Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Mon, 27 May 91 10:32:42 PDT From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu, aynes@cats.ucsc.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Did Western Electric Also Make Sound Recordings? Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 403, Message 2 of 3 Lines: 23 Re: 16-2/3 RPM recordings - I suspect they are still in use as "talking books for the blind" though they may have been supplanted by cassettes by now. Your public librarian could probably tell you. At one time a blind person could get the loan of a player, from the Library of Congress as I recall, and the materials for the blind were mailable free or at very low rates. There was also a project by I think it was Chrysler to produce an automobile record player at that speed. This was maybe mid-50s, long before cassettes and eight-track cartridges. And for some reason that reminded me of yet another recording format. I vaguely recall a short-lived product from mid 60's that involved a disk record and player that were supposed to be small enough to fit in your hip pocket. Or maybe it was just the records, and they were flexible so if you sat on one that was OK. Which is getting pretty far from telecom. [Moderator's Note: I've done volunteer work for ten years for the Chicago Public Library producing programs for visually-handicapped people. The 16 2/3 rpm records were gone *long* before I started. PAT]