Picocassette

Audio cassette format

Picocassette
Media type	Magnetic cassette tape
Encoding	Analog signal
Capacity	30 minutes
Read mechanism	Tape head
Write mechanism	Magnetic recording head
Usage	Dictation

Picocassette is an audio storage medium introduced by Dictaphone in collaboration with JVC in 1985.

The Picocassette was introduced to compete with the Microcassette, introduced by Olympus, and the Mini-Cassette, by Philips.

Size

It is approximately half the size of the previous Microcassette, and was intended for highly portable dictation devices.^[1] With a tape speed of 9 mm/s, each cassette could hold up to 60 minutes of dictation,^[2] 30 minutes per side. The signal-to-noise ratio was 35 dB. The widest dimension of the picocassette was near 42 mm (1.7 in).

References

^ "Picocassette (1985 - late 1980s)". 23 January 2015.
^ "Technology: The Tiniest Tape Ever " May 27, 1985, Time.com, Retrieved 2010-04-06

External links

Image of a Picocassette (including ruler and Compact Cassette for comparison), at the Cassette Recorder Museum
Techmoan: The Picocassette - Smallest Analogue Cassette Tape ever made

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)