MD as an Audio Camera

John Erik Riley

On the radio, in Oslo, a blind person being interviewed said something that caught my ear. He mentioned that he had travelled all over the world, including Bali. They started to talk about what it is like to travel when you are blind and about all kinds of substitutes for various "seeing-person's" objects.

As it would turn out, the man used a portable MiniDisc recorder as an audio camera! That is, he recorded various events from his travels, which he would subsequently play for himself and others when he wanted to remember his trip.

What an incredibly interesting thing to do! The MD technology really lends itself to this kind of use. A DAT player is more like a video-tape (it doesn't have random access); a recordable CD is way too bulky. A portable MiniDisc player/recorder is, however, like a photo-album or a slide show insofar as it allows for random access.


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