Talking book record demo of the New Testament of the Holy Bible, read by Alexander Scourby
4,990 views · Published 22 December 2012 · 9:33 · Indexed 18 October 2026
Channel: radiotvphononut · 2012 · Science & Technology
Here, we have 40 33 1/3 rpm, ten-inch talking book records that contain a reading of the entire New Testament of the Holy Bible, as read by Alexander Scourby. These records, along with many other book titles, were made available to blind/visually impaired persons through the Library of Congress, Division for the Blind. The records, along with the playback equipment, were provided on free loan and the talking book program is still alive and well today. Today, the program is known as the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The first talking books came out in the mid '30's and were recorded on 33 1/3 rpm records. Decades later, the speed was reduced to 16 2/3 RPM. Finally, the speed was reduced to 8 1/3 rpm. Then, four track cassette tapes replaced records. Now, digital cartridges are replacing cassette tapes. The player shown here is a mid '60's vacuum tube unit that plays 8, 16, and 33 rpm records. This is one of the earliest models with the 8 rpm speed and, IMHO, is one of their best models. I didn't much care for the later plastic solid state models.
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