Re: [ARSCLIST] Stereo records.

[Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Friday 16 June 2006 10.08, Steven Smolian wrote:
> The issue is quite complex.  I have an Edison cylinder cartalog from 1891.
>
> Read, read, read.
>
> Get hold of "From Tinfoil to Stereo" in any edition except that revised by
> Leah Burt (she chopped out much important data._

I've been familiar with Tinfoil for 30 years, and have had the 1976 edition 
for nearly that long :) (I cut my teeth on the late 1950s version, along with 
Roland Gelatt's "The Fabulous Phonograph".)

I was quibbling with an RCA trade advert that claimed that RCA Victor invented 
the phonograph and record industry.  Edison was issuing cylinders in 1891, 
yes, BUT... Edison, Columbia, and a host of smaller regional phonograph 
companies, were issuing pre-recorded cylinders several years before that.  
Part of the North American Phonograph alliance was to promote the sales of 
pre-recorded music, in both graphophone and cylinder formats until the 
smaller graphophone cylinder died a natural death.

I credited the Bell-Tainter Graphophone specifically because until it 
appeared, the Edison Phonograph had lay dormant for the better part of a 
decade. Once someone started tinkering with his favorite invention, The Old 
Man set about improving his own machine with, among other things, the solid 
wax cylinder that eventually permitted moulded pre-recorded records to exist 
in the first place. The Graphophone cylinder was woefully inadequate for its 
task, but because it was introduced it spurred Edison to come up with the 
records and phonographs that became the recognized standard. WIth that, the 
sound recording industry began to take shape as local and regional companies 
began issuing their own standardized recordings.

Michael Shoshani