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Re: [ARSCLIST] NY Times: Researchers Play Tune Recorded before Edison



Are you saying that cylinders are technically superior to disks? Or are you saying that Edison's version of a disk was superior to Berliner's? Or are you simply saying that Berliner won out because he could mass-produce disks that sold at a viable price point?

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] NY Times: Researchers Play Tune Recorded before Edison



Bob Olhsson wrote:

Indeed. Berliner's argument was that some extra twist in the throat of his
horn made his device fundamentally different from Edison's. His backers had
enough money to continue fighting with Edison in court and remain in
production until after Edison's patent had expired. The disk ultimately won
out because of the popularity of Enrico Caruso.

The final sentence is the only one with which I disagree. The disc won out for the same reason that VHS won out over the technically superior Betamax: practicality. The disc is far more practical to produce and to handle. Technical issues are significant (and the professional version of Betamax still survives), but for the producer and the user operational and cost issues take over.


Mike
--
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/



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