>From: "Steven C. Barr(x)" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Crosley Radio
>Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 22:44:22 -0400
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Craig Breaden" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Last year I bought a Crosley radio/record player for my little corner of
>our
> > house. Everything about these units is cheap and flimsy, BUT:
> > - It allows me to play, on the cheap, my already scratchy records I
>bought
> > as a teenager in the pre-CD late 70s and early 80s, without all the
>hoopla
> > and care I have to give to the recordings I work with as a professional
>(as
> > fun as my profession can be, when I go home best practices stay, mostly,
>at
> > the workplace).
> > - It reminds me of a time when I put on a record and sat back and
>listened
> > to it on my all-in-one Kmart special. Side A, then Side B. Sometimes I
> > would get adventurous and listen to Side B first, and sometimes I
> > unwittingly thought Side B was Side A (not until the CD reissue did I
> > realize AC/DC's Back in Black started with "Hells Bells"). I like this
> > because, as much as I appreciate the convenience of the downloaded
>iTune,
> > there is absolutely nothing joyous about it for me (and something
>curiously
> > depressing).
> > Plus there's a fun lighted radio dial that my 1 1/2-year-old likes to
>play
> > with. The radio sounds nice, by the way, and the thing will play 78s,
>but I
> > probably wouldn't even let it cast light on a 78 -- damage by suggestive
> > association.
> > If you want an easy way to listen to your old LPs and 45s that were
>better
> > listened to than fetishized, it's fun. If it's going to be your only
>way to
> > play records, though, I'd probably hold off and shell out for a real
>rig.
> >
>Note that earlier-vintage "record players" still occasionally turn
>up (though "baby boomers" have turned them into collectibles...!)
>and can do the same thing (about the same level) as these "instant
>collectible" reproductions. As well, there is now a properly-sized
>needle available for the Crosley (et al) faux-vintage machines
>(although those don't have "flipover" needles or cartridges,
>making a session of listening to 78's and microgroove discs
>rather a challenge...!).
>
>Howsomever...by about the year 2025 (as the song goes...) analog
>sound recordings will only exist in museums and ancient archives,
>where manually-recreated "players" will allow their reproduction
>should there be anyone so interested! Meanwhile, 256-bit digital
>sound recordings will be distributed on fingernail-sized storage
>devices using altered-quanta technology...so the main danger will
>be your dog or cat accidentally swallowing your copy of the
>current hit...!
>
>Of course, improved technology will make it possible to recreate
>accurately sound recordings that never existed...i.e. "Armstrong's
>Hot Five Play the Songs Of the Beatles"...
>
>Steven C. Barr

Ah yes, I've already pre-ordered my copy of Duke Ellington's tribute to
Metallica.

-Ryan.

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