![LGR - Thrifts [Ep. 33] Sprung Springiness](https://i3.ytimg.com/vi/jm93g7WL-H4/maxresdefault.jpg)
LGR - Thrifts [Ep. 33] Sprung Springiness
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Daniel
Wow! OK So I can tell you about those Library of Congress tape players! Being a low vision student I had several of them through my scholastic career.
First, I'm shocked it was DONATED to a Goodwill since it's technically US Government property and it clearly says on the back how to return one. Also you can drop them off at a local library and they'll return it for you too.
The Library of Congress does, or did, run a program for books on tape and records for the blind. I am not sure if they pre-date commercial books on tape or not. There were other organizations who did the same thing - American Printing House for the Blind is another one I remember. They had their own cassette players that used the same format as the LoC models but with more features (Pause, record etc. There were also commercial players you could buy later to play the special cassette tapes too - I had (maybe still have) a modified Aiwa Walkman type player that supported the dual-speed / adjustable speed / multi track functions that I used later in highschool. The LoC/APH players were sent out for free for anybody with a visual impairment. You could keep them for life (I think) and if it broke down, you just sent them back and requested a new one. They had huge rechargeable batteries that made them weigh a ton as you probably noticed.
The tapes were recorded at probably half the speed of regular cassette tapes, to extend the duration of the playback, and allow to put way more content on a tape than ordinary 60/90 minute tapes. I want to say you could get a good 2 hours on one side of a tape. To further increase the capacity the LoC and APH players used a -Four track- technology. I'm not quite sure how they managed that on the tape, but basically you'd listen to side 1 and side 2 of the tape, then flip the rocker switch on the player to play track 3 & 4. Flip the tape over again, and listen to the next 2 tracks.
I can't remember how you requested books to be honest. I think you called into a hotline and left a message for what you wanted? I also recall just writing a letter with a list of what I wanted and sent it back with my last book on tape. For schools, our special ed department could order textbooks for me on tape if it was available. Those usually came from the APH.
The tapes themselves came in these chunky green plastic cases - four tapes to a case. They were sent via USPS -Bulk Rate Media Mail- with a printed card inserted into a slot on the case. When you were done with them, you flip the card over with the return address, and just left them at your mailbox for the mailman to collect.
The records were an older tech obviously. The players had a similar low speed playback function as the tape players, but don't think they did the four track playback. They were huge and utilitarian and hideous and just reeked of -Government-. The records came the same way, in huge orange cases also sent by the USPS. I don't think there were that many records in stock at the time I was using the program. But every so often if I asked for a particular book they would send me one on record. Guess they didn't transfer it to tape.
I remember many a summer spent doing my Summer Reading List for school listening to those books and preparing book reports with them. As I got older and my listening skills developed I started using the speed control function. This was great because even though the speed of the tape was slowed for recording, you could adjust the playpack speed to play faster so you could get through the book faster. Admittedly, the person reading sounded like Micky Mouse on helium, but if you were good you could listen to a long book in only a few hours.
I don't know what happened to the program as time went on. I recall some people were talking about replacing the takes with some kind of solid state cartridge system, so they could digitize the tapes. I found it strange they didn't just go to MP3 and memory cards. I would think by now it would all be downloadable on the Internet.
Sorry to be long-winded on the description. But thanks for giving me a reminder of my childhood!
reply
Wow! OK So I can tell you about those Library of Congress tape players! Being a low vision student I had several of them through my scholastic career.
First, I'm shocked it was DONATED to a Goodwill since it's technically US Government property and it clearly says on the back how to return one. Also you can drop them off at a local library and they'll return it for you too.
The Library of Congress does, or did, run a program for books on tape and records for the blind. I am not sure if they pre-date commercial books on tape or not. There were other organizations who did the same thing - American Printing House for the Blind is another one I remember. They had their own cassette players that used the same format as the LoC models but with more features (Pause, record etc. There were also commercial players you could buy later to play the special cassette tapes too - I had (maybe still have) a modified Aiwa Walkman type player that supported the dual-speed / adjustable speed / multi track functions that I used later in highschool. The LoC/APH players were sent out for free for anybody with a visual impairment. You could keep them for life (I think) and if it broke down, you just sent them back and requested a new one. They had huge rechargeable batteries that made them weigh a ton as you probably noticed.
