lines in this I’m particularly happy with - one starts with ‘Oh no Yoko’ and the other involves a sausage...and its also a true story.
Talking about puppets - I’d like to ask a favour of you. You may remember from one of my previous update videos that Justin T Lee ( a Patron here for over two years now) has been working on a children's series called Miikshi the Meek Sheep for which I provided a voice in the pilot episode. Well things are slowly progressing for Miikshi - but Justin needs your help to push it to the next level. Don’t worry, you don’t have to put your hand in your pocket - all you need to do to help out is just watch the new trailer for the series, and perhaps give it a thumbs up (Justin's model work alone deserves a thumb). The more views/interest the video generates the better the chances are for Miikshi (and Justin). He's put an insane amount of work into this - so if you've got a couple of minutes spare to help a fellow patron, here’s the link to the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EALKpSqi9zc
Apparently if the series gets commissioned I might have a small reoccurring voice role, but please don’t let that put you off.
Comments (75)
Just when you think there cannot possibly be another cassette format ..
This was great, as usual! You summed it up so well, and gave something interesting. On a side note, been watching 8-Bit Guy and saw him doing the prank call with the voice synthesizer. Those collabs are so good. Saw you using some music. Look forward to more!
Another excellent video. These format videos are my favourites of yours. This is my favourite muppet outro yet.
I found this utterly fascinating. Really, thoroughly enjoyed it, Mat. These kinds of technology histories and rival company stories are always fantastically told on the channel. And my jaw was on the floor about the copyright business in the outro. (And a heartfelt thanks for mentioning Miikshi in the description!)
Always awesome how you dig all this stuff out. I have never heard of that Cassette format before. And the muppets are very funny and upsetting at the same time. Well done!
Bear with me, this is relevent... Just listening via the live BBC R4 stream to a documentary about Franco (the Spanish fascist) and his murderous regieme. In the background, people are singing a traditional song, in Spanish, at a memorial service. Up pops an extra window on the BBC radio player all of a sudden... "NOW PLAYING - NENAH CHERRY - MANCHILD" As I type this, I think there must have been someone at the BBC listening as it has now been quietly removed from the 'last played by this station' list that remains on the screen... Auto song recognition technology, doesn't it just make you want to moan ;)
They'll take this one, too, because of the half-a-second windows sound ^^
Love the history. Love the outro. Thanks for providing the fish & chips at the end for scale. We are in Liverpool for 2 weeks and the place we went to the other night had fish bigger than the take away container. I was beginning to think we were getting ripped off at home (Canada).
Yes the take-away container shouldn’t be able to close until you’ve eaten about half of it. Never ask for a large one.
Once again, a fascinating and informative history lesson! Thanks, Mat! 👍 And now I'm hungry for fish & chips! 🐟🍟😆
Yes! Been waiting for this one, always been fascinated by DC International. As always, a top-notch, well-researched piece that tells a great story of a forgotten format. Shame you couldn't get hold of a pre-recorded tape, but was great just to see images of that Stones one. Should be added to discogs!
The content strike is out of control. I pay you directly because your content is original, informative, and entertaining. And I don't want youtube taking all of the money out of your pocket. Also that fish and chips looked amazing at the end. Never had it in England!
Take 5! I played that in jazz band in high school.
Best outro ever! Well done!
Thanks old chap. There are a couple of small errors in there I can see, but it came out quite well overall.
Great video as usual Mat. I'm from Italy and, though this system was on the market a few years before I was born, I can say I have never seen a DC International player, let alone the cassettes. One possible reason why this system had some small success in Italy is probably related to the fact that Grundig was a popular brand here in the 60’s and 70’s, they even had a factory in Northern Italy, not very far from Austrian border in fact. Oh, by the way I’m very happy you saved your monthly fish and chips ;-)
Loved it all, Mat... The overview of the equipment and technology was top-notch as always, and the puppet outro was hilarious (the phrases "sad because it's true" and "funny because it's true" both came to mind). I was also surprised that I hadn't heard of this, because as I have previously mentioned I have been an aficionado of music and hi-fi since 1968, so even if it was obsolete I would think I might have at least ran across it (a la 4-track). In your research, did you find that the format ever actually came out in the United States? I know you mentioned that Billboard had a reference to it, but it didn't make it clear whether it was actually on the market in the USA. Oh, one more thing... No fair posting pictures of delicious British fish and chips where those of us who are dieting and nowhere near the UK might see it. Tasty food is the last thing I would expect to run across on a technology site... But, you are definitely unpredictable in the best sort of way. :-)
I really don’t know if it ever made its way to the US, although I highly doubt it...did you ever have any Grundig badged equipment? I suspect if it had been imported it would have been rebranded to sound more familiar to the local audience.
