When I first started working in a college audiovisual department, we had record players along with the cassette recorders, and the projectors for filmstrips, slides, transparencies, and 16mm films. These days, just about everything is on the computer from mp3 and wav players to Powerpoint presentations.

Speaking of records, the very first one I bought for myself was a greatest hits collection from Peter, Paul, and Mary.

I loved playing around with the speeds, too, especially on my Popeye record:

http://tulsatvmemories.com/gb041306.html#popeye

"Record players of the time had speeds of 16, 33, 45, and 78 RPM. By varying the setting, Captain Swift's hearty chuckles and laughs were transformed into half-witted bleats and hebephrenic titters. Much of the record's entertainment value sprang from this.

"Lodging the speed selector between proper settings disengaged the motor. Thus you could control the spin manually, allowing the Captain's every vocal cord vibration and silibant to be heard individually as the record croaked to a surreal stop. It was also possible to spin the record backwards (ignoring parental admonition), turning the S.S. Popeye into the 'eyE-Pop sey sey'."

Per Dave's comments per the A/V depts. of schools, that itself brought back vivid memories.
Its funny how defunct just about everything used at the time is now. Remember those old sound 16MM
projectors the teachers would lug into the room on wheels? The films were so old that the sound
was worn to the nubs, and you would get a droning
in-and-out sound. The overheads are sorta the
only technology that lasted; though now in power-
point form, the medium is exactly the same. I remember the bulbs were as bright as the sun and would melt the plastic transparencies if left on the glass. The filmstrips were popular too, and would come in those little spools. Finally, we
considered the A/V dept. kids in HS the biggest
dorks in the school. It was a sad last refuge for those who couldn't qualify for sports, and
weren't bright enough to shine in scholastics.
Funny thing is, they probably all own multi-million dollar start-ups now........
Regarding vinyl, I miss the tactile quality on vinyl. It seems as if each advance is less tangible. The cassette was really small, but could still be held. The CD the same, with a
passing resemblance to vinyl, but a bland, antiseptic digital feeling to it. Now, the data
is totally contained in little media such as
memory sticks and san disks with reams of data.
I miss the relationship to vinyl itself. The
shrinkwrap that had to be torn off first(remember the trick where you would run your fingernail down the crease to spererate the wrap?), the vinyl smell of the new record,
the beauty of virgin vinyl before the needle
would start digging into it, album art, goodies
that would often be found in it like posters,
stickers, and coupons, popping the album carefully out of the white sleeve, and finally,
best of all, the singular character each record
would take after being playing for some time,
each having its own particular skips, scratches,
and pops. I would even remember where the pops
came in during the songs. I could always expect
Lindsay Buckingham's guitar solo in "Go your own Way" to pop at the same place every time on my
Rumours album. And a little about 45's.....they
were a bit different. First, as Ron mentioned,
you had that 45 hole that had to be dealt with.
Most players just had that one spindle popping out of the turntable, so fitting the 45 over a solid base was always an issue. Those little plastic inserts would always be lost, and you
would just sort of balance it on there best you can, and hope it didn't move. I think we learned
a lot about physics by placing the 45 is just the right way. Remember when you had a really
long song, like american pie, they would just continue it on the other side? I think just about
all james browns 45's as well as the isleys, had a part 1 and 2. Don't forget, those "parts" just
meant they couldn't fit the whole song on one side. Remember how exciting it was to get a top
10 hit in 45 if it was really cool at the time?
Don't forget that it was prob the first time you
heard it in stereo too, as AM was still king.
Remember how they would display the 45's in top
40 fashion? Our local sears had a sweet display
with exactly 40 bins for the songs, along with those top 40 sheets provided by the local radio
station(remember how they had two columns, for the current and prior week?). Some of the 45 sleeves wew pretty cool too. We all had those
plastic containers to keep the 45's we accumulated, along with the aforementioned kiddie records we still kept from our younger days. I remember a copy of Tubbie the Tuba and
a few Mary Poppins songs stayed in the container
as if they belonged there forever, in fact, they are prob still there. I wonder if kids will wax
(pun intended) eloquently about their IPODS and
san sticks in 30 years? Somehow, I doubt it....