The tapes were recorded at probably half the speed of regular cassette tapes, to extend the duration of the playback, and allow to put way more content on a tape than ordinary 60/90 minute tapes. I want to say you could get a good 2 hours on one side of a tape. To further increase the capacity the LoC and APH players used a -Four track- technology. I'm not quite sure how they managed that on the tape, but basically you'd listen to side 1 and side 2 of the tape, then flip the rocker switch on the player to play track 3 & 4. Flip the tape over again, and listen to the next 2 tracks.
I can't remember how you requested books to be honest. I think you called into a hotline and left a message for what you wanted? I also recall just writing a letter with a list of what I wanted and sent it back with my last book on tape. For schools, our special ed department could order textbooks for me on tape if it was available. Those usually came from the APH.
The tapes themselves came in these chunky green plastic cases - four tapes to a case. They were sent via USPS -Bulk Rate Media Mail- with a printed card inserted into a slot on the case. When you were done with them, you flip the card over with the return address, and just left them at your mailbox for the mailman to collect.
The records were an older tech obviously. The players had a similar low speed playback function as the tape players, but don't think they did the four track playback. They were huge and utilitarian and hideous and just reeked of -Government-. The records came the same way, in huge orange cases also sent by the USPS. I don't think there were that many records in stock at the time I was using the program. But every so often if I asked for a particular book they would send me one on record. Guess they didn't transfer it to tape.
I remember many a summer spent doing my Summer Reading List for school listening to those books and preparing book reports with them. As I got older and my listening skills developed I started using the speed control function. This was great because even though the speed of the tape was slowed for recording, you could adjust the playpack speed to play faster so you could get through the book faster. Admittedly, the person reading sounded like Micky Mouse on helium, but if you were good you could listen to a long book in only a few hours.
I don't know what happened to the program as time went on. I recall some people were talking about replacing the takes with some kind of solid state cartridge system, so they could digitize the tapes. I found it strange they didn't just go to MP3 and memory cards. I would think by now it would all be downloadable on the Internet.
Sorry to be long-winded on the description. But thanks for giving me a reminder of my childhood!
reply
Amy
1: 18 lolz Well, someone was in a damn hurry.
3: 56 Imagine having a thrift store that doubles as a gas station, lolz (wait. I think that already exists somewhere)
4: 06 I've never seen this particular Guitar Hero merch before. huh.
6: 08 I have one of these, not in the box but I have a Sidewinder gamepad.
I can tell that the monochrome monitor is not liking the video signal the Genesis is providing; some of the background is displaying darker than it should, and as unfortunate as that is, it is to be expected. I wouldn't of chosen Sonic 3 to test the monitor with, but that's just me thinking about how well monochrome monitors don't handle 16-bit parallax graphics, though black and white monitors are even worse with the greyscale often being offset by as much as twenty percent! Ouch!
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1: 18 lolz Well, someone was in a damn hurry.
3: 56 Imagine having a thrift store that doubles as a gas station, lolz (wait. I think that already exists somewhere)
4: 06 I've never seen this particular Guitar Hero merch before. huh.
6: 08 I have one of these, not in the box but I have a Sidewinder gamepad.
I can tell that the monochrome monitor is not liking the video signal the Genesis is providing; some of the background is displaying darker than it should, and as unfortunate as that is, it is to be expected. I wouldn't of chosen Sonic 3 to test the monitor with, but that's just me thinking about how well monochrome monitors don't handle 16-bit parallax graphics, though black and white monitors are even worse with the greyscale often being offset by as much as twenty percent! Ouch!
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TNS
Pretty neat to see the tape recorder for the blind. I grew up with my Nan who was totally blind. She had a blue tape recorder exactly like this. She called it the Talking Book Machine(I think that's what it was actually called, not just her pet name for it. She would get cassettes from the CNIB(Canadian National Institute for the Blind) and it was just like going to the library. They would mail them to her, she would listen to them and mail them back. I haven't thought of this thing in years so it was nice to see it.
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Pretty neat to see the tape recorder for the blind. I grew up with my Nan who was totally blind. She had a blue tape recorder exactly like this. She called it the Talking Book Machine(I think that's what it was actually called, not just her pet name for it. She would get cassettes from the CNIB(Canadian National Institute for the Blind) and it was just like going to the library. They would mail them to her, she would listen to them and mail them back. I haven't thought of this thing in years so it was nice to see it.
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lwvmobile
If I had a shitty old truck and plenty of money to blow on insurance, I'd damn sure intentionally scrape up on people who intentionally park shitty like that. That has to be one of my pet peeves in parking lots, especially at the front of a building or a store. If you're towards the back or have a boat or something and there is plenty of room in the far back that's one thing, but to just split two lines like that just to be a dick, I'd just scrape right into them to teach them to quit that shit.
