THE ‘TALKING BOOK’

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6630, 8 June 1928, Page 2

THE ‘TALKING BOOK’

Libraries of the future may:;;, riot'be fibed entirely with books, but. with “librctones,” to coin a new word, VA. “fibretone’' is a talking book, which may be set in motion with of a switch, and 10l your favourito;jnthor will unfold himself .to - you you sit by. and listen. • If he 4 grows tiresome you may turn him off'Witllout offence, and take up another .(says the New York correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor). Dr Willis B. Whitney, director of General Electric Laboratory at Schenectady, has been ’ working on a- “talking”, book, and may present it to the public soon. Ho said he may have something definite to say in a few months. The “talking” book will be something like a camera, to which a loud .speaker is attached. It will contain a reel of motion picture films on which a series of photographic sound waves have been imposed, using the same process of sound reproduction that - is used in the talking motion pictures. 'As the film unwinds it will automatically switch to another channel of waves and reverse, repeating this until nil the, channels have been used. Professional readers would be employed to record the contents of a book on the film thus, perhaps, giving rise to a new profession, or reviving an old one. Dr Whitney is considering producingfilms that could be rented or borrowed as books are borrowed from the public library, but he says he wants to be sure that his machine is practicable;, for popular use before going into more definite details.