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The Syracuse University Library Radius Project: Development Of A Non-Destructive Playback System For Cylinder Recordings, William A. Penn, Martha J. Hanson

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

Syracuse University Library's Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive (Belfer) holds nearly 20,000 cylinder recordings produced during the 'cylinder era' of 1895-1929. Many cylinders have become deteriorated over the past one hundred years and cannot be played without suffering serious physical damage inflicted by the sharp styli (needles) of traditional mechanical playback machines. In some cases, even one pass of a stylus may irrevocably damage a cylinder. In response to the playback challenges of cylinder recordings, Syracuse University Library developed the Radius Project: Development of a Non-Destructive Playback System for Cylinder Recordings, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. …