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Scientists Play World's Oldest Commercial Recording
sciencehabit writes "The scratchy, 12-second audio clip of a woman reciting the first verse of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star doesn't sound like much. But the faint, 123-year-old recording—etched into a warped metal cylinder and brought back to life after decades of silence by a three-dimensional (3D) optical scanning technique—appears to belong to the first record intended for sale to the public. Made for a talking doll briefly sold by phonograph inventor Thomas Edison, the early record is the oldest known American recording of a woman's voice and may be the oldest known record produced at Edison's laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey."
This unauthorized duplication and public performance of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is in clear violation of the "Copyright Lasts For Fucking Ever Act of 2009" and we insist you pay residuals to the Sony/BMG Music Group, which has acquired copyright to all songs written or recorded before 1923.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If people back in 1888 were debating if people in the 21st century would be even able to playback their records or not?
Wow, nothing tech to restore lost tech, tho I doubt in 123 years time the lost mp3 codex will be able to be restored by taking photographs of a few broken hdds. Very cool that it was possible to get anything back.
Life is like untied shoe laces; it always tripping you up and getting in your way.
Do you think the copyright demands royalties for using a 3D scanner on cylinder phonographs?
Forget MP3s, I wish it were possible to recover all the Microsoft ADPCM WAV music stuck on my inaccessible zip disks!
Scientists were surprised to find that the tin cylinder containing the lyrics "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down". Lead investigator Hubert Hvarquhar explained that "the dolls were part of a short-lived gilded-age custom where well-to-do society members would give each other gifts that spontaneously started singing and could not be shut off. Many of the dolls were smashed in rage leading to their comparative rarity today."
Guffah! Obviously you didn't read Section 1497201-309.5 of the CLFFE Act regarding 3D optical scans of cylinder phonographs!!! Man, that thing is explicit.
Would have been better had they not recorded the cylinder during what sounds like a tornado, though. Also I am not sure I like her voice... seems a bit strained at points -- e.g. about half way through it sounds as though she struggles (possibly forgetting the lyrics)?
I would think RIAA would demand 3D scanner be illegal to own or operate as it is a device designed to circumvent "copy protection" known as "obsolescence."
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
It is strange how much I enjoy watching this . . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
I can clearly hear the talking doll saying, "I don't like you. I'm going to kill you."
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
No one in their right mind wants to recover anything with "microsoft" in the name.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
of "Baa Baa Black Sheep".
Set your phasers on "funky"!
People had really scratchy voices back in those days...
I have a zip drive sitting in my closet doing nothing. Two of them in fact. Want one?
Where'd he record that, Silent Hill? Jesus, I won't sleep for days...
is there hidden messages if you play it backwards?
Frankly, I'm not convinced that is a woman's voice. Sounds like a man putting on a 'woman's voice'. They probably stopped turning the cylinder shortly before Edison's work crew started rolling around the floor laughing. They found that sort of thing funny back then. Being all manly an all of that...
http://www.acetonestudio.com
I can see the new networks now...:
Scientists discover that in the days before gasoline became commonplace, Thomas Edison was the first to develop nightmare fuel. A recently converted 123-year-old recording demonstrates that his invention still holds enough power today to provide up to 30 trouser-soilings per minute (aka TSPM)! More details at 11....
Unless the disks are damaged, it is not even hard or expensive: you can still use a USB or SCSI (but not parallel) Zip drive with Windows 7, and use SC Audio Converter to convert the files into more accessible formats.
123 years? Oh, so THAT'S why the software is called "mpg123"
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
So, which white rapper is going to sample this first?
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
The title says that "Scientists Play World's Oldest Commercial Recording." But actually, that's not true. From the summary: 123-year-old recording—etched into a warped metal cylinder and brought back to life after decades of silence by a three-dimensional (3D) optical scanning technique
Playing an optical scan of the worlds oldest commercial recording is not the same as playing the recording itself, any more than viewing a scan of the Mona Lisa is the same as viewing the real Mona Lisa, no matter how faithfully reproduced.
Now, if they had resurrected a recorder/player device that actually "played" the cylinder, that would be different.
Sure. Now send me a computer with a parallel port...
I give you....MOD 10!
Own a computer with a PCI port? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815166006
http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/talking-doll-record-hear-the-recording.htm
ADPCM WAV is stupidly easy to decode. The WAV-RIFF container is well documented. ADPCM stands for adaptive differential pulse-code modulation which means it's just pulse code modulation but instead of storing the wave-form (like in raw PCM) it stores the differential. The adaptive part just means that you can scale the size of samples who's differential you are calculating. It's just basic compression techniques applied to PCM wrapped in a very straight forward header. Your only issue is going to come from the zip disks.
Did someone hear a DUCK???
I would have sworn I heard QUACKING.
Its funny how desperate you are to slide your quackery into any post you can.
I guess I'm a scientist now :)
No format will ever be lost again.
WE have the internet, where migrating from one to a news one is easier, and the old won always lingers around.
in 123 years, there will be 123 year of very accurate history, with all the information we need to use old files.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
trivial. Maybe if you tried you could get them? did you ever thing of that? trying?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Sony encourages its customers to only use wax phonograph cylinders employing their Extended Copy Protection System technology.
