The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Could anyone tell how the "Soundscriber" listed on an ended Ebay post
functioned, and what it was used for? Were the rotating heads for super-slow tape-travel, as in a helical-scan VTR? When did it become obsolete?

Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

Thanks!
Bob

Here's some history from a radio station that used one:
http://www.historyofwowo.com/soundscriber.html

Excerpt:
"SoundScriber tapes were 2 inches wide and used a pair of spinning heads similar to consumer VCRs. One tape would hold 24 hours of audio, running at just 2.5 inches per MINUTE. (By comparison, a standard audio cassette runs at 1 ⅞ inches per SECOND.) The devices were most widely used by governmental agencies to record police and fire radio traffic, phone calls and aircraft radio transmissions. Audio quality of these recordings wasn't great, but for lack of any better technology, radio stations began using them as loggers in the 1950s. It appears that WOWO used SoundScribers for loggers from roughly 1959 until 1981."

Thanks Estott! The link you provided was very interesting!
Bob