[78-L] the 'deadest' consumer audio formats?

[David Lennick]

And Soundscriber, which came up here a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.aph.org/museum/virtual_exhibit/exhibit4/e40008b-2.htm
Here's lovely Joan Crawford dictating the day's torture of her kids:
http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/adsoundscriber62big.htm
Here's one you won't find in the average living room, but I remember one in use 
as a logger at CKEY:
http://www.historyofwowo.com/soundscriber.html

dl

On 5/14/2011 4:22 PM, Milan P Milovanovic wrote:
> How about dictaphone with record alike magnetic discs (pictures shown here):
>
> http://images.kupujemprodajem.com/photos/oglasi/1/31/33531/big-33531_0-0-1.jpg
> http://images.kupujemprodajem.com/photos/oglasi/1/31/33531/big-33531_DSCN3624-2.jpg
> http://images.kupujemprodajem.com/photos/oglasi/1/31/33531/big-33531_DSCN3629-4.jpg
> http://images.kupujemprodajem.com/photos/oglasi/1/31/33531/big-33531_3-5.jpg
> http://images.kupujemprodajem.com/photos/oglasi/1/31/33531/big-33531_4-6.jpg
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Daley"<mikedaley at gmail.com>
> To: "78-L Mail List"<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 9:38 PM
> Subject: [78-L] the 'deadest' consumer audio formats?
>
>
>> If I had to guess, the most "obsolete" (keeping in mind that this is an
>> arguable term) consumer audio formats (in order) would be:
>>
>> reel-to-reel tape (bonus points for quadrophonic)
>> 8-track
>> cassettes
>> 78s
>> vinyl 45s
>> vinyl LPs
>> CDs
>>
>> I'm sure I left out a few...but yes, I would place 78s as "less dead" than
>> cassettes. I'm judging this partly on the ready availability of working
>> machines to play these formats. I wouldn't even put DATs and minidiscs in
>> the running - I never saw them find much of a foothold at all in the
>> consumer market.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 3:27 PM, David Lennick
>> <dlennick at sympatico.ca>wrote:
>>
>>> You'd be surprised..
>>>
>>> dl
>>>
>>> On 5/13/2011 3:17 PM, Mike Daley wrote:
>>>> People still use cassettes?
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 2:40 PM, Julian
>>>> Vein<julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dave at Audio Tech Transfer wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Most customers want to know up front what the cost will be, thus the
>>> set
>>>>>> price per tape or record.   It's easy and understandable for the
>>>>> customer,
>>>>>> who more often than not doesn't know whether their home videotapes
>>>>>> run
>>> 15
>>>>>> minutes or 2 hours?  It's painful doing a big stack of 2 hour
>>>>>> tapes....
>>>>> but
>>>>>> the pile of 10-15 minute tapes in the next job make up for it.  Open
>>> reel
>>>>>> audio tape and some VHS can be impossible to predict due to
>>>>> record/playback
>>>>>> speed used, let the customer know that upfront.
>>>>>
>>>>>> Dave Rose
>>>>>> Audio Tech Transfer
>>>>> ===============
>>>>> The worst type of friend (sic) is the one who has some LPs but nothing
>>>>> to play them on. So they ask me if they give me some cassettes could
>>>>> they transfer them.
>>>>>
>>>>> Not that easy. The first side of the LP is OK, but you can't be sure
>>>>> how
>>>>> long side two is going to be, so you can't be sure if the tape is
>>>>> going
>>>>> to run out. So you stand around biting your nails, waiting for the LP
>>>>> to
>>>>> finish. Of course, it overruns and a track is only part-recorded. So
>>>>> you
>>>>> have to wind the tape back to the last complete track, then record
>>>>> over
>>>>> the incomplete track with a silent recording to erase it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Then you turn over the tape and finish recording the rest of the LP.
>>>>> Then it starts again...
>>>>>
>>>>> I've also been asked to transfer CDs to cassette too! If the CD has
>>>>> playing times listed, you can make an educated guess how much you can
>>>>> get on one side of a tape.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>        Julian Vein