HiPac

Magnetic tape sound recording technology

1+7⁄8 IPSRead mechanismstereo tape headWrite mechanismprerecorded onlyDeveloped byPioneer, HIPAC CouncilDimensions70 × 85 × 12 mmWeight~ 50 gUsageportable and mobile audio playback devicesExtended fromPlayTapeReleasedAugust 1971DiscontinuedMid-1970s

HiPac (stylized as HIPAC) (pronounced as high-pack), is an audio tape cartridge format, introduced in August 1971 on the Japanese consumer market by Pioneer^[1] and discontinued in 1973 due to lack of demand. In 1972 it only achieved a market share of 3% in equipping new cars.^[2] In the mid 1970s, the format was repurposed as a children's educational toy called ポンキー (Ponkey) and was used in the analog tape delay "Melos Echo Chamber".

Cartridge

HiPac is a successor of the PlayTape cartridge, licensed by Toshiba and had similar dimensions of 70 mm × 85 mm × 12 mm (2.76 in × 3.35 in × 0.47 in), which is closer to Compact Cassette than other cartridges containing Bernard Cousino's endless loop tape. Depending on the tape length, the weight is about 50 g (1.8 oz) and used the wider four-track magnetic tape of the compact cassette with 3.81 mm (0.150 in) The four audio tracks are separated into two stereo programs. The second program is recorded in the same direction as the first, unlike the Compact Cassette.^[3]

There are two specified tape speeds: 60 minutes at 1+7⁄8 ips or ~4.8 cm/s, and 30 minutes at 3+3⁄4 ips or ~9.5 cm/s.^[1] The tape speed is detected automatically by a notch in the cartridge's case. The slower of these tape speeds is identical to the Compact Cassette.^[4]

HiPac Council

In addition to Pioneer, the following companies participated.^[4]

Apollon Music Industry (Apron Ongaku Kōgyō, from 2010 Bandai Music Entertainment)
Clarion
Kodansha
Sharp Corporation
Tokyo Shibaura Electric (Toshiba)
Toshiba Music Industry (EMI Music Japan)
Nippon Columbia
Hitachi, Ltd.
Mitsui Bussan Home Appliance Sales

References

^ ^a ^b "Ten Japanese Firms Back New Mini Stereo System". Billboard. July 24, 1971. pp. 19, 21 – via Google Books.
^ Eguchi, Hideo (October 6, 1973). "Locally Manufactured and Imported Blanks Produce Millions in Business in Japan". Billboard. pp. 66, 68 – via Google Books.
^ Major Specifications of the "HIPAC" Cartridge, Billboard
^ ^a ^b "Stereo Cartridges: Outlook Bullish". Billboard. February 17, 1973. pp. J-10 – via Google Books.

External links

Techmoan: Hipac - The lost tape : Pioneer's forgotten 1970s cassette rival, YouTube, 29 September 2017

Physical audio recording formats

Mechanical

Music box cylinder or disc (9th century)
Mechanical cuckoo (early 17th century)
Punched card (1881)
Music roll (1883)

Analog

Grooved surface	Phonautogram (1857)
Grooved cylinder	Phonograph cylinder (1877) Graphophone/Dictaphone cylinder (1887) Perfected phonograph/Ediphone (1888) Salon cylinder (1890s) Stentor cylinder (1890s) Le Céleste cylinder (1890s) Gold moulded record (1902) Indestructible record (1907) Amberol record (1908) Blue Amberol record (1912) Paradis cylinder (1913)
Grooved disc	Phonograph record (1889) Pathé disc (1905) Diamond disc (1912) Pathé Actuelle (1920) Edison Voicewriter (late 1940s) SoundScriber (1945) Audograph (1945) Long play (1948) Highway Hi-Fi (1956) Bandai 8ban (2004)
Grooved tape	Tefiphon/Teficord (early 1930s), Tefifon Dictabelt (1947)
Sound-on-film	Phonofilm (1919) Tri-Ergon (1922) Movietone (1926) Photophone (1929) Fantasound (1940)
Loose magnetic wire	Wire recording (1898)
Magnetic wire cartridge	Lorenz Textophon (1942) US Army RD-11B/GNQ-1 (1944) Cosmos Industries MX-303A/ANQ-1 (1944) RCA MI-12875 (1947) RCA MI-12877 (1947) Peirce 265B (1951) Peirce 330/360 (1951) Protona Minifon P51 (1951) Protona Minifon P55 (1955) Protona Minifon special (1961) Crouzet-Jaeger cartridge (1962)
Magnetic surface	Magnetic stripe card (1900)
Telefunken magnetic disc (1945) Thermionic Products Recordon (1948) Record Maker Pye (1953) Synchrofax (1959) Audio High Density (1978)
Loose (reel-to-reel) magnetic tape	Blattnerphone (1928) Magnetophon (1935) 1/4" tape (1949) 1/2" tape (1953) Fullcoat magfilm (1953) Stripe magfilm (1953) 1" tape (1957) 2" tape (1967) 3/4" tape (1969) 3" tape (1978)
Magnetic tape cartridge	Optaphon (1951) Cousino Echo-matic (1952) Mohawk Message repeater cartridge (1953) Stenorette (1954) Mohawk Midgetape RL (1955) Dictaphone Dictet (1957) Rediffusion Reditune (1957) Saba Sabafon (1958) RCA tape cartridge (1958) Philips EL 3581 (1958) Protona Attaché (1959) Fidelipac (1959) Cousino MR-9000 (1960) IBM Magnabelt (1961) Dictaphone Travel master (1961) Nippon Electronic Vity cassette (1961) Grundig Cassette LFH 0084 (1962) Orrtronic Tapette (1962) 3M Scotch (1962) Cousino Echo-matic II (1962) Stereo-Pak (1962) Philips EL 3583 (1963) Compact cassette (1963) Grundig En3 (1964) Sabamobil (1964) 8-track (1964) Micro pack 35 (1964) Assmann-Stuzzi Memocord (1965) Cantata 700 (1965) DC-International (1965) Nippon Electronic Memo-call (1965) PlayTape (1966) Muntz Stereo Mini-twin (1967) Grundig DeJ614 (1968) Microcassette (1969) Sanyo Tape cartridge (1969) HiPac (1971) Steno-Cassette (1971) Stenorette DL (1972) Capitol Records Audiopak (1972) Elcaset (1976) Bandai micro cartridge (late 1980s) Picocassette (1985) Pocket Rockers (1988)

Analog-to-digital converter

Soundstream (1976)
X80/ProDigi (1980)
DASH (1982)
PCM adaptor (1982)
DA-88/DTRS (1993)

Digital

Magnetic tape cartridge	Digital Audio Tape (1987) NT (1992) Digital Compact Cassette (1992)
Sound-on-film	DD (1986) CDS (1990) SDDS (1993)
Optical disc	Compact Disc Digital Audio (1982) Philips CD-BGM (1989) MiniDisc (1992) DTS (1993) HDCD (1995) Super Audio CD (1999) DVD-Audio (2000) DataPlay (2002) Hi-MD (2004) DualDisc (2004) BD-Audio (2008) HFPA (2013) MQA-CD (2014)
Electronic circuit	Sound chip (late 1970s) MP3 player (1996) HitClips (2000) Yaboom Box (1999) Takara E-kara (2001) Toymax VJ Starz (2002) USB flash drive (2004) MicroSD (2007)