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If I had a shitty old truck and plenty of money to blow on insurance, I'd damn sure intentionally scrape up on people who intentionally park shitty like that. That has to be one of my pet peeves in parking lots, especially at the front of a building or a store. If you're towards the back or have a boat or something and there is plenty of room in the far back that's one thing, but to just split two lines like that just to be a dick, I'd just scrape right into them to teach them to quit that shit.
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Mykala
Context. The tape player for Library for the Blind. My mom actually owns/owned one of these, and they are very common. I was extremely surprised to see one in Goodwill (laughably, I wondered if it were hers, as I haven't seen it in a while. These were for disabled and blind individuals that used tapes, as the library sends out monthly tapes as their newsletter. Outdated but still in use today. If you ever want more information about it, send me a message and I'll explain it in better detail.
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Context. The tape player for Library for the Blind. My mom actually owns/owned one of these, and they are very common. I was extremely surprised to see one in Goodwill (laughably, I wondered if it were hers, as I haven't seen it in a while. These were for disabled and blind individuals that used tapes, as the library sends out monthly tapes as their newsletter. Outdated but still in use today. If you ever want more information about it, send me a message and I'll explain it in better detail.
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Maddy
THE YELLOW PLAYER! oMg I have one saved from my childhood. I am dyslexic and received one from the government that had an almost unlimited collection of -books on tape- that went along with it! You would order the books you wanted from an audiobook catalog and they would mail them to you for free in these little green containers, and you would just have to mail them back, like checking out a book from an audiobook library.
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THE YELLOW PLAYER! oMg I have one saved from my childhood. I am dyslexic and received one from the government that had an almost unlimited collection of -books on tape- that went along with it! You would order the books you wanted from an audiobook catalog and they would mail them to you for free in these little green containers, and you would just have to mail them back, like checking out a book from an audiobook library.
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Ronnie
Dude you're Goodwill's are so much better than ours!
I have to drive 7 miles to go to one in Marion, IL. if I want to go to a different Goodwill besides that, it is another 21 miles in the other direction. Neither of them as awesome as yours!
Yesterday I drove over after watching your episode. they are all closed down & have been for the last 2 weeks because of the pandemic. really Goodwill? -
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Dude you're Goodwill's are so much better than ours!
I have to drive 7 miles to go to one in Marion, IL. if I want to go to a different Goodwill besides that, it is another 21 miles in the other direction. Neither of them as awesome as yours!
Yesterday I drove over after watching your episode. they are all closed down & have been for the last 2 weeks because of the pandemic. really Goodwill? -
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Lachlant1984
That Library Of Congress C-1 cassette player is a 4 track talking book tape player for blind people, talking books came on cassettes that played at half the speed of a regular tape, and each of the 4 tracks on the cassette tape were used as individual 'sides' of the cassettes. Those tape players really weren't made too well, I had a few of them and they broke fairly easily in my experience.
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That Library Of Congress C-1 cassette player is a 4 track talking book tape player for blind people, talking books came on cassettes that played at half the speed of a regular tape, and each of the 4 tracks on the cassette tape were used as individual 'sides' of the cassettes. Those tape players really weren't made too well, I had a few of them and they broke fairly easily in my experience.
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fanjoy
6: 38 FYI those tape players are actually special tape players for people with low vision/blind. Basically books on tape. They would play slower than a normal tape player so they could fit more stuff on a single tape, and I think they also had 4 tracks basically (2 tracks per side. I actually had one back in grade school because I would get my textbooks on tape (along with a regular book.
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6: 38 FYI those tape players are actually special tape players for people with low vision/blind. Basically books on tape. They would play slower than a normal tape player so they could fit more stuff on a single tape, and I think they also had 4 tracks basically (2 tracks per side. I actually had one back in grade school because I would get my textbooks on tape (along with a regular book.
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Pietro
Woah really late but: 6: 38 Aha! That's the model of talking book cassette player I used to have that I was hoping to share with Techmoan before he made that video about the recorder model! I can confirm that those things were either yellow when new or no one cared about the yellowness. I could swear I still had mine, but I'm not in any position to find out why.
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Woah really late but: 6: 38 Aha! That's the model of talking book cassette player I used to have that I was hoping to share with Techmoan before he made that video about the recorder model! I can confirm that those things were either yellow when new or no one cared about the yellowness. I could swear I still had mine, but I'm not in any position to find out why.
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