78rpm Aluminium Disc Voice Record

Way back in the early days of recorded sound if you visited a seaside pier in England you could often record a message onto an Aluminium disc and send it through the post to someone with a 78rpm record player. On the reverse side was usually an advert of some kind, often for a brand of cigarettes or the place where message was recorded.

These discs about the size of a modern CD last no more than a minute and are a direct precursor of today's voice mail. We get one or two of these records a year. This one was recorded in 1936! It has been well played and was heavily pitted but even so the message is clearly audible 74 years later.

A similar Voice Record being played on an old gramophone can be seen here on Youtube. Please note though, this is not our video. We transfer old records using modern equipment.