Mysterious 20-Year-Old Analog Media?

discHead asks: "Presently I work for a transcription company. We received an interesting medium that we're having trouble identifying. It looks like a 3.5-inch floppy, but just the magnetic disc itself--no plastic shell, not even a metal hub in the center. It's punched with a small center hole and an additional wedge-shaped hole nearby (but in a different position and smaller than the rectangular hole in a standard floppy's metal hub). It's foil-stamped with a 3M logo and a serial number, but 3M referred us to Imation and Imation is stumped. Our only other clues: we're told it's an analog(!) audio recording and that it dates back to about 1985. Our Google research has yet to turn up anything. Anyone know what in tarnation this thing is and what we can do with it?"

Comments

You hold the key to unlocking mankind!

[Anonymous Coward]

That disk is from the future! It holds the encoding of DNA from the human race 100,000 years in the future! They have cured all major disease and live in a utopic creative society! Do you realize what you have got?!?! You can be on the cover of Time Magazine!!!!

Shot in the dark, courtesy of google groups

[moreati]

Starting with this search: audio diskette, 1981-1988

Lead me to posts regarding compusonics who patented and marketted such a technology. Although whether it was analouge is questionable.

Regards, and I'd please let us know any outcome.

Alex

Re:Analog?

[SA Stevens]

Analog disks have been used for magnetic audio recording in the past. They were used for voice dictation. I have owned such a machine in the past.

'Hardware to access the tracks' is a worm gear. There's only ONE track, you see.

Dictaphone machine

[TFGeditor]

I think what you have might be a disk from a Dictaphone or other dictation/transcriber machine.

I'd start by contacting Dictaphone http://www.dictaphone.com/ , then maybe Google for other Dictaphone contacts, perhaps a museum or broker of "antique" electronic gear.

Re:Another mysterious media

[zygote]

don't bother me with such ramblings.

busy trying to decern the origin of a retangular plastic object with a delicate ribbon of black at one end.

strangely stamped: Best of B.T.O

the aliens are among us!