And then I realized that over time (and up until digital files), everything that played music has been based on rotation. Duh. I know, so obvious. But it was fun to keep thinking of examples.
Phonograph
Organ grinder
Nickelodeon
Music box
Casette tape
CD
Any more that I'm missing? I wonder if Steve Jobs got the click wheel idea from this.
Motivational credit: Photojojo linked to this picture of a pinhole camera sitting on a record while the turn table was spinning:
It inspired me to get this thought down before I forgot about it again. Cool, no?
EDIT 7 Sept | Zachary gave me two that I missed! Reel to reel and 8 track.
Wow, that last picture is incredible! Happy to see that you've had time to post lately :)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to me that music isn't the only media that "spins" - VCR/Betamax, Laser Disc/DVD/Blu-Ray, even hard drives (going all the way back to the original tap drives).
ReplyDeleteI'd guess it has to do with the fact that circles are a good way to store continuous information in a compact format. It probably has its roots in the most basic of human inventions: the wheel (stop me if I'm stating the obvious ;) ).
Of course, as technology progresses, we find new ways of storing the "data" that don't require a circular format (e.g. flash drives).
I absolutely love the pinhole camera photo. It's the visual equivalent to Alvin Lucier's 'I Am Sitting In a Room'.
ReplyDeleteVery cool :)
Amber - I'm happy too! I was in one of the dumbest writing ruts ever.
ReplyDeleteMark - I had that "stating the obvious" fear the entire time I wrote this! Definitely interesting; while talking about it yesterday, a friend mentioned other media as well.
Nick – I'm going to have to check that out, thanks!
Interesting insight! You're right, information has commonly been stored circularly. Even in the old days when the ancients used to write in scrolls.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting example I found was camera film. Also, information loops: tickers, scrolling bus stop ads, etc.
Also, about "stating the obvious": while it is easy to state the obvious, the tricky part is making the connection to a larger conclusion. For us it's obvious that records spin, but someone had to make the conclusion that the best way to store and then transmit information continuously was to print information on a disc and have the information rotate while the reader remains static. That's not so obvious anymore. So don't be afraid to explore the obvious! The best answers and ideas come from the obvious!
Interestingly, I couldn't find many examples in which the information remained static and the reader rotated/scroll/spun. The only one I could find was a person enjoying the view from a ferris wheel.
Love your comment Luis! And thank you. The last example made me chuckle for sure! And it reminded me of kinetoscopes... but then again the viewer is the one spinning the medium, so guess that doesn't quite work ^_^
ReplyDelete