Description of image
The image represents a vinyl disk, with an embossed full texture on the left and the protective envelope on the right.
A vinyl disk is a round (usually black) disk with a small hole in the middle where the ax of the vinyl player holds in place the disk.
The envelope on the right is usually made out of carton or thick paper. It contains artwork, track list, info about the band or artist or content of the recording on the disk. It also includes legal and copyright notices.
Historical information
The vinyl disc is a music storage device invented in the 19th century. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, which in his vision was meant to replay sounds [1]. But later the device was used to replay the music stored on vinyl discs. In 1901 10-inch discs are launched on the market, and in 1903, 12-inch discs. These could play 3, or 4 minutes of music respectively, while the initial version only could play for 2 minutes. However, they were the rudimentary form of the vinyl disc [2]. In time technology progressed, and the phonograph was replaced by the electromagnetic pickup [3].
In the communist period, given the isolation of Romania, the vinyl disc trade was a successful business, especially in the cities on the Western border. Through this type of exchange, the music fans had access to different music genres, other than what communist Romania allowed on the specialized market. Through this trade, the music from the ”Western decadence” (as the officials called the world outside the Iron Curtain [4] was spread, such as the music of the Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, Beatles, Black Sabbath, and other fashionable bands.
Bibliography
- Kerim Yasar, Electrified voices. How the telephone, phonograph and Radio shaped Modern Japan, 1868-1945, New York, Colombia University Press, 2018, p. 83.
- William Howland Kenney, Recorded Music in American Life: The Phonograph and Popular Memory,1890–1945, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 48.
- Kerim Yasar, op. cit., p. 181.
- Ștefan Both, Timişoara a respirat occidental în anii comunismului, retrievable at [December 2nd 2018] https://adevarul.ro/locale/timisoara/povestile-bisnitarilor-viniluri-banatul-anilor-80-timisoara-respirat-occidental-anii-comunismului-1_57e149c65ab6550cb8d4ac93/index.html[2.12.2018].
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