Peer Review

The History of Sound Recording Technology

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This site is a historical overview of all recording devices including talking dolls, phone machines and the devices for the music industry. The site has a database of equipment with pictures and when they were manufactured. It also includes inventor as well. There is also a section on the impact of recording on culture.
Type of Material:: HTML
Recommended Uses:: This site would be a good companion site to most music technology coures.
Technical Requirements:: Current browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The learning goal is to see the scope of all things that recorded and stored sound. Excellent reference to music recording technology and industry history.
Target Student Population:: University and high school students.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: None

Rating:
Strengths:: Information is accurate, detailed and very clear. There is a database of recorders by brand name and inventor which is quite extensive. The scope of the material is good including all things that can store sound from dolls to phone machines and records. The accompanying background information adds interesting history especially in the analog realm.
Concerns:: None

Rating:
Strengths:: Clear, concise and in-depth information.
Concerns:: It may need to improve coverage of more recent technologies like MP3, digital editing and recording, etc.

Rating:
Strengths:: Well organized. Good sized sections for online reading.
Concerns:: Navigation may lead some users to miss some of the available information. You have 3 main sections at the main page: technology, industry and culture. But when you go into one of them you get several subsections but you do not have the other main sections. You have to go back to the main page. There is a broken link in the Technology > Technologies for recording > Page 11 (at the botton of the page)

Other Issues and Comments:: Handsome site. The pictures of all the equipment make the database of equipment very interesting. The supporting history is brief but informative. The links past the first page of the section on the impact of recording on culture were broken.
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