Sounds phoney to me!

Posted by noelbynature under Lifestyle
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Before the Ipod, it was the compact disc and the discman; before that, it was the cassette tape and the walkman. We got from the audio cassette tape to mp3 files in a span of 50 years - but for almost a 100 years prior, one audio format ruled them all: the phonograph.

Talking Machines, Phonographs, Gramophones and the like. cc image from phonogalerie

The phonograph, also known as the record player, gramophone and turntable was invented in the 1870s and by the 1890s became the standard audio player for the next 80 years after. In Singapore, David Row is known as the Gramophone Man, and Andy describes a visit to him and his large collection:

As my friend Billy and I approach the entrance of David Row’s cute and neat cottage (a converted terrace house) at Teachers’ Estate, we notice on the left wall of the living room, shelvings up to the ceiling. They are filled with variations in model, size and colour of vintage gramophones and what looked like old but larger sized 78rpm records.

On the floor, to complement his array on the shelves, stands a large Victoria Cabinet Gramophone. As we sit on the lounge chairs on the right wing of the living room and sip our tea, David, who has retired since 1988 explains that when he started his collection that year he had about 20 gramophones; today he has more than 100.

You can read more about Andy’s visit to David Row here. Today, nobody uses phonographs much although there is a large collectors market and records can go for sale as cheaply as a dollar each. More significantly, these records are remarkably durable - having lasted for 50 or even a 100 years without significant deterioration to audio quality - you can’t get that in a cassette or CD recording, and it remains to be seen if the digital format can last as long too!

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