Hello all,
I I just picked up a near perfect DCC900 with 8 tapes.
The problem is that the tapes are all pre-recorded with “The Ultimate DCC Collection”.
There is no “protect” hole.
I’d like to record on some of them, but I don’t know the exact location of the “protect” hole. I don’t have a blank/recordable tape as a reference.
Has anyone converted a pre-recorded tape into a recordable tape ?
Also, I gather that there are other holes for the tape duration, but I can’t find any detailed documentation.
Any assistance would be gratefully appreciated.
You got 8 “The Ultimate DCC Collection”, wow. To be honest, they are still worth more than blank DCC, I would just sell some of them and buy some recordable DCCs. But wait for @drdcc, maybe he has a different opinion.
It looks like you need to drill a hole in the bottom 2mm from the edge and 8mm from the back. Note: DCC recorders ignore the notch on the edge, what matters is the holes in the bottom.
Welcome. I agree with @Max that maybe modding these tapes is not the way to go.
Either you have to drill (see horrible attachment and this is not the way to go) or mod the player. Either way it is better to sell them and get real recordables. @Jac is right about the small holes
Thanks to all replies.
Great link to Peter Doodson’s design notes of the DCC packaging. A great insight and real treasure of info.
As I think about it more, drilling could be problematic: small particles of plastic could/would be floating around the inside of the cassette, resulting in possible damage to the tape, or worse, the all important R/W head !!!
Unlike the old analogue compact-cassette, there are no screws to dismantle the case (at least not in my tapes) to help open and clean out swarf, or to remove the tape reels before drilling.
I’m guessing the DCC cassettes clip together somehow, or worse, glued or ultrasonically welded ? This all poses issues with drilling holes, etc…
I don’t really propose to use DCC as an “archive” of my music…the format is a little too rare now. I’m just interested to record some stuff and prove to myself that it works as an interesting recording format, but I don’t want to butcher a tape or risk damage to the machine in the process.
Perhaps @Max is right: Maybe I’ll sell 4 or 5 of my tapes and buy a couple of blanks to satisfy my interest… The machine (without remote) with 8 tapes set me back AUS$30, so I’m not really out of pocket…
