The 1924 Mikiphone: The first pocket record player | Hacker News Reader

The 1924 Mikiphone: The first pocket record player

rarehistoricalphotos.com

93 pointsBrajeshwar27 comments

Related: some late Datsun / early Nissan cars used a miniature phonograph to play “Door Ajar” and seatbelt voice warnings.

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/but-wait-theres-more/a1875...

I remember Eddie Murphy joking about this on his early 80's comedy album as a kid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMxdFwCU1OE

Miniature phonographs were once common in toys such as talking dolls. Right until the early 80s, I think.

Also, as a kid we had picture books that had stationary phonograph recordings that you placed a rotating stylus player on top of to play.

https://thisoldtoy.com/L_FP_set/toy-pages/800-899/801-talkto...

I remember building an paper, origami record player, with and a needle (actual sewing needle or pin). You'd spin the record with your fingers. The sound could be faintly heard, amplified by the paper structure.

How did they think they were going to monetize this?

It has no way to obtain user information, to send back to the vendor, and to track their listening preferences.

I bet you don't even have to register an account to use it; it looks some "local first" thing.

EDIT: I figured it out. The equipment for making records was prohibitively bulky and expensive for individuals to own; no copying was possible. There is always a catch!

I guess they also had the benefit of there being very few players to compete with, and the competition space being too large and too confusing to fully dominate, making it sadly a win for consumers. Its a damn shame that all players are fully visible in a modern marketplace

The first few photos made that seem way smaller than it actually is.

Originally I thought it would work more like the RokBlok (https://rokblok.co) and just use a spring or something for power.

I think the word "pocket" and the fact that it looks like a pocket watch contribute to the confusing scale at first glance.

Wow, that reminds me of the soundwagon[0]. I always wanted one, but they are known as 'record/vinyl killers' as they essentially destory the record as it plays.

[0]https://odditymall.com/soundwagon-portable-record-playing-hi...

if you put a speaker in that, would it be patent infringement of the Leslie speaker?

A random video of assembly and demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmx-nwetRwI

Wow, that actually sounds better than the RokBlok someone mentioned in another comment! Ok, it's a shellac record, so don't expect Hi-Fi, but at least it's able to keep a more or less constant speed, which you are also able to adjust...

Before the iPod, Before the Walkman, There Was the Mikiphone - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2467842 - April 2011 (8 comments)

Audio-Technica recently re-issued their classic Soundburger, which was a 1970s version of this concept. It’s just a novelty.

https://www.amazon.com/AudioTechnica-AT-SB727-Portable-Turnt...

I used to own a Sony PS-F5, a portable vertical linear turntable.

Apparently, the sound burger is useful for people hunting thrift shops and such for records.

As nifty as this gadget is, I wondered what the point of a portable phonograph was when you also have to carry the 10-inch records.

However, the same objection didn't deter Sony, 64 years later: https://www.just-cd.com/post/sony-discman-d-88-portable-cd-p...

The submitted link isn't currently loading for me. Here's an article I submitted a few months ago that's likely substantially similar:

https://flashbak.com/the-1924-mikiphone-was-the-worlds-first...

There is also the Record Runner: https://recordrunner.jp/

The mini disc feels older now

Has any progress been made on creating your own vinyl records at home?

Actually the very first phonographs by the Edison company, which used wax-covered cylinders, could record as well as play back. For music consumption, the "records" quickly became "read-only" (I assume because the "read-write" version was much less robust), but the wax cylinder survived in the Dictaphone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictaphone) which was used for, well, dictation. There were also versions that recorded on discs ("Voicewriter" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_machine), however these were replaced by magnetic tape in the 1950s/60s.

BTW, according to Wikipedia, the very first Edison phonographs had electric motors, which were however powered by "hazardous, high-maintenance wet cell batteries" and made the devices very expensive, so they were soon replaced by wind-up spring mechanisms.

> but the wax cylinder survived in the Dictaphone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictaphone) which was used for, well, dictation

Product failed but the name it was given was brilliant and timeless as it's used until today in many languages.

> The name "Dictaphone" was trademarked in 1907 by the Columbia Graphophone Company, which soon became the leading manufacturer of such devices. This perpetuated the use for voice recording of wax cylinders [...] Dictaphone was spun off into a separate company in 1923 under the leadership of C. King Woodbridge. [...] In 1947, having relied on wax-cylinder recording to the end of World War II, Dictaphone introduced its Dictabelt technology.

So the company used the wax-cylinder technology for 40 years, and then continued with other technologies until 1979, when they were bought up by Pitney Bowes. Doesn't sound like a failure to me...

> Its sound was amplified through a resonator.

Related: resonator guitars.

OMG, I want one! This could be a shellac revival.

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