rjr@mgweed.UUCP (07/12/83)
In response to Steve's inquiry; The previous comments are correct in that the 16 rpm records were of the "talking book" types and are still issued. The 45 rpm records were originated by RCA, sometime in the 50's I think. They made dedicated changers that would only handle the 7 inch discs. The 45 was certainly a good replacement for the old 10 inch 78's. I don't know how the speeds were arrived at. 78.26 rpm is no longer considered a standard speed. Neither are 16 inch transcriptions. Anybody out there remember inside-start discs??? I still have a few of those. There were even some 12 inch 45's made in an attempt to obtain better response than 33's but they didn't catch on. The old Edison 10 inch discs were microgroove and had vertical, rather than lateral modulation to increase playing time. Seems to me that early 78's were really somewhat faster, like 80 rpm. Anyone recall that???
dwex@wxlvax.UUCP (David Wexelblat) (07/14/83)
The reason for 33 instead of 32 is that it is actually 33 1/3 while the speed normally refered to as 16 is actually 16 2/3 (exactly one half). It was probably done that way intentionally. David Wexelblat ...decvax!ittvax!wxlvax!dwex