It was accompanied by a nice note
and I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Wes a whole bunch. It made my day and I really appreciate your kindness. I will indeed listen to it while drinking beer before a ride this Spring.
His band is Los Buddies
and he also sent over a pin, which I don't have a photograph of because I pinned it to my office wall and I'm not at the office.
Also since we're talking about 45's, I've always wondered why 45 spacers exist. Why don't they just have a regular hole like every other speed of record. Is it just to make you remember to change the speed of the player?
So I googled it and this is what I found:
"The 45 RPM record was developed by RCA Victor company in 1948 - immediately following the invention of "vinyl" plastic and the development of the 12" LP record by CBS engineers (also in 1948). The 45 RPM speed was the only one to be decided by a precise optimization procedure. The optimum use of a disc record of constant rotational speed occurs when the innermost recorded diameter is half of the outermost recorded diameter. "
RCA marketed the new 45 format by producing and selling hundreds of thousands of 45-ONLY turntables at near cost. Of course, these new turntables with the big center spindle could not play other records with the small holes, so owners were locked into buying only the new style records. By the mid 1950's, the 45 format had become the accepted standard for selling singles, serving RCA through licensing fees (as the patent holders) for both record production and record player production by other companies.
The 45 held sway until the CD revolutionized music distribution with digital sound. This was a full thirty years, from 1955 through 1985. Not even the offshoot formats of reel-to-reel tapes, 4-track tapes, 8-track tapes, and cassette tapes had any significant impact on 45 sales during this period.
So why the fuck do 45's still use a different size hole?
It's so dumb.
2 comments:
yeah, totally agree on the 45s, though I picked up the single of "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out" by Mayer Hawthorne and (along with being heart-shaped and see-through red) plays @ 45rpm but has the little hole, it's such a nice little convenience.
If you go to get your record pressed, you will find that you actually pay more money for that little hole. I suppose there is less vinyl used in the production of the large hole variety. Lots of small records have big holes, but then you can't cram them in your juke box.
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