twas the night before christmas / 1914 / 90 rpm

[THEVICTROLAGUY]

a four minute blue amberol cylinder transferred to a two minute black wax blank at 90 rpm...

[Mulchefye]

wow! incredible quality for its age! ive always been fascinated by these early forms of records....ive often wondered whose idea it was to flatten them out in the first place; and 90 rpm? now THATS fast!

[THEVICTROLAGUY]

actually this is quite slow, normal speed of the cylinder phonograph is 160 rpm, i slowed the machine in order to double the playing time. it was Emile Berliner who first developed the disc record, along with Eldridge r. Johnson, founder of victor talking machines. this is a purely mechanical recording, vertical cut. the advantage of the cylinder is the fact that is is linear. in the war between disc and cylinder it was simply ease of use and storage that doomed the cylinder, plus the fact that a disc has two sides, twice the music for the same price. the cylinder dominated recorded music for over 30 years, Edison produced cylinders until the stock market crash of 1929, all other manufacturers abandoned the cylinder in 1910.