People keep comparing these two to VHS and Beta, but I don't think it's as relevent of a comparison. Yes, they are all video formats, but this war reminds me a little more of the audio tape war. Do others feel it may end up the same way?

For those too young to remember, the audio cassette was doing well with CD just emerging. The downside of CD was a lack of recording capability. Sony and Phillips tried to replace the cassette with two new formats. DCC was like HD DVD today. Tapes were the same size and used a similar system to compact cassettes. It's recording time was about the same as compact cassettes, and it used compression to save space. You could also play regular compact cassettes in DCC units.

Sony released DAT a little earlier than DCC, but with a different direction. DAT was not as much of a consumer format, they pushed MD for that. DAT was a completely different type of tape with more capacity and better quality than DCC. DAT and DCC were both trying to replace the cassette. Neither really did. DCC went away, and DAT and MD hung around for a while.

Thoughts? Will both of these formats go away in favor of downloads or something else on the horizon?

I think it's closer to SACD and DVD-Audio.

Why, because DCC and DAT did not directly compete (as you said, one was more professional-oriented) and emphasized recording.