
The flexi disc audio format - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/04/forgotten-audio-formats-flexi-disc/
======
edent
Not mentioned in the article - although hinted at in one of the images - is
that computer programs were also distributed on Flexi!

[http://blog.modernmechanix.com/the-floppy-rom-software-
distr...](http://blog.modernmechanix.com/the-floppy-rom-software-distributed-
on-records/)

I was familiar with code coming on cassette - but I'd never heard of it on
vinyl.

~~~
noonespecial
I see your code on vinyl and raise you _code over broadcast radio_.

[http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/10/13/people-used-download-
game...](http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/10/13/people-used-download-games-radio)

~~~
Zenst
I had a couple of friends who had ZX81's and CB radios and they managed to
transfer a program using the radio succesfully back then. Was not long after
that CB radio fad kicked in and the ability to find a unused channel for along
enough period ended for them. But they did it and it worked, least for the
ZX81 audio storage format used upon tapes. iirc it was stored on tape at 300
baud, so the bandwidth was low requirement.

------
voltagex_
If you like this kind of stuff, I can highly recommend Techmoan on YouTube.

------
Neliquat
I still have a few dozen of these in my collection. I remember as a kid
getting Whale songs, The mcdonalds menu song, and a few terrible singles on
em.

~~~
AnOscelot
My prized possession as a kid was the flexi from the National Geographic issue
covering the first moon landing. I wish I knew where it was now. Was entirely
recordings of the chatter between Houston and the Lander, including the "Eagle
has landed" and the "one small step for man" moments.

~~~
coldpie
Have you seen this?
[http://www.firstmenonthemoon.com/](http://www.firstmenonthemoon.com/)

------
Theodores
These things were the 'fremium apps' of the time, 'apps' for the hi-fi.

Now the odd thing is that I bought many thousands of records, only in 12" or
(rare) 10" size. Along the way I collected maybe three 7" singles, 10-20 photo
colour discs, 50-100 coloured/transparent discs and precisely zero flexidiscs.
To me they were not an incentive to buy a magazine or box of cereal, they had
zero relevance to the music I was collecting.

Why was this?

Probably CD buyer remorse had something to do with it. A pressing of 1000
'white label' by the artist would be pure music, by the time it made it to CD
it would have been remixed and licensed to a bigger label - a major label,
yikes! So for my ears, CD was always inferior. Then there was the flexidisc -
the music would be the Justin Beiber/Hanson grade stuff of the day, i.e. the
stuff made by labels not artists. I think this article cherry picks the good
from the bad, flexidiscs were bad, with as much appeal as the 99% of 'apps'
you can get for your phone today.

------
rochellle

      play the flexi while it was on top of a normal 
      vinyl single, or place a coin or two somewhere 
      near the centre of the disc—some later Soundsheet 
      pressings actually contained a circle marked out 
      for where the coin, or coins, should best be placed
    

Seems kind of obvious in retrospect, that the format could have been improved
with an adapter to clip the discs into, but oh well.

