Editing Talk:1745: Record Scratch

So, this alt text is actually pretty misleading, because he's misusing the "whoa! Event A was closer to Event B than to today" meme by implying that 78s were vinyl, when in fact they were largely shellac -- and also I would argue that he's just got the facts wrong about when the 78-rpmera ended. The 78-rpm era arguably began as early as 1898, and arguably ended as late as the 1950s. In became the standard in 1925. So, ok, we could say, "Yeah, 78-rpm era should be considered to mean some time before 1940. That's reasonable, because the 1940s is really when the age of the 33 1/3 begins. So, OK, Randall, the 78-rpm era was closer to the Civil War than to today. But here's the thing. You implied that the 78-rpm era  was a vinyl thing. That's not really true. Vinyl is what ushered in the 33 1/3 days. So while it's maybe a cool piece of trivia to say "we first started using 33 1/3 rpm vinyl records in earnest only slightly closer to today than to the Civil War," it's not really a "wow, compare these well known events! Look how old this record scratch reference is!" Because tapes didn't start to seriously compete with vinyl until the late 1970s, and didn't overtake it until about 1985. So it would be fair to say, "the vinyl era ended closer to the start of the Vietnam War than to today," assuming we treat the Vietnam War as beginning in 1954 or later.

So, this alt text is actually pretty misleading, because he's misusing the "whoa! Event A was closer to Event B than to today" meme by implying that 78s were vinyl, when in fact they were largely shellac -- and also I would argue that he's just got the facts wrong about when the 78-rpmera ended. The 78-rpm era arguably began as early as 1898, and arguably ended as late as the 1950s. In became the standard in 1925. So, ok, we could say, "Yeah, 78-rpm era should be considered to mean some time before 1940. That's reasonable, because the 1940s is really when the age of the 33 1/3 begins. So, OK, Randall, the 78-rpm era was closer to the Civil War than to today. But here's the thing. You implied that the 78-rpm era  was a vinyl thing. That's not really true. Vinyl is what ushered in the 33 1/3 days. So while it's maybe a cool piece of trivia to say "we first started using 33 1/3 rpm vinyl records in earnest only slightly closer to today than to the Civil War," it's not really a "wow, compare these well known events! Look how old this record scratch reference is!" Because tapes didn't start to seriously compete with vinyl until the late 1970s, and didn't overtake it until about 1985. So it would be fair to say, "the vinyl era ended closer to the start of the Vietnam War than to today," assuming we treat the Vietnam War as beginning in 1954 or later.

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 05:04, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 05:04, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

: Agreed. Half way between the end of the US civil war and today was 1940. Vinyl LPs didn't overtake 78's until around 1952 according to Wikipedia (and 78's were being sold until 1960). So I guess what Randall means is that the time between the end of the era, and now is less than the time between the end of the civil war and the start of the 78 era. Might add something to this effect (if nobody else beats me to it) since this does require some clarification. [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 08:06, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

: Agreed. Half way between the end of the US civil war and today was 1940. Vinyl LPs didn't overtake 78's until around 1952 according to Wikipedia (and 78's were being sold until 1960). So I guess what Randall means is that the time between the end of the era, and now is less than the time between the end of the civil war and the start of the 78 era. Might add something to this effect (if nobody else beats me to it) since this does require some clarification. [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 08:06, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

: Dear God almighty, this is way beyond mere pedantry. It's also just plain wrong. Firstly, nowhere does Randall say (or even imply) that 78-rpm records were made from vinyl. The title text is not somehow constrained by that which precedes it, and frequently makes a play on a different -- albeit related -- topic. You made the inference that they were vinyl, not Randall. Also, the Civil War ended in 1865. By your own admission, the 78-rpm era ran from 1898 to the 1950s. Hence the 78-rpm era started just 33 years after the civil war, but ended at best 57 years ago (2016 - 1959 = 57). So the statement that the 78-rpm era was closer to the civil war than it was to the present day, per your own figures. And again, all the nonsense about the vinyl era is completely beside the point, because Randall never said a word about the vinyl era. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.45|108.162.238.45]] 16:59, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

: Dear God almighty, this is way beyond mere pedantry. It's also just plain wrong. Firstly, nowhere does Randall say (or even imply) that 78-rpm records were made from vinyl. The title text is not somehow constrained by that which precedes it, and frequently makes a play on a different -- albeit related -- topic. You made the inference that they were vinyl, not Randall. Also, the Civil War ended in 1865. By your own admission, the 78-rpm era ran from 1898 to the 1950s. Hence the 78-rpm era started just 33 years after the civil war, but ended at best 57 years ago (2016 - 1959 = 57). So the statement that the 78-rpm era was closer to the civil war than it was to the present day, per your own figures. And again, all the nonsense about the vinyl era is completely beside the point, because Randall never said a word about the vinyl era. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.45|108.162.238.45]] 16:59, 14 October 2016 (UTC)