A look at a couple of remarkable collections ...
(and I will tell you that these are both MUST WATCH videos!!!)
Can you even imagine having access to this kind of libary?!?!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1583837855762782
And to think that all this material is stored in a barn!!!
(How do they protect it from the elements?!? If you so much as dare to leave your albums in the garage, they'll be warped the next time you go to play them! And that's practically overnight!)
And speaking of that, how can you really even enjoy and appreciate the music you've collected here - to be able to play or listen to a particular record, for example, only to find that it's buried on skid #47, covered by a tarp, and if you want to get to it to dig it out, you've first got to get a forklift to move the other 80 skids that are sitting in front of it!!!
And what about security??? There has just GOTTA be a better home for these than out in an old pig barn!
And then again, there's Joel Whitburn's collection ...
A copy of every record to ever make any of Billboard's music charts.
(At least these are stored in an underground, steel, climate controlled vault, cataloged and organized to be able to find whatever you're looking for with relative ease!)
But, unlike the ARChive Collection shown above, where many of these are collectibles are signed and (in some cases) personally donated by the artists themselves, Joel's collection is more designed to encompass the impact these records made on the Billboard charts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3m1DwU0ImI
Between these two collections, you cannot help but wonder where will all of these incredible gems will wind up ...
Hopefully some organization can find a music museum of some sort where these can not only be on display for music lovers to tour and experience, but all most this music can also be piped in to listen to as you tour the facility. (Talk about your "no repeats" weekends!!!)
And, as we know, vinyl has made a remarkable comeback over the last two decades, meaning that an awful lot of record players are also being sold again.
Music lovers have always found a way to keep their music with them, whether it be transistor radios, car stereos, cd / cassette / and 8-track players for your cars, iPods, your iTunes library ...
But, as Chuck Buell shows us below, this idea really isn't anything new ...
At one, time in-car record players could also be found in the marketplace. (I'm just not sure how well these held up when driving over railroad tracks, bumpy roads and pot-hole infested city streets! Not only a skipping issue, but a permanent damage issue to your cherished vinyl as well.)
And, as you'll see, it wasn't just 45's (although that was certainly the most popular concept) ...
There were even ALBUM players for your cars back then!!!
We offer you this Historical Musical Note from our In-Resident Forgotten Hits Professor of "Music Presentation," Chuck Buell ...
Sometime in the mid-1950s, Chrysler introduced the first In-car Record Player, the “Highway Hi-Fi,” as an option in the 1956 Chrysler, Desoto, Dodge and Plymouth. This Original Highway “Hi-Fi in-car Record Player” was designed by Dr. Peter Goldmark, head of CBS Laboratories in the 1950s and was the same inventor of the 33⅓ Long-Playing Microgroove LP.
What was surprising was that these unique new car record players were actually relatively stable and seldom skipped when a car was in motion. The stylus hardly ever jumped over the grooves, even when driving over ruts and minor bumps thanks to a design of a spring enclosure around the turntables and increased downward pressure on the stylus.
These Players were a hot, highly-in-demand item for those who could find a place in their new car budget for one. They were pricey at $200 ( more than $1,800 today ). But well-known Early Adapters like Lawrence Welk, who could easily afford one, jumped right on this new, must-have, Audio Concept and had one of the first in his 1956 Chrysler Convertible.
Soon, many other makers followed, like with the “Philips Auto Mignon Turntable.”
Muhammad Ali had one of those in his 1959 Cadillac Eldorado.
As did Beatle George Harrison in his 1965 Jaguar XKE.
Spin forward to today, and here’s Forgotten Hits' Kent Kotal showing a rare and original built in Car Record Player in his Collectible mid-1960s Custom “Forgotten Hits Mobile Unit 45!”
And while Dr. Goldmark had taken extreme care to tune the system in his personal car for nearly skip-free performance, the same attention was not exercised when Chrysler began installing the systems into their wide range of lower-end Dodges and Plymouths, whose suspensions were not as cushy as the high-end Chryslers. Predictably, records skipped often and warranty claims quickly rose.
So, with that issue and even with all those many different styles and models to choose from, in-car record players never became standard in cars the way other audio features later did. When eight-track tape cartridges and then music cassettes came along, that changed everything and in-car record players soon performed a “self-eject” and became a novelty of the automotive past.
So, you'll just have to continue to be content with listening to your Forgotten Hits in your car as you have been.
CB ( which stands for In-Car Record Playing "Convenience Boy!" )
Seriously ...
Who doesn't love their Car Tunes!!!
Gotta have 'em! (kk)
