Comments on: Voices from the past

Voices from the past

starscream — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:02:03 -0800

Getting back into the groove : In the corner of a California university laboratory, two men are battling against time to perfect a machine that will read old recordings - using special microscopes to scan the grooves - and software that can convert those shapes into sound. Their work could bring history to life.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:06:49 -0800

that's amazing (and i hope it's posted online when they succeed)...i wonder if there really is a Lincoln cylinder somewhere?

By: thomas j wise

thomas j wise — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 20:13:21 -0800

The British Library Sound Archive currently lets you listen to, among other people, Florence Nightingale (from 1890); the Tennyson recording is here (very, very scratchy).

By: Peter H

Peter H — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 20:15:28 -0800

incredibly cool! slightly related previous discussion on similar science

By: interrobang

interrobang — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 20:21:57 -0800

Is there anything out there like thomas j wise's linked site with lots of old, free sound files that are in MP3 format? I can't listen to Real files.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 20:25:15 -0800

maybe the library of congress has some?

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 01:33:15 -0800

Xlnt post, starscream, thanks!

By: zaelic

zaelic — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 01:52:43 -0800

This site has a lot of info and recordings from the cylinder era. Nothing like the pop hits of 1903 to liven up the day!

By: Irontom

Irontom — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 05:28:35 -0800

[This is GREAT]

By: ubersturm

ubersturm — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 07:38:11 -0800

thanks, starscream great stuff

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 07:43:36 -0800

Fascinating story. This is more than a novelty. If these folks succeed it gives the lie to the concept that all recording technologies are flawed because their players will eventually stop being available and/or will deteriorate past usability. If we can use the latest technology to leapfrog several layers back to recapture something that was thought unplayable, why wouldn't we be even better at doing so in the future?

By: thanotopsis

thanotopsis — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:25:05 -0800

If we can use the latest technology to leapfrog several layers back to recapture something that was thought unplayable, why wouldn't we be even better at doing so in the future? I think the lesson to be learned here is only of technology-dependance, rather than simply using the current technology to further store this information. Who knows if all of that information will be obliterated in a couple of seconds after the EMPs start taking out the population centers, eh? IMHO, the answer is diversification. We can start with electronic storage, and make sure it's spread out as much as possible (thereby decreasing the threat that the storage "containers" will be breached), and then eventually get to the point where we're doing something like rearranging atomic valences in a huge block of iron (with redundancies to compensate for stellar emissions, of course). *smile*

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:46:44 -0800

NPR had a segment on these two guys last month. They play some examples, but the improvements may not be too noticeable on the Real stream.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:28:31 -0800

The Berkeley guys are apparently producing high-quality renditions of old recordings, without causing any damage to the medium. That's the cool part, not so much that they are getting sound at all--that part's easy. I've actually been to a talk about this at the Library of Congress. From what the guy here said, getting sound out of older media isn't the problem, usually, since they use physical means to record data. I, myself, have used a pin and a paper cup to play old vinyl records (when I was a kid--it was a KISS album, I think). It's the newer electronic media that are the worry, since they rely on very specific types of players and programming and are on very delicate media. As long as the old records and cylinders are stored properly (and that's not trivial), there's no worry about being able to access them one day.

By: cpfeifer

cpfeifer — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 12:04:47 -0800

But can you hook two of them up to a crossfader and rock a house party to the breaka breaka dawn?

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 18:48:34 -0800

Not right now.