Monday, November 14, 2016
More missing narcissism
Returning to the missing piece of narcissism. Why was sound recording so slow to catch on? More specifically, why did the Dictaphone fail to ignite popular interest? Edison's first phonograph had equal capabilitites for recording and playing. The two-way machine developed into the Dictaphone and became widespread in offices, but phonographs for home use immediately specialized in play-only.
Reel-to-reel tapes, VASTLY less convenient than the Dictaphone cylinder or the Recordio disk, did spark a fad of home interest as seen in several magazines from the '50s and '60s. These magazines focused equally on recording and playing, with articles about microphones and acoustics.
As far as I can tell there was NEVER a magazine or even a trade journal about Dictaphones. The machine was often featured in novels and radio shows, especially spy and detective stories, but there was never a Popular Dictaphone or Dictaphone World magazine.
Later: A partial exception. Googlebooks has one volume of the Dictaphone Company's house organ, sent to employees and salesmen. There's nothing in it about Dictaphones; no repair info or advice on training customers to use the machine. It's just generic corporate puffery and pep talks for salesmen.
Labels: 1901, Asked and unanswered
¶ 11:07 AM
