You know how in the music recording industry there was (simplifying)
first the analog vinyl disc, after which came an analog magnetic tape
format (compact cassette), after which came a digital disc (CD), so in
a way we have gone full circle (no pun intended).

  Perhaps a bit surprisingly the video formats have gone through a
surprisingly similar cycle (although with rather different timelines):
Before the digital disc (DVD) there was an analog magnetic tape (VHS),
and before that there was, rather surprisingly, an analog vinyl disc
format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_Electronic_Disc

  (Ok, technically speaking the actual devices and discs didn't precede
VHS, but the *idea* did precede it. The production was just delayed due
to poor planning and marketing.)

  Nobody remembers that one, though, because it never became popular.
But it's curious how one can see such strong parallels between audio
and video recording formats.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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>  Nobody remembers that one, though, because it never became popular.
> But it's curious how one can see such strong parallels between audio
> and video recording formats.

I actually remember seeing this as a kid. State of the art technology, the 
pride of the "mediathek" (a library where you could borrow not only books 
but also vinyl records and (if you owned a player) this so called "video 
record"). A film on record cost 1/8 of a month's wages here - no wonder it 
never became popular.

Now, I remember when the first CD (one piece ;-) arrived at the local record 
store it was not displayed in its package. It was taken out and nailed to 
the wall in a dark place with the data-side out. Then a spotlight was 
trained on it (to show the pretty interference patterns)... it was not for 
sale, but rather kept as a curiosity.

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>  Nobody remembers that one, though, because it never became popular.
> But it's curious how one can see such strong parallels between audio
> and video recording formats.

Back in the early 1980's, I remember 20/20 showing a Tom Petty video that 
ran off either a laserdisc or perhaps a videodisc.  They were discussing 
this "new technology".  For the past many years, I've been assuming that it 
was a laserdisc, but now I actually wonder if it was one of these.  So... 
Perhaps I _had_ heard about it.  LOL

Analog...  Everything is better in analog.  Digital ruins it.  I've switched 
all of my ethernet cables back to analog, and I'm now using the analog 
internet exclusively.  I get deeper color depths which just aren't possible 
with digital 24 bit color.  Everything produces a much warmer experience. 
Streamed music is better.  Youtube looks and sounds much better.  ;-)

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Warp wrote:
> But it's curious how one can see such strong parallels between audio
> and video recording formats.

I'm waiting for cylinders to come back as a recording format.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The question in today's corporate environment is not
   so much "what color is your parachute?" as it is
   "what color is your nose?"

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I'm waiting for cylinders to come back as a recording format.

  Aren't many USB sticks almost cylindrical?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> I'm waiting for cylinders to come back as a recording format.
> 
>   Aren't many USB sticks almost cylindrical?

I think they might come in cylindrical packaging. I was thinking more like this:

http://www.tinfoil.com/cylinder.htm

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The question in today's corporate environment is not
   so much "what color is your parachute?" as it is
   "what color is your nose?"

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I was thinking more like this:

> http://www.tinfoil.com/cylinder.htm

  I know what you meant. It's just that a cylindrical surface is not the
most efficient nor cost-effective. It wasn't even back in the beginning of
the last century when the cylinders vs. disc format war was going on (and
why the cylinders lost early on).

  It's unlikely that storing formats will go back to that.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
>   It's unlikely that storing formats will go back to that.

Sadly enough. :-)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The question in today's corporate environment is not
   so much "what color is your parachute?" as it is
   "what color is your nose?"

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>>   It's unlikely that storing formats will go back to that.
> 
> Sadly enough. :-)

But I hear some PhD somewhere managed to make a technology that 
transfers data using human skin as the connecting medium. As the 
reviewer put it, "this raises the disturbing possibility that users 
could transfer data from one to another while having sex".

(Now, maybe it's just me, but I'm *far* more concerned by the fact that 
this is the first use-case that sprang into the reviewer's mind... Why 
the **** would you have your iPhone with you anyway?!)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> "this raises the disturbing possibility that users
> could transfer data from one to another while having sex".

Huh. And all along, I thought that's what sex was for.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The question in today's corporate environment is not
   so much "what color is your parachute?" as it is
   "what color is your nose?"

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