I really enjoyed this history lesson. I'd never heard of the DC format.
What an excellent and informative video. I love how you did a Jason (Engineering Explained) impression at the white board, but even better than Jason. So sorry to hear about the YouTube issue. Like patent trolls, these rights owners have discovered a new business stealing the work of others using straight-up strong-arm tactics, no different than the mafia.
Simply had to go back and watch the outro. So glad I did. Possibly one of the best yet.
They always work better when there’s a true story behind the skit. Unfortunately not enough happens to me to keep feeding their insatiable desire for nonsense.
LOL. Fish and Chips plus cassettes. When will the "The Moans" BBC mini series be out?
Excellent video and research, as always Mat. Veyr curious that about the DC being part of the reason the cassette went to worldwide sucess O_O
The fish and chips shot was the genuine LOL for me. :-)
And now I want fish 'n chip. Sadly the only local shop shut down last year, which I only found out about on my birthday while standing in front it and looking at a new Chinese food restaurant.
Pretty interesting piece of history. Personally I'm happy there was no format wars to the extend that there was a heavily fractured market, trying to get music into your car would have been horrible That outro though irks me and it's not even my videos, however that was really well done, and I wonder what the fish cost vs. how much the video had made since it came back to you.
It’s made £2.43 since getting the monetisation reinstated at the beginning of March. So it hasn’t paid for the fish yet - just the chips and gravy.
Back in the 80s, my dad brought back from work (Barclays) a batch of, I think they're called streamer cassettes? The same as a compact cassette, but with a plastic right protect flap that clicks into place. The sound quality for music was appalling, but I was only a kid, so wasn't too fussed! <a href="https://m.imgur.com/K1jxfxe" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://m.imgur.com/K1jxfxe</a> (Mine was had a dark orange.)
I hadn’t seen those before. I guess they needed to sound really sharp for the data track but that wouldn’t work so well for music.
Hi Mat, Just found a document on line that suggested the DCI cassettes came with removable plastic record prevention tabs (and shows pics of them) so in theory no sticky tape was required, unless one lost the plastic bungs of course which no doubt folks would.
Interesting. I’ve yet to see any cassettes sold with these - so I guess they all went missing. That’s not entirely surprising. I still prefer the Philips system.
How you keep finding obsolete / unsuccessful / forgotten audio formats is a wonder. This is a fascinating tale, especially how Sony leveraged Grundig against Philips to save every future cassette buyer several pence per unit. And another thank you for the puppets; they're a hoot!
I do find it amusing how these licensing fees seem to have such a big effect on the success or failure of a product when the average punter (myself included) wouldn’t even notice them. You’d see more price fluctuation comparing prices between rival retailers.
Y'know it's gonna be one enlightening video when you're standing in front of that whiteboard. Had absolutely zero idea this existed, and that's great. Nice work!
Thanks old chap. Keep up the good work.
Great video! I loves the Outro!
15:16 "Wisse" rhymes with "with a".
Yep - I knew I’d be pronouncing it incorrectly. Just like most people couldn’t pronounce Bicester correctly.
11:54 "I do remember having an old cassette recorder that [also doesn't lock for fast-forward / rewind]" You mean like the EL3300, the first cassette recorder by Philips that you showed earlier in the video? ;-)
I’ve never been able to use that machine - it’s a non-functional prop.
This video is all about chips: bargaining chips and fish and chips. Kinda hungry now. But I didn't know you could do gravy on fries during fish and chips. Thought that would have been outlawed or something
It’s a regional thing. Gravy up north, something else down south - I forget what now... tartare sauce or possibly caviar served on a gold platter.
Really enjoyable video Mat, a format I previously knew nothing about. Great puppet video, so pleased you can continue to enjoy sausage in batter and chips. Not very healthy though, maybe give peas a chance.
They need a new scriptwriter - you’ve got the job.
1) I've been sharing the Miikshi stuff, too, especially to friends with kids (I am ~5x the target demo and happily child-free) - the pilot was so well done. Can't wait for more! 2) Damn that Ghost John Lennon for stealing your fish and chips money. Youtube's rules are so weird. Oh! And thanks for the DCI video!
We’re only a small group here - but if everyone who reads this shares the video with a couple of other people I’m sure it will help Justin secure the deal.
I enjoyed this very much. I believe that Sony was able to get the Grundig DC royalty free and that was part of the negotiation with Philips. The John Lennon part was absolutely funny and sad at the same time. I test the uploads usually to see if the clips we are using are ok, but that does not give any guarantees for the future..... I
That makes a lot of sense about the royalties. Yes I’ve got to wonder what happens next with the old videos as these more stringent rules are being applied in retrospect. So what was OK a couple of years ago might not be now. 11 seconds - that’s close to nothing.
