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What is a Recording? What is a Record?
By Hans van Oost

Dear Joyce and MMD,  As far as I understand English the word "recording"
does not mean more or less than "saving something to be viewed later".
So I think there is no minimum requirement to the concept.

A 16th century organ barrel is a recording, and so is a 1900 Edison
phonograph roll, a piano roll, a 1923 Creole jazz band acoustical,
a 1975 vinyl LP, or a modern MIDI recording.  Mr. Neil Armstrong's
words from the Moon surface in 1969 are regarded as a recording;
however there can be no doubt that it sounded different in Neil's
helmet.

No recording will be exactly the same as the "original".  One can only
say that some recordings are further away from the original than others.
So I think that Mr. Harrington, in his article, shows evidence of a too
narrow interpretation of the word.

Best regards from the Netherlands

Hans van Oost


(Message sent Tue 21 Mar 2000, 13:47:43 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

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