Scott, your wonderful rambling comments have become an essential part of IRJFK's atmosphere. And thanks for the column idea of peeling open a new record. Just promise not to sue me for plagiarism when i post it? :-)

One of the most memorable things to me about 45s is having to put a coin on the arm so the record wouldn't skip. I had a quarter taped to the arm of my little record player. Also, as Scott said above, the little pops and skips that wore themselves into the record. I have some CDs that I also had on vinyl, and I kinda miss hearing those familiar skips and pops that I was so used to.

Omigosh! Have you brought back some WONDERFUL memories for me! Indeed, playing the records at different speeds was the highlight of many an afternoon for me...LOL..and the dancing! Oh, the dancing! I still have all my old albums...they are worn and scratched, but can't bear to part with them...

A couple of brief comments. After being clued in by a friend working at my local record store in Southern California in the late 60s, I started trying to find British import copies of albums I REALLY liked a lot. The reason? It seems that American albums used a much greater percentage (something like 50%) of recycled vinyl (yep, albums melted down to make new albums, including the labels) than British albums did (10% max, sometimes none at all, which were called "virgin vinyl") Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs seemed to emphasise this fact when they began releasing "audiophile" versions in the mid 70s. The difference in the vinyl purity had a LOT to do with the pops and clicks that you heard from BRAND NEW albums and singles.

On the subject of portable record players, something not yet mentioned here was the ability to actually make a record player run BACKWARDS by reversing the batteries. My friend actually did this with his little sister's Singer (yes, the sewing machine folks) portable record player when the Beatles' White Album came out, allowing us to sit back and listen to Revolution #9 without having to manually spin the platter in reverse.

Scott K., I've heard of virgin vinyl but never knew what it was. I bought a half-speed-mastered vesrion of Abbey Road in the 70's for twenty bucks, but I was BLOWN AWAY by how much more bass was present with it. I know it's not the same, but one reason why I've invested in 30 gigs of mp3's is that they seem to have bonzer bass too.

Another reason to buy British imports back then: Songs were held back in the American versions. British Beatles albums had 4-5 more songs on them than American. In fact, Yesterday and Today was made entirely from held back songs, so there's no British version.

Record companies have a long, valued tradition of ripping off their customers. One happy note: Capitol lost their collective wazoos on that album, because they had to recall its original butcher/headless dolls cover version. Serves 'em right.

You're right. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs was the company doing the half speed masters. that, along with virgin vinyl, was what made those LPs SO much better. A big part of why my friend clued me in was the crappy quality of US releases I started noticing in 69-70. Pops and clicks were annoying, yes, but what got me really mad was brand new albums skipping. I didn't think I should have to rest a nickel on the tone arm of my record player just to avoid them skipping. Some US pressed albums required 3 or 4 exchanges before I could get 1 that didn't require that. This was back when "Made in the USA" was SUPPOSED to be a guarantee of quality. by the mid 70s, even 45s from Japan were using virgin vinyl, while US 45s got worse and worse. Add to that the fact that songs like "hey hey, what can I say" (flip side of "Immigrant Song before Gallows Pole" by Led Zep and "Silver Spring" by Fleetwood Mac (flip side to "Go your own Way" before Dreams became a hit) were ONLY available on Japanese 45s. These songs ONLY became available in the late 90s/early 2000s on multidisc compilations here in the US. Capitol started the trend with the Beatles, but Capitol wasn't the sole culprit.

I started out with an old Montgtomery Ward record player with two speakers on it that was mono. I started with the 45 rpms. I think one of my first rpms was a Johnny Cash record of all things. I still have a bunch of 45s and my mom still has alot of the original Elvis 45s that are worth something today. But I don't think my BeeGees 45s will be worth anything. I also hav a good collection of 33 rpms that I keep in plastic wrap now. I have no way of playing them.

Note: I have no connection with the website mentioned below.

Are there 78s that you remember from when you were a kid that you wished you could find again? If so, check out the following weblink:
http://www.kiddierekordking.com/index.html

Peter Muldavin, the owner of the site, has a tremendous collection of 78s. For a fee, he will send you an MP3 or a CD of the record you are requesting, provided he has it or can access a copy of it. Copies of the cover art may also be avaialable. Please see the website for more details.

Ron, I've had a good time browsing your memories. Keep up the good work!