TOP 5 FAILED Record Formats!

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Captions
Although 12 Inch Vinyl Records are here to stay, some formats have not been as lucky. So today we're covering the TOP 5 formats that died! Hey friends welcome back to Vinyl Eyezz! I am Jarrett New, and today we're talking about the TOP 5 formats that just didn't last. But before we get to that, today's Song of the Day is "Africa' by Toto! And if you have a suggestion for a Song of the Day, post in the comments down below and you might see it in a future video! Alright now we got a lot to cover, so let's dive in! Number 5...and a half: 16 & 2/3 RPM Records. Ok so this one's kind of a bonus because I couldn't really fit it into this list. But I do think they're pretty cool and definitely worth a mention. So basically these were Vinyl Records that were 7 inches in diameter, kind of like a normal 45 single. But the big difference was that they played a lot slower, 16 & 2/3 RPM to be exact. Which is even slower than the standard LPs that you see on the wall behind me. These spin at 33 & 1/3 rpm and that's pretty much the slowest speed you're gonna find on most modern turntables. Now overall the 16 RPM discs were around during the 1950s and 60s. And because of their slow speed, could fit about 20 minutes of audio per side. Which is pretty impressive considering they're only 7 inches! So why did they die? Well basically they were kind of a novelty to begin with. They had poor sound and outside of radio stations not many people bought them. Also once 8-Track Tapes and Cassettes showed up, they were pretty much doomed! Number 5: The Edison Diamond Disc. This is an Edison Diamond Disc. They are a very unique type of Record that was around from 1912 to 1929. Now at first glance you might think that this was a Normal 78 Record, but if you look a little closer you'll notice the subtle differences between these two. First off, although these Records are 10 inches in diameter, just like the 78s, and they're made from Shellac, yet again just like the 78s, the Edison Diamond Discs are way THICKER than any other Record I've ever seen! They're about a 1/4 inch thick. So already, right away you can tell that these things are different than a normal 78 Record. Another trait that makes these Records unique is their grooves. Whereas most Records have..you know, side-to-side or lateral grooves, kind of like this, which kind of corresponds to left channel and right channel- the Edison Diamond Discs have "Hill and Dale Grooves" which go UP and DOWN into the Record. Which is kind of weird! So basically many people have made the mistake of playing these types of Records on a normal Turntable or Gramophone, and have unfortunately DESTROYED the grooves in the process! So if you do happen to find one of these in the wild or on Discogs, be sure to play them with a dedicated Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph. Now why did these things die out? Well, they were more expensive than the other Records, Their music selection was poor, and didn't include jazz, which was very important during that time, and overall the stock market crash of 1929 was the final nail in their coffin. Number 4: Pathé Records. Unfortunately I don't own a Pathé Record in my collection. But even if I did, I probably wouldn't be able to fit it through the door. And that's because these very strange Records are 20 INCHES in diameter! They are the biggest Records that have ever been made! Now they were around from about 1916 to 1930, and were manufactured in France under the Pathé Corporation, which was an early competitor to Thomas Edison's Record label here in the US. So they first started off making music on Cylinders- Kind of like this one...pretty interesting -but then they realized that Flat Discs are a much better way to go. So they started making their new Records out of Shellac, just like the other companies were doing around that same time. Now they made the records in lots of different sizes. Everything from 6 1/2 inches, to 8 inches, 10 inches, 10 1/2 inches, 11 1/2 inches, 14 inches...and finally their BIGGEST size 20 inches! So they kind of experimented a lot, and most of those Records spun very fast 80 to 120 RPM. So why did they die out? Well the first and most OBVIOUS reason is that a 20 inch Record is just not practical. Especially when the same Audio Fidelity or even better can be achieved with a smaller Record. Also their variety of different speeds and sizes didn't help when it came to compatibility with other Gramophones. Number 3: Transcription Discs. Now although I don't own a Pathé Record, I do own the next best thing..a Transcription Disc! These are Records that are 16 INCHES in diameter, and were primarily used for radio broadcasting purposes from around 1928 to 1959. Now the discs themselves play at 33 & 1/3 RPM and usually have about 15 minutes of audio material per side. Now the reason they could only get 15 minutes out of a record this big was because the radio companies wanted the absolute best sound possible. So in order to achieve that, they used wide grooves, big gaps in between individual songs, and they didn't place any tracks near the label, to prevent inner-groove