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Smithsonian Releases 128-Year-Old Recording of Alexander Graham Bell

Posted by samzenpus on from the oldest-school-record dept.

redletterdave writes "Thanks to a newly developed audio extraction technology called optical scanning, the Smithsonian was able to recover the voice of Alexander Graham Bell from one of his hundreds of discs he donated to the museum, which were once considered 'mute artifacts.' Since many of the collected recordings are very fragile due to their age and experimental nature, optical scanning is a non-invasive procedure that creates a high-resolution digital map of the disc or cylinder, which is then reconstructed and used to simulate the motion of a stylus moving through its grooves to reproduce the original audio content. Bell, who created this recording on a wax and cardboard disc on April 15, 1885, can be heard clearly saying, 'In witness whereof — hear my voice, Alexander Graham Bell.'"

7 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Re:FINAL WARNING TO SLASHDOT... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Disregard that last post, I suck cocks.

  2. But... by WillyWanker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did they secure the rights and pay the royalties on this recording? Someone call the RIAA. I smell a copyright lawsuit!

    1. Re:But... by monkeyhybrid · · Score: 3, Funny

      Anonymous Yellow-belly Coward, is that you?

  3. Sadly it is not available any more. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Funny

    RIAA issued a DMCA take down notice and they had to take it down.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. Get Orrin Hatch on the Phone! by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Funny

    We need legislation to restrict the sale of this laser scanner machine ASAP: It's obviously being used as a circumvention device.

    1. Re:Get Orrin Hatch on the Phone! by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you outlaw lasers, only sharks will have lasers!

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Can you hear me now? by FuzzNugget · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, but the latency is a bitch!