a 78 RPM update

I have scanned a backlog of oddball 78 label variants, some heretofore unseen. The internet is a big place but when it comes to the disused, uninteresting, and valueless I hold my own.

I have scanned and uploaded the new batch at Flickr and Picasa for redundancy. Please feel free to pilfer and use as needed. research is it's own reward.

The Weight of Media

Having recently moved and had to move my audio library I happened to notice it's really heavy. Books are heavy and records are heavy.  Cassettes are light and CDs seem light until you're stacking boxes of hundreds of them. 78s are heavy, but steel-core acetates are heaviest. So I have been thinking about large-scale digitization, and the cloud since I closed the door behind me. The cloud may have it's downside, but it'll never give you a hernia. (I am taking recommendations.)

So to that point I have begun to work out the weights of various audio media.  I have begun with a list of mostly media I already have, and I've added in a few additional sizes and types which I presently do not. rather than calculate these in some very precise minor unit I'm using a postal scale to provide the weights in units that we would all be more familiar with. (Please excuse the awkward columns)

MEDIA TYPE                                             WEIGHT
10.5 inch open reel tape, 1/4 inch and box =   33 ounces
7 inch reel-to-reel tape (1/4 inch) with box =   11 ounces
5 inch reel-to-reel tape (1/4 inch) with box =   6 ounces
Fidelipac Tape (A size)  =                               4.5 ounces
Cassette and case =                                       2 ounces
DAT with case =                                            1.5 ounces
CD in jewel case =                                         4 ounces
78 with sleeve =                                             8 ounces
Edison Diamond disc =                                  10 ounces
Edison cylinder with tube =                             6 ounces
LP with sleeve =                                             6.5 ounces
LP with gate-fold sleeve =                               7 ounces
45 with sleeve =                                              2 ounces
6.5-inch paper core acetate disc with sleeve = 1.5 ounces
6.5-inch metal core acetate disc with sleeve =  17 ounces
10-inch paper core acetate disc with sleeve =  2.5 ounces
10-inch metal core acetate disc with sleeve =   26 ounces
12-inch metal core acetate disc with sleeve =   31.5 ounces
16-inch metal core acetate disc with sleeve =   42 ounces

*scale image from PSDS images by permission.

MOVIE NIGHT

There have not been many feature films of note in recent months, at least nothing I care to see. Below is somthign that is. It's a silent film from 1928, that shows the process of recording and fabrication of 78 rpm records. The orchestral portion, conducted by Stravinsky was filmed in Paris at Columbia studios in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on November 8-10, 1928. It was posted by a Youtube user named "Topclassical" in four neatly cut parts.

PART 1


PART 2


PART 3


PART 4

78 RPM Label Archive

I have been scanning 78 rpm labels for years. I am trying to keep at least one good clean image of each design. There are tens of thousands of which I have barely over a hundred. But mine are all scanned from my own copies and I am keeping them in a public folder at a relatively high resolution for others to re-use at will. Maybe it's a tad compulsive, maybe it's even silly. But this is a growing attempt to be comprehensive with no regard for value or rarity. Brown shellac Aeolian Vocalions' are scanned alongside vinylite skating waltz cuts from the mid 50s. It's meant to be inclusive not comprehensive. Enjoy.

The folder is HERE.

78rpm Slideshow

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.