Museum of Obsolete Media

A unique online museum of physical media formats showcasing developments in audio, video, film and data storage.

#RetroTech #ComputingHistory #OnlineMuseum #RetroGaming #RetroComputing #VintageAudio

Website: https://obsoletemedia.org

Last Notes

2025-10-26 11:10:15 UTC

The MI-12877 was a cartridge containing thin magnetic wire for recording and playback of audio, and was introduced in 1947 for use in the RCA Magnetic Wire Recorder. Wire was already in use as a recording medium but it was fragile and needed to be threaded across the recording head and attached to a take-up spool. The use of a cartridge made this much easier.
I'm grateful to my friend Thomas for donating this.
For more information, visit https://obsoletemedia.org/mi-12877/
https://s3.eu-central-2.wasabisys.com/mastodonworld/media_attachments/files/115/440/140/923/440/242/original/0b868da5002dacfd.jpeg
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2025-10-21 15:10:16 UTC

The Extended Density (ED) 3.5-inch Microfloppy was an advance on the HD version, with improved oxide coatings that offered 2.88 MB of storage.
Introduced in 1991 on the NeXTcube, NeXTstation and IBM PS/2 model 57, it was too small an advance in capacity over the HD disk and never became widely used.
The ED disk had an identification notch on the right-hand side that was slightly higher than the one on the HD disk.
For more information, visit https://obsoletemedia.org/3-5-inch-microfloppy-extended-density/
https://s3.eu-central-2.wasabisys.com/mastodonworld/media_attachments/files/115/412/777/897/995/494/original/8b276994157c018c.jpeg
https://s3.eu-central-2.wasabisys.com/mastodonworld/media_attachments/files/115/412/777/912/617/184/original/853456fb0615f5b5.jpeg
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2025-10-11 10:14:30 UTC

Kodak launched their popular range of instant film cameras in 1976, along with an instant integral film pack, the PR10. This was similar to Polaroid's SX-70 instant film and Polaroid launched a lawsuit against Kodak that Kodak evenually lost, and had to stop selling their instant film in 1986.
For more information, visit https://obsoletemedia.org/kodak-instant-film/
https://s3.eu-central-2.wasabisys.com/mastodonworld/media_attachments/files/115/354/999/416/858/124/original/4b330aacc863e5be.jpg
https://s3.eu-central-2.wasabisys.com/mastodonworld/media_attachments/files/115/354/999/423/257/063/original/99dc6a0295e35ca5.jpg

2025-08-26 18:28:21 UTC

Some older automatic washing machines used metal punched cards to control their wash cycles and offer more choice over programmes. The cards were placed in a slot on