Before DAT, there was another type of digital audiotape, known pulse-code modulation (PCM), another Japanese invention that was used mostly in the production of analog LPs. More successful than PCM technology was Mitsubishi's X-80 recorder, which used an open-reel format, commonly used to make professional multi-track recordings.
DAT was, and to some degree still is, used by both professional recording studios and amateurs alike. Most commonly used as a way to back up recorded material, professional studios relied on DAT throughout much of the 1990s. DAT provided these studios with a loss-less copy of its analog material, due to the compression-free encoding of DAT.
DAT was never particularly popular for home use -- new DAT recorders were always fairly expensive, and the format never really made it into most homes. However, DAT was, and often still is, used as a reliable way to transfer recordings of live performances between fans, because copies can be made without generation loss.
Though originally intended for audio use, consumers began to use DAT as a way to back up and trade information from their hard drives. This eventually became popular enough for a new format of DAT tape specifically designed to store non-audio data, called Digital Data Storage, commonly referred to as DDS.
DAT tape allows recording at a variety of sampling rates, including 32KHz /12 bits, 32KHz/16 bits, 44.1KHz/16 bits, and 48KHz/16 bits. The most commonly used is 44.1/16 bits, as that particular sampling rate is identical to commercial compact discs. Recording time varies per sampling rate, decreasing with each step higher. The way DAT machines record was developed using the existing technology of video recorders, using helical scan and a rotating head to capture information. DAT tapes are generally between 12 and 180 minutes long, though some longer tapes were produced, but would later be discontinued due to recording and playback errors.
When DAT was gaining popularity in the late 1980s, it sparked major concerns for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as they thought it would enable consumers to make perfect copies of LPs, cassettes, and CDs. In June 1989, after much lobbying by the RIAA, Congress passed legislation that would install a serial copy management system into DAT recorders, allowing for only one generation of copying, making it much harder to duplicate large amounts of prerecorded material.
In late 2005, Sony discontinued its final DAT machines. The use of hard-disk computer-based recording is slowly making DAT obsolete, however some film and television studios are still using the format on a regular basis, and many small radio stations still use DAT machines as emergency backups.