Another big new Project from the Internet Archive: The public release of 78 rpm discs is a fact and is released today with 26.000 records.
The project brings a digitized record of 78 rpm discs and according to the original σελίδα project, members will have access to more than 200.000 records.
The 78 discs per minute were circulating between 1898 and 1950. The most popular and commercially successful recordings have been re-released as LPs or CDs, but there are many who do not have them.
Internet Archive the new Project
Commercially-viable recordings have been restored or have already been converted to LP or CDs, as research value is still available for frequently scarce discs and recordings of 78rpm. Already over 20 collections have been selected by Internet Archive for physical, digital preservation and public access.
Digitized copies of the original recordings of 78 rpm retain all the imperfections and superficial noise of the recordings. The recordings were mainly released on Shellac, a fragile LP predecessor.
The project page includes all available records and provides search and filtering options. Filters provide options for limiting results in many ways. You can filter by year, by collection, by creator or by language, for example.
The dominant language of recordings is English, but you can find hundreds of recordings in other languages like Polish, Spanish, Italian or German.
The names of the artists included in the project include: Bing Crosby, Guy Lombardo, Gene Autry, Jim Dorsey, Paul Whiteman, Glenn Miller and others.
The page contains registration information, publisher, digitization, user comments and download options. Various file formats such as FLAC, OGG and MP3 are provided. There is no option to download an entire collection at this time.
The new collection seems to be extremely interesting for music lovers and researchers.
See the new project
https://archive.org/details/78rpm