I might have blinked and missed it but I don't think anyone mentioned the first consumer digital audio recording format- the Sony F1 processor (and family). The audio is digitized and recorded as a video signal, then decoded for playback. I still have one that worked the last time I tried it, and a few shelves of VHS tapes on which I archived various radio concerts, gigs or whatever. The beauty of the processor is no moving parts, so any working VCR with composite in/out connections can work with it. Probably should dub those tapes onto an SD card or something one of these years.
Toshiba made a VHS deck that had this functionality built-in, the DX-900. I have one, but last time I tried it the 'PCM' button refused to stay 'pushed', thus unable to function as a digital audio recorder anymore. May still play hi-fi VHS, pretty much stopped caring a few years back. Here's a photo I found online-
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Here's a link to a Mix magazine article memorializing the F1 era-
https://www.mixonline.com/technology/1981-sony-pcm-f1-digital-recording-processor-377975