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Old 12th Jun 2017, 9:10 pm   #141
Lucien Nunes
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

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Could 'Firewire' be considered a failure,
I don't think so. It was extensively used in the media industry, especially for connectivity to Apple products, video-speed hard drives, mainstream HD & HDV prosumer devices such as camcorders and field editors, capture interfaces etc. In its 800Mb/s version it was only superseded by the advent of Thunderbolt and we still have equipment in daily professional use that relies on Firewire.

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My nomination would be the personal CD player. Remember those things that played one disc into headphones and got through a set of batteries almost in one disc?
Mine played for many hours on a charge and was the most portable source of near-HiFi that I had for around a decade. For many years I ran the Discman alongside the Minidisc, which could not take the place of CD due to the ATRAC compression on Minidisc. It might not have been so popular as a pocket playback source for the average person on the go, but for me it was indispensable.
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Old 12th Jun 2017, 9:18 pm   #142
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My nomination would be the personal CD player. Remember those things that played one disc into headphones and got through a set of batteries almost in one disc? They didn't like being bumped, and where were you supposed to carry all your discs? Handbag/manbag perhaps..?
I used one of those for a while to sound The Last Post (through an amp and speaker) in church on Remembrance Sunday, until superseded by my iPod. Our daughters had one apiece when they were kids and they were good for when they were in the car with discs to hand.

They're a more up-to-date version of the Binatone shoulder-mounted one-45rpm-a-go record player I mentioned in an earlier post.
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Old 12th Jun 2017, 9:31 pm   #143
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Hmmmm ...... I still have [a Thompson] personal CD player somewhere which will play MP3 format i.e. you can get four or more standard CD's [AKA LP's!] on one disc. It's power consumption was pretty frugal as I recall .............
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Old 12th Jun 2017, 9:35 pm   #144
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Could 'Firewire' be considered a failure, or just one solution that was overtaken by the ubiquity of USB? My Gateway laptop (XP new-out vintage) had a 'Firewire' port but I didn't know anyone who used it.
It was often used to connect semi-professional digital video equipment and worked quite well back in the days that USB stood for Unused Serial Bus or Useless Serial Bus.
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Old 12th Jun 2017, 9:41 pm   #145
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I still use Firewire for transferring video from my DV camcorder to my laptop. I managed to get a Firewire card from Maplin that plugs into the expansion slot. As my camcorder has phono and S-video inputs for external video, I can transfer stuff from VCR to DVD via the camcorder. My Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder is one of the earlier ones that has a Firewire port for recording only: in later models this was replaced by a USB port.
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Old 12th Jun 2017, 10:19 pm   #146
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

AEW Nimrod?

I recall Dad having a NOTAM of the need to give it at least 0.5nm clearance because of the radiated field, I still have it somewhere. The Boeing E3 was available and proven, but NIH and politics intervened.

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Old 12th Jun 2017, 11:12 pm   #147
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I have just remembered an article on failures that were actually patented, which I used to photocopy for my students. A few highlights I recall:

-A gunpowder powered helicopter (by Edison!). Prototype blew up in the lab, apparently which was probably just as well.

-An all-in-one coat-sleeping bag-tent.

-A greenhouse hat. Idea being that you walked around with a type of space helmet on with plants in, you breathed in the oxygen and they used your CO2.

-An automatic dog washer with washing and drying areas. And was about the size of 4 washing machines...

-A gun fitted into a helmet, for hands-free shooting. Great idea on paper but broke the neck of the first person to use it!

-Helium -filled furniture: when not in use the sofa would float up to the ceiling, freeing up floor space (quite like that one!)
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Old 12th Jun 2017, 11:34 pm   #148
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

personal cd players are realy useful as a cheap replacement for the built in cd in the hifi when it dies, which they all seem to after a short life

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Old 13th Jun 2017, 9:27 am   #149
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

I would like to add the Quadrophonic system.
The Quadrophonic test broadcasts where the BBC used two of there FM stereo networks, Radio 2 FM for the front two speakers and Radio 3 FM for the rear speakers. I have an album which also boasts its recorded in 4 channel quadrophonic but was still compatible with stereo turntables. This was a late 1960's early 1970's now forgotten technology. I never remember seeing a quadrophonic systems in operations and it all died a death later in the 1970's.
Some would argue that a modern version appeared a few decades later in the form of the Surround sound systems that we see today.
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 9:45 am   #150
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

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LP and 45 were rivals too.
The 45 rpm single was deliberately designed to challenge the LP format; yet both became accepted.....
......
So why are some products a battle to the death, and some just personal preference?
In challenging CBS's LP, with its long uninterrupted playing time, RCA produced this little record changer for their 45s. It operates alarmingly quickly in changing discs, I guess in the hope that the listener wouldn't notice the gap in the symphony.

This example pictured is an interesting bit of history because it incorporates a 50Hz motor for the UK market and lacks the 'RCA-Victor' American logo. It may have been marketed here by EMI. I've restored it by adapting the arm for a red/black Chinese ceramic cartridge, so it now plays well as a cheerful little jukebox.

Commercially though, it was very soon overtaken in the UK by Decca's adoption of the LP, so qualifies for the Museum.