Distortion. So they really wanted to give their listeners the best experience possible. Now the reason these things were so popular back in the day was, as I just said, their high audio quality, and they're 15 minute runtime. On a normal 78 RPM Record you would need to keep changing the disc every 3 to 4 minutes...which sucked! So Transcription Discs made that process a lot easier. Also another thing that makes these Records unique is that unlike a normal Record, there is not one long groove that carries the needle from the outside in. But rather a series of individual tracks that the radio announcer had to cue up, one at a time. And I'm sure the reason for that was to allow the radio announcers to place commercials or even commentary in between the songs, which does make sense if you think about it. Now why do these things die? Well the First reason is that after World War II the art of the "Disc Jockie" or DJ for short, became more popular. So basically the radio host would place 2 Turntables next to each other and play individual Records, one after another. That whole process eliminated any downtime in between songs, because as one Record is playing you can be preparing the next Record on the other Turntable. So that worked out well! And the Final reason that Transcription Discs died was the invention and widespread use of magnetic tape, such as Reel-to-Reel players and recorders. Number 2: The Pocket Disc. Now I recently talked about these Records in a video on this channel, so if you want you can check that out right up THERE. But basically these tiny Records are only 4 inches in diameter and they were only around for one year from 1968 to 1969. So overall it was a huge commercial flop. Now there's a couple of reasons why it didn't work out. First of all this thing is basically like a Flexi Disc, so it's paper-thin and that usually means poor sound quality. Also because these don't have corners you can't really tape them down to your Turntable, for added stability, like you would a normal Flexi Disc. And probably the biggest reason that these things died off, was the invention of the 8-Track and the Compact Cassette, which BOTH showed up around the same time, and had better sound quality. So yet again, the 8-Track and Cassette killed off another format. So essentially regardless of all of their clever marketing, the portable Pocket Disc just couldn't stand up to their competition. And Finally Number 1: Quadraphonic Records! Quadraphonic Records are the STRANGEST of all, and that's why I put them at the Top of this list. Because basically these Records, and the technology behind them, wanted to fundamentally change the way we listen to music altogether. Instead of Normal STEREO sound with 2 speakers, Left and Right, they wanted to use 4 speakers! Left Front. Left Back. Right Front. and Right Back. So overall this was an early attempt at "Surround Sound". And today we just simply call this a 4.0 set up. Now these Records were around from 1971 to 1979 and although the concept was pretty cool, in practice it just didn't work out. And the main reason for that was compatibility. In order to play these discs you would need a special Decoder which could read the slightly larger Stereo grooves of a Quad Record and then translate it into the Quad Sound. And to make things even more complicated, there were 3 different competing systems for recording and decoding this Quad sound! They were called "SQ. CD-4. (no relation to actual CDs which came much later) and finally QS. Are you confused yet? I sure AM! So basically all this incompatibility made things very difficult for the average consumer. Also even if you did do all of your research and got all the right gear, and the compatible records, you'd still have to buy 2 additional speakers, which drove the price up even further! So overall this whole thing was just way TOO COMPLICATED and that's why it didn't last. But the good news is that this early technology did ultimately pave the way for Digital Surround Sound which has become very important in home theater setups! Now what do you guys think about these Records? And do you personally have any of these in your collection? Let us all know down in the comments below! And if you love music, be sure to SUBSCRIBE and smack that NOTIFICATION BELL, so you won't miss any of the new videos! And most importantly friends, have an awesome day and Keep Spinning that Vinyl!
Info
Channel: Vinyl Eyezz
Views: 403,083
Rating: 4.7197332 out of 5
Keywords: record players, record player, records, turntable, turntables, crosley, crosley cruiser, lp120, lp60, audio technica, cassettes, vinyl eyezz, phono, preamp, receiver, klipsch, vinyl audio, music, comedy, cassette, gramophone, analog, Vinyl Eyezz, Record Players, vinyl setup
Id: ruHSkLm1dy4
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)
Published: Sun Jul 15 2018
Reddit Comments

this post is more about vinyls than about cassettes, but the wacky examples here are still worth showcasing for the WOW or WTF factor.

so not all posts have to strictly be about cassettes.

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/SupremoZanne 📅︎︎ Mar 12 2019 🗫︎ replies
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.