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   Honihan Snawl (hannah@posts.rat.pictures)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 11:33:26 JST Honihan Snawl

   It’s cool that you can just pick up and read a book from 100 years ago with no special tools or procedures or conversion software

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     chris (chris@s.the-brannons.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 23:51:15 JST chris

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     @hannah @lanodan Well, you probably
     can't if you're blind. The oldest braille book I've seen was a copy of
     the Gospel of Matthew from the early 1930s. It wasn't in good shape
     circa 1990 when I found it. Braille on thermoform has even less of a
     lifespan.
     
     OTOH I can download a book from Project Gutenberg produced 40 years ago
     and read it with `less`.
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 23:52:10 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

     in reply to

     • chris
     @chris @hannah And I guess audio books aren't much better in terms of age?
   • Embed this notice
     chris (chris@s.the-brannons.com)'s status on Wednesday, 16-Aug-2023 05:05:47 JST chris

     in reply to

     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     @lanodan @hannah Wouldn't be surprised
     if there are some fairly old phonograph records with audio books on them.
     Or magnetic wire spools. Open tape reels. Etc.
     But probably no or few full-length books from before the 1930s or so.
     
     I stumbled on some ancient 78-RPM records as a kid in the 1980s. These were
     thick and heavy. Like, the size of a standard 33 and 1/3 RPM record,
     but the thickness and weight of a glass dinner plate. One was from 1901,
     and it had a few minutes of comedy recorded on it.
     
     Assuming the media are properly preserved, you still need the technology
     to play them.
     
     In the late 20th century, audiobooks for the blind were typically made
     in special formats. In the US: 4-track cassette at 15/16 inches per
     second (half of standard speed), phonograph records at 8 RPM. The 4-track
     meant separate recording on each of the two stereo tracks of a side of a tape.
     One track would be recorded forward and the other reversed. With a computer,
     a standard tape deck, and the sox utility, anyone can decode these things.
     
     After the rise of Audible, all bets are off. Unless someone pirates an
     audiobook and strips the DRM, no way will anyone be able to decode those
     at some unspecified point in the future. One good reason to pirate all the
     things. DRM is an attack against culture akin to book burning.
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.