Abstract: The present invention relates to a novel method and apparatus for taking an analog audio signal, converting the signal into a digital audio signal, and thereafter converting the digital audio signal into a standard bandwidth video signal and thereby substantially compressing it. In this format, it can be placed onto a master video tape from which it can be transferred to a video disk. The present invention further comprises a method and apparatus from which a selected number of recordings on the video disk can be retrieved by playing the video disc in still frame mode to create an analog video signal, converting the analog video signal into a string of digital values, converting the digital audio stream into an analog audio signal and thereafter recording the audio signal onto an audio tape at high speed.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and apparatus for choosing a random group of musical selections which are housed in a prerecorded disk library and creating an individual customized tape cassette from the selections chosen. Through use of the present invention, a multiplicity of selections from a selection music library are chosen and electrically transmitted to a selection duplicating center where they are duplicated at high speed onto a blank recording tape cassette in the desired order selected. The duplication process is performed at high speed in order to enable the cassette to be made in only a few minutes from the selections chosen.