January 07, 2006

Before there were dashboard CD players there was 16 rpm. You may know it as that setting on old record players that made Peter Frampton sound like Satan. But in 1956 Chevrolet teamed with inventor Peter Goldmark to create the granddaddy of modern car stereos. Unfortunately customers weren't interested in funking it up on the new Interstates, and the gadget was dropped. Except for the government's talking books program, 16 rpm quickly faded into obscurity.
posted by rolypolyman 18 years ago
  • ...made Peter Frampton sound like Satan. /weeps at having missed it
  • /weeps at having missed it It was an improvement.
  • *hurts self laughing* So much for tact!
  • Tact? Never heard of .. oh, him was one of the Presidents, weren't he?
  • Poor guy woz a tact! Probably at Pearl Harbour.
  • My old record player had a 16 rpm setting (yes, I'm that old). I've never seen a record made for that speed, though...and never knew what the target application was, until now. Thanks, rolypolyman, and great post!
  • Thanks, I loved it.
  • Nifty. There's a 16 RPM talking book machine at work, but I didn't know it was a standard speed outside of talking books.
  • Cripes. I rememeber that speed. Never knew what is for. Thanks. Anywaze, when those new-fangled 8-track thingys came along, we hacked the one I had; installed dual headphone-outputs into an impedance matching switcher,and spent the summers driving around listening to Sennheiser headphones with the top down in my Triumph Spitfire. Talk about terminally lame. For some reason, we couldn't hear all the babes calling to us, I guess cause the sound isolation was so high.