Bruce Perens commented on this development, "this is a rootkit!!, my American Graphophone(tm) was totally pw3n3d!!"
Something about "I buried Paul Revere". Weird.
Now, if they had resurrected a recorder/player device that actually "played" the cylinder, that would be different.
The articles doesn't say but they may even have an original player. It doesn't really matter:
1) The cylinder is warped so it may not be possible to play it on the original device without some dubious restoration.
2) Even if it wasn't warped, actually playing the recording with an original or reconstructed device would almost certainly cause further damage to the recording. That may not be a big deal for some old 45 where there may still be thousands of surviving copies but Edison's cylinder is a one of a kind historical artifact.
The cylinder likely sat around for many decades unplayed, not because it couldn't be done but because the artifact was too precious to subject to that kind of treatment. With the optical scan, we get the best of both world: We get to hear every note and scratch and we get to preserve the cylinder for future generations as it came to our own.
"Hello. My name is Teddy Ruxpin."
Gary Dunn
Open Slate Project
Others have suggested solutions to the hardware problems. Sox apparently supports Microsoft's ADPCM implementation in WAV format and it handles conversion of sound files to many other less archaic formats. I've used sox, but not for that particular format, so I don't know for sure if it works, but it is listed on the supported formats page.
Edison probably stole the recording in the first place, much like he stole many other ideas and "IP".
According to the first inflation calculator I pulled up online, $10 in 1890 is roughly $240 in 2010. That sounds about right. I bet there weren't too many of these made. They probably found their way into the homes of some rich kids. Perhaps there were also some collectors that appreciated the novelty and took good care of the lightly-used ones. I wonder how much it would go for on Antiques Roadshow (or in a real auction).
Try digging in the junk bins at thrift stores or recycling centers for a USB model?
Actually, seeing how common it is these days, I'm surprised the page doesn't have a gigantic "this newly restored recording is © us, now, here, until the hell freezes over" warning... followed by a lot of pointless whining when it gets uploaded to Wikipedia under the auspices of "no, seriously, read the law books some day, there's quite a lot of stuff about 1:1 reproductions there".
So thanks to the scientists - this is a remarkable piece of digital restoration and will hopefully inspire other restoration efforts, some of which may even turn out profitable. But there just is no copyright on a 123-year-old recording itself.
Pure nightmare fuel
I've got a couple of SCSI zip drives....
Forgot to mention that I also have a SyQuest drive with three disks. That one hasn't seen much use in quite a while. I don't know if I have any music on it though.
It is an advertisement
(FTW)
Dood you don't have to listen to that, theres AdBlock and NoScript you know /s
Also, regarding you constant selfpromotion and stuff, you're doing it right, I'd like to hear how good but I bet the ROI from you post is over 9000% - I may not be your target because I don't have use for Doctors in my normal life and maybe thats why I find them funny. But it's dangerous to go alone, use this.
I'm not feeding a troll, in all PHB style let me spin that as "I'm empowering the trolls"
Rights & Access
This recording is protected by state copyright laws in the United States. The Library of Congress has obtained a license from rights holders to offer it as streamed audio only. Downloading is not permitted. The authorization of rights holders of the recording is required in order to obtain a copy of the recording. Contact jukebox@loc.gov for more information.
The funny part is that you didn't own that record, according the label it was leased to you for the purpose of producing sound directly from the record. And that was the state of the nation in the year 1900 A.D.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
I tried hard to discern her accent. I'm curious if the North Jersey or NY accent has changed in 122 years. It sounded like the "ar" in star is drawn out like a New England accent. Of course, it's all made the more difficult by her trying to make a baby voice.
slightly off topic, but so long as we're discussing edison recording cylinders, i remember watching this poor guy crush an historic, irreplaceable cylinder record on tv. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqZWsJ2oO_E
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
Around here, the secondhand stores won't accept any computer-related parts, after someone complained that a donated computer had private information on it. Not just hard drives, but printers, monitors, cords, keyboards, etc., are only accepted at an annual event where everything goes straight into a recycler. I think the whole thing was cooked up by the local retailers.
Every time someone is successful with an invention or innovation, you get a million blowhards and runners-up shooting their mouths off to their buddies "He stole that shit from *ME* man!" But it really only goes to show that an invention is only as good as the much harder work that goes into taking that invention and making it useful and practical, then effectively deploying it so that it actually gets USED.
So you get ten different people working on inventing a light bulb. That doesn't mean all ten are going to be equally skilled at making it practical, building factories to make it, getting it to market, promoting it, getting the general public to accept it, etc. So nine people may claim theft, but the fact is that the tenth just had something that they didn't: follow-through.
And John Ford didn't invent the car either. But he did put one in every driveway.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
That's because with enough legal wrangling, you can actually claim copyright on the MP3 itself. The original phonograph and recording isn't copyrighted, but the *MP3 version* is. It's absolutely bizarre, but such is the state of copyright in a country where Disney gets to write our copyright law.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Three minutes later, the RIAA filed suit against the scientists, claiming "unauthorized public broadcast."
Evidence please...
but such is the state of copyright in a country where Disney gets to write our copyright law.
Yeah, I and so many others wish that instead they would right our copyright laws...
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
That made me laugh out loud! Thanks for that!!!