Great video 👍 I remember that my father (who loved Grundig products) told me about Grundig having a competing product to the Compact Cassette when I was young but I forgot about that story. Now you brought it back to my mind 😊 German manufactures surely developed some awkward audio and video formats in the 60s and 70s and I still hope, that someday you’ll do a video about the pinnacle of awkwardness: TED.
I doubt my TED machine works - but one day I should really try and find out.
Oh, you should have played 'Money - that's what I want'! Love those puppets :-) Super documentary about the DC system, interesting and entertainingly presented as always. Back in the 1970s I had a very similar Philips Compact Cassette player to the one you show, except the hinged lid covering the tape was was one piece and clear so the entire cassette was visible. Must have been the next model.
I believe the very first machine had no window then they added a small window in the next one - so it was definitely heading in that direction.
I love these videos on tech history. Plus a terrific episode of "The Moans." Too bad you weren't able to find a breakout musical hit with the DC cassette system a la Cuba Baion and the Tefifon.
It’s the hardest to search for format I’ve encountered. Search for DC International and all sort of nonsense shows up. Search for Grundig DC International and you find the players and the blank tapes (eventually) - but more than likely no one would list any of the pre-recorded tapes under that category. This video was me throwing in the towel and admitting defeat on the album search. There are probably plenty out there mixed in with normal cassettes.
"The Fantastic Rolling Stones" is the debut album "The Rolling Stones" with "The last time" added to Side 1 and "Play with fire" added to Side 2.
Thanks for that, so I suppose I was half right.
The fish and chips at the end made me laugh out loud at work. Always a good thing to make people wonder what I’m up to.
HI Mat, great video and I was not aware of the DC International format - you learn something every day. Brilliant puppet sketch and I can't believe YouTube did that. I had a holiday video hit a content match 3 years after I uploaded it. I had to watch it again really carefully and, sure enough, quietly in the background there was the piece of music playing in a bar somewhere off camera for about 10 seconds. I'm so glad you got your chips back from Yoko.
I was tempted to play “I’m a Loser” by the Beatles at the end...but that may have been pushing it a bit.
A quick suggestion, if you have a puppet sketch at the end of the video before the outro , put a little waving puppet on the corner so we know to stay for the show.
On the thumbnail?
Another great video. I love the puppet skits. Would love to see them more often but I would imagine (see what I did there?) they are a pain to edit. Still funny. I think it’s pretty cool that you had a real, if not unusual, connection to the Beatles.
The editing isn’t too bad - they are very difficult to shoot though but even more problematic to think up.
Puppets!
Cool video.
I'm not sure what's more interesting, the cassette format story (and well done for avoiding Powerpoint, despite getting your magnets stuck together) or the YouTube content match story. But I enjoyed both and cherish the Idea of John Lennon nicking your chips from beyond the grave!
The whiteboard backstory bit held this video up for a couple of weeks. I originally shot it straight to camera (in the same session as the bit at the end), but it just seemed slow and dull. The whiteboard reboot seems to pass much quicker even though it took a bit longer. I think the physical props help to keep things moving, the eyes occupied as well as jog my memory as to what I’m talking about.
Hey Mat, That "Beans & Bond" story is typical of the YouTube ridiculousness-ness plaguing my favourite channels. They seem to be just courting favour with large publishing houses these days rather than original content providers. The "outro" is what you do best, satirising that for all it's stupidity in a way that hopefully EVENTUALLY will contribute to them seeing the error of their ways. The video is great overall but I'd definitely include at least thirty seconds or so of a direct feed as even that wonky audio has character. It's why I enjoy re-watching the "Broadcast Cart" episode on occasion. And as it's wonky, the YouTube content stormtroopers should leave you be. Win/win! "Miikshi" looks great. Thanks for bringing it to our attention :-)
There were a couple of reasons behind I didn’t do a direct feed. I didn’t think it was fair on DC International to have everyone judge its performance based on worn out tapes in a knackered old machine...and I didn’t have the right wires....well I do, but I’ve no idea where I put them.
Thanks for this - My 1965 edition of ‘Tape Recorder’ magazine (yes, there really was one!) had adverts for the Grundig DC International and try as I might, no dealership ever stocked it, so I was unaware it was mono only or physically incompatible - by 1966 the Grundig adverts changed to show the Compact Cassette logo, and it was never explained why. Thanks Mat, another mystery solved!
I think you dodged a bullet. Backing this was like going with V2000 over VHS. As you’ll remember V2000 was a Philips & Grundig collaboration, so they clearly got over their cassette spat...for better or worse.
Hooray for yet another media format I’ve never heard of!
Looking forward to watching this! I did check out the Miikshi trailer - too cute! I love it. Sharing with a few friends, too.
Thanks for that.