Laser Turntable - IRENE System

IRENE System

A completely separate technology has been developed by physicist Carl Haber. Installed in the Library of Congress late in 2006, the IRENE System uses a two-dimensional camera rotating around the record, which takes detailed photographs of the grooves. Software then uses the digital images to reconstruct the sound. IRENE often produces a large amount of hiss with the recording, but it is very capable of removing pops and clicks produced by scratches on the record surface. IRENE will only read lateral information (monophonic), but a three-dimensional scanner project is underway that will handle stereophonic and quadraphonic records, in addition to historical hill-and-dale recordings. Detailed descriptive posters can be downloaded from the IRENE Web site. These are not being developed for sale.

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