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Old 13th Jun 2017, 11:06 am   #151
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

You may be correct, Martin, that the RCA Victor 45RPM Autochanger was sold here by EMI. I have no proof of that, except that early EMI(HMV) 45rpm records were made with the large centre hole and that RCA used the HMV Logo on their U.S. Records and other products.
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 11:43 am   #152
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

maybe the 16rpm record should be put into the museum. Though most record decks from the late 1950s onwards had the 16rpm speed, I have never seen a 16rpm record in my 63 years.
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 11:52 am   #153
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They were used mainly for foreign language courses such as Linguaphone. SP??
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 12:19 pm   #154
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

I was under the impression that 16RPM was used for advertising on floppy 7 inch disks.
They were obviously made to be played only once or twice.
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 12:35 pm   #155
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

I don't think 16rpm was used on flexidiscs, those promotional flexidiscs were usually 33.3 rpm, they sounded very weak. Any slower and the background noise would have drowned eveything out!

16 rpm was quite widely used in the USA for talking books and education. So, like other formats, may not have found mass market appeal but had a niche market, hence not really a failure.

I once saw a 16rpm disc which was a compilation album of easy listening music, I think a family member may have got it in the philippines but it was decades ago.
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 3:14 pm   #156
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I remember my cousin getting a 78RPM flexidisc birthday card in the late 1950s. Unfortunately the postman had folded it to get it through the letterbox, so it didn't play properly.
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Old 13th Jun 2017, 8:35 pm   #157
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

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I don't think you can describe rotary engines as a failure. There was problems with the early rotor tip seals but once developed and perfected (Mazda)...
I don't see the motor industry rushing to fit them in their products. Perhaps there are other issues - stigma, even - that preclude their use for more tor cars?
Not really forum remit, but the poor inherent combustion chamber shape (described as "orange peel") results in sluggish flame propagation and high instantaneous heat loss, both helping in damning the emissions characteristics for vehicle use. Special/multiple spark plugs can ameliorate but cure is difficult. The high power-to-weight ratio and compactness is great for drones and gliders, though.

Materials technology helps with the rotor seals and wear hurdles- but combustion chamber profile limitations are inherent and fundamental.
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Old 14th Jun 2017, 1:44 am   #158
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I'm surprised that the DVD camcorder was considered a failure by some people on here. I have a couple of the Hitachi ones and thought they were amazing compared to tape-based camcorders. No need to fast forward through a tape to find a blank space, or accidentally record over something important. You can see what's on the disc via a menu screen. Recordings can be transferred at high speed onto a computer for editing, or you can even edit on the camera itself. Both those things are impossible with tape.

The first Hitachi DVD camcorder was a bit of a failure in that it used 8cm DVD-RAM discs in a cartridge. These could not be played in ordinary DVD players or most PC DVD drives. You could transfer the files to a PC by USB or put the disc into a DVD-RAM compatible PC drive, which I bought to go with it. The later models were multi-format DVD-/+RW. Those discs could be played in most DVD players and you could make copies of the DVD at high speed using a PC DVD writer drive. I did this 2 years ago at a family wedding. I recorded it on the DVD camcorder, then made a copy of the disc and gave it to the groom's father before I left. He was quite impressed!

The personal CD player, again not a failure in my opinion. The early models were quite greedy on batteries but later ones improved. I used an early Sony Discman in my car with a cigarette lighter adaptor and cassette adaptor, when car CD players were too expensive. Then I bought a personal CD player that could play MP3 CDs. This was even better. Fit around 170 tracks on one cheap blank CD. Battery life was better and it never skipped. The MP3 CD player had a 2-minute RAM buffer. It read the MP3 into RAM and the disc stopped spinning for a minute or so, saving battery life. Of course, MP3 CD players quickly disappeared once the cost of other storage technologies came down.

While on the subject of CD players, anyone remember the 3" CD player? Just like vinyl records were available in 7" and 12" sizes for singles and albums, there were 3 inch 'single' CDs as well as the 5" standard ones. The 3" CD never caught on. I have a promotional 3 inch CD with an adaptor to make it a full size disc if necessary. Several years ago, I saw a Freecom Beatman 3 inch CD player (pocket sized, and only able to play 3 inch CDs) for sale in my local Cash Converters. It must have remained in the shop for a year or more. Eventually the shop closed for refurbishment. When it reopened a couple of weeks later, the 3" CD player was gone - presumably chucked in the bin due to lack of interest. (I was tempted, but didn't want to pay money for a practically useless item.)
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Old 14th Jun 2017, 5:15 am   #159
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

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My nomination would be the personal CD player. Remember those things that played one disc into headphones and got through a set of batteries almost in one disc? They didn't like being bumped, and where were you supposed to carry all your discs? Handbag/manbag perhaps..?

Nothing wrong with the audio CD format, but for personal use this was a non starter in my opinion. SJM.
They're OK for passing time on a plane journey if you don't want the programmes on offer. I've got a freebie Philips AX3300 I still use, it's almost bump-proof, and it'll play about six CDs on a pair of AA cells. There's only time to listen to three CDs on a Melbourne to Perth flight anyway, so storage space isn't a problem.
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Old 14th Jun 2017, 9:31 am   #160
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The primary school where my children went had a Sony Mavica digital camera where the images were stored on a 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy disc.

I'm not saying this was a failure as such, more a case of technology being rushed out into the marketplace whilst better alternatives were on the cusp of development.

The kudos acquired by Sony for producing one of the world's first digital cameras must've outweighed any marketplace obsolescence that was surely (cynically?) known about at the time.
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