The Dictabelt,[1] in early years and much less commonly also called a Memobelt, is an analog audio recording medium commercially introduced by the American Dictaphone company in 1947. Having been intended for recording dictation and other speech for later transcription, it is a write-once-read-many medium consisting of a 5-mil (0.13 mm) thick transparent vinyl (according to a 1960s Dictaphone user manual: cellulose acetate butyrate) plastic belt 3.5 inches (89 mm) wide and 12 inches (300 mm) around.[2] The belt is loaded onto a pair of metal cylinders, put under tension, then rotated like a tank tread.[3] It is inscribed with an audio-signal-modulated helical groove by a stylus which is slowly moved across the rotating belt. Unlike the stylus of a record cutter, the Dictabelt stylus is blunt and in recording mode it simply impresses a groove into the plastic rather than engraving it and throwing off a thread of waste material.[4] The Dictabelt system was popular, and by 1952, made up 90% of Dictaphone's sales.[5]
Dictabelts were more convenient and provide better audio quality than the reusable wax cylinders they replaced. The belts can be folded for storage and will fit into an ordinary letter-size envelope. However, the plastic loses flexibility as it ages. If a belt is stored sharply folded for a long time, it will become permanently creased and unplayable without special treatment.[6] Dictabelts were red until 1964, blue from 1964 to 1975, then purple until they were discontinued around 1980. Each has a capacity of about 15 minutes at the standard speed. At least one Dictaphone model featured a half-speed, low-fidelity 30-minute option.
In the 1960s, Virginia required that all of its circuit courts be outfitted with Dictabelt machines.[7]
Along with a Gray Audograph sound recorder, a Dictabelt recorded the police department radio channels in Dallas, Texas, during the John F. Kennedy assassination.
These recordings were reviewed by the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA).
^Morton, David (2000). Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2747-3.
^Curator, Museum (2013-04-30). "Dictabelt (1947 – 1980) | Museum Of Obsolete Media". Obsoletemedia.org. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
^"Dec. 2014 - March 2016 - the digitization of the Rivonia trial dictabelts with the Archeophone phonograph".
^"POPPY RECORDS Dictabelt Transcription services".
^Morton, David (2000). Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America. Rutgers University Press. dictabelt.
The Dictabelt, in early years and much less commonly also called a Memobelt, is an analog audio recording medium commercially introduced by the American...
In addition to now-discredited acoustic analysis of a police channel dictabelt recording, the HSCA also commissioned numerous other scientific studies...
use for decades. In 1947, Dictaphone replaced wax cylinders with their Dictabelt technology, which cut a mechanical groove into a plastic belt instead...
February 27, 2014. "Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Recordings: Dictabelt 13A: Conversation #2: President Kennedy and Harold Hughes (transcript)"...
introduced, and two years later Dictaphone replaced wax cylinders with their Dictabelt technology, which cut a mechanical groove into a plastic belt instead...
acted alone in killing Kennedy. Late in the Committee's proceedings, a dictabelt recording was introduced, purportedly recording sounds heard in Dealey...
wax-cylinder recording to the end of World War II, Dictaphone introduced its Dictabelt technology. This cut a mechanical groove into a Lexan plastic belt instead...
recorded on Dictabelts, a now obsolete audio recording format. Nearly 250 hours of the trial proceedings were recorded on 591 Dictabelts, kept by the...
notable events in U.S. history, including the John F. Kennedy assassination Dictabelt recording, an audio recording from the 1970 Kent State shootings, and...
inauguration Jack Ruby Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald Ruby v. Texas Dictabelt recording Conspiracy theories Badge Man CIA Single-bullet theory 1992...
inauguration Jack Ruby Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald Ruby v. Texas Dictabelt recording Conspiracy theories Badge Man CIA Single-bullet theory 1992...
University of Texas, 2003, ASIN 0292752725 JFK Presidential Library, dictabelt recordings "Stockholders Back COMSAT Management". St. Petersburg Times...
inauguration Jack Ruby Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald Ruby v. Texas Dictabelt recording Conspiracy theories Badge Man CIA Single-bullet theory 1992...
'The Twilight Zone' as well as various 1950s productions, and digitized Dictabelt transcriptions. Also includes correspondence and business records, primarily...
inauguration Jack Ruby Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald Ruby v. Texas Dictabelt recording Conspiracy theories Badge Man CIA Single-bullet theory 1992...
competing recording technologies are the Gray Audograph and Dictaphone DictaBelt. The machine can record 15 minutes of dictation on each side of a thin...
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