Alan shows me his iPod

One of the fun bits of work today was bumping into Alan who curates our collection of old audio visual devices. Normally objects are packed away in cupboards to keep them in good condition and you don't get to see much, but I was given a tour of the collection and got to hear some of them in action. This one has an amazing sound, really loud and rich... We've got all sorts of different shapes and sizes of gramophone including one where the trumpet is built into the cabinet and contains a movable mute so that the volume can be controlled...

Two other piccies of cool things Trench Communication and a Polyphon The trench communication object was a portable device for transmitting morse code in the trenches in the first world war. The polyphon is a type of music box where notches on metal disk hit against a metal comb and play a tune with a tinkly bell like sound...

I do love a good snoop around the stores.