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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.'"

10 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. 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 Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not in the US.

      Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. (1999) sets precedent for this remaining public domain.

      "A photograph which is no more than a copy of a work of another as exact as science and technology permits lacks originality. That is not to say that such a feat is trivial, simply not original."

  2. 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!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. My old foggy slashdot memory... by t0qer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember years ago on /., there was an article where a guy claimed he had done this, but the slashdot pitchforks were raised while chanting fraud.

    http://news.slashdot.org/story/02/09/05/1814203/ripping-vinyl-via-your-scanner

    There it is.

    Nice to know the guy's technology actually worked.

    1. Re:My old foggy slashdot memory... by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Informative

      Something similar has also been used more recently to play a record that doesn't exist anymore in physical format, but had a photograph printed in a book that survives. They were able to optically play a scan of the printed photograph of the record.

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  4. Direct Links by guttentag · · Score: 5, Informative

    The link in the summary goes to the International Business Times, which links to a copy of the 11-second audio clip on Soundcloud that requires flash to run. The IBT article links to the original articles at the Smithsonian. Here's a direct link to the MP3 file on the Smithsonian site.

  5. The smile on my face... by MugenEJ8 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Seriously, how f*cking cool is that! Goosebumps and the whole nine yards.

    Being able to extract the information from the disc without using its native interpreter in order to preserve it, is just brilliant. Then we just use our smart computrons to simulate it being played and voila.

    We're seriously badass... I wonder if Mr. Bell was thinking the same thing!

  6. Re:"Clearly"?? by zbobet2012 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A genius from a century and a quarter ago just spoke to you and you are complaining that it is hard to understand?

  7. Can you hear me now? by FuzzNugget · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, but the latency is a bitch!