Recording Device


What was that recording device the newspaper man was using early in the movie?

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It was a Dictaphone, which used wax cylinders to record sound. More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictaphone


Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.

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they used it in Double Indemnity & Sabrina too..

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Hey folks,

When I went to work for the State Farm Insurance Company in 1968, each of us were issued Dictaphones to dictate our reports. Instead of wax cylinders, however, our Dictaphones used the newer technology of Dictabelts. They were thin, soft, and pliable plastic belts about 3 1/2 inches wide and were placed on a rotating elongated cylinder which turned the belts at a constant speed. A needle like object was then rotated in place at one end of the belt, and the dictation was recorded as the needle slowly traveled across the belt.

Within a few years, less expensive magnetic tape recording devices were replacing the Dictaphones. Wow, that was a long time ago.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

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That's funny! Tape recorders were common by '68! Big companies are so slow to change their technology. The one I worked for was still using IBM punch cards well into the '90s!

What we got here is... failure to communicate!


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