peg@ihuxa.UUCP (07/12/83)
In answer to Larry's question, as to why 45s are 45s, basically it was due to competition. Back when the phonograph came out, Thomas Edison sold discs to go with his phonograph. I've forgotten most of the details, but due to copyright disputes RCA decided that they wanted to market phonographs too... to increase the competition between the two manufacturers, RCA created a record which had a wider spindle hole, and these records could subsequently only be played on RCA phonographs. It is similar to the differences between Atari and Intellivision cartridges. After awhile, other phonograph companies began to produce records, but wanted them to fit both kinds of phonographs... and due to the demands of the public, phonographs are now made to fit both kinds. I suppose the reasoning for not switching to one size hole (although many 45s are now the size of LPs and vice versa) is due to tradition and the supposed ease of telling whether a disc was to be played at 33 or 45... although that is no longer the case as previously mentioned. This short history lesson comes right out of my memory, so i would welcome corrections or additions, as i may have forgotten the details as they really are. In summary, 45s came about because RCA wanted to be different from the Edison company. As for 16 RPM, i think records for blind people (recorded books and such) are recorded for 16 or even 8 RPM... i'm not sure of the reason for this however...
jjm@hou5e.UUCP (07/12/83)
An interesting side note about 45's and spindle size... I used to work at a radio station, and when record companies sent us their new singles, some of them would send 7" records (the size of a commercial 45) that would play at 33 1/3 RPM, and others would send 7" records that would play at 45 RPM but had a thin-style (normal for 33 1/3) spindle hole. I guess they wanted to prevent us from putting the extra copies into a juke box, which would be unable to cope with the abnormal speed/spindle size combination. Jim McParland ABI - Holmdel hou5e!jjm
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (07/21/83)
#R:ihuxa:-25000:zinfandel:10600004:000:982 zinfandel!berry Jul 20 15:52:00 1983 Another interesting note from when \\I// used to work at the radio station at my university (U of CA at Riverside -- KUCR, 88.1 FM "Bottom of the dial, bottom of the pile"). The main studio had 3 big Gates turntables, whose platters were slightli dished in the center. The center spindle was machined into the platter, and was stepped, with the bottom being 45 RPM-hole-sized and the top 33-RPM-hole-sized. When 12 inch 33's were played they were supported on their rims and fit the smaller spindle; 7-inch 45's dropped into the dish and fit the lower spindle. 7-inch 33's with small holes were a problem; we generally dubbed them to carts before airplay. Incidentally, broadcast turntables have a few extra goodies not found on home turntables. The main differences are a clutch to allow cuing and a MONSTER motor that will bring the 10 pound platter up to speed in a quarter revolution. Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (decvax!sytek!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900