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!
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.