Comments on: effortless dictation (Sep, 1958)

By: Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:07:45 +0000

Not unlike this http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery.....nifon.html and early ‘BlackBox’ flight recorders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_recording

By: KA Turner

KA Turner — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:21:29 +0000

The Dictabelt was used (if I remember) to record Lyndon Johnson’s swearing-in as President in 1963 after the Kennedy Assassination. The Dallas Police also recorded radio transmissions on this or the radio medium. Granted the quality was not good but I read a story about a small-town radio station which used a device for transcribing- and airing- recorded material. It may have been magnetic as mention is made of the belt’s reuse.

By: Medical-Transcriptionist

Medical-Transcriptionist — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:15:48 +0000

All those years of using that technology and STILL the doctors can’t use them right, or dictate INTO them properly; 6-8 years of medical school and they STILL screw up, and _I_ have to type it, no matter where they stick that microphone (or where I’d like to stick it after a 45-minute report punctuated by “ahhhh” and “hmmmmm”, muttering, malaprops, garbled drugs, poor grammar, crappy accents and 20 minutes of silence).

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:45:23 +0000

Personally, I like the idea of using cherry Fruit Roll-Ups as a storage medium, as shown above. Easy disposal in case of emergency.

By: Randy

Randy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:33:06 +0000

Oh yeah–probably around 1972 and the 18-minute gap.

The Dictabelt reminds me oddly of the embossed plastic records companies used to put on the back of ceareal boxes…

By: Firebrand38

Firebrand38 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:17:42 +0000

Randy: Oh, for sure the mechanical belts were replaced by magnetic! Remember this ad was from 1958 and previous attempts didn’t catch on http://blog.modernmechanix.com.....secretary/

Try this link for the Magnabelt: http://www.videointerchange.com/audio_history.htm

Fascinating story here http://www.recording-history.o....._tech1.php

And for a while people liked the fact that Dictaphone belts (plastic) couldn’t be erased.

By: Randy

Randy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:56:35 +0000

OK, ctrl-f Magnabelt at http://www.precision-ar.com/ I’ll look for a better source.

By: Randy

Randy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:51:37 +0000

That may be so, Firebrand38, but I remember using a Dictaphone machine in the late 1970′s. Same format as the machine depicted in this ad, but magnetic belt rather than physical groove belt. The belts were housed in individual paper sleeves, if my memory isn’t tricking me.

By: Firebrand38

Firebrand38 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:42:46 +0000

Torgo: Not in 1958. Dictabelts were way easier to insert and remove than threading magnetic tape (or wire) from spools. It wasn’t until the cassette in the 1960′s that magnetic tape dictation devices were accepted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_recorder

By: Torgo

Torgo — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:23:29 +0000

Dictaphone battling back against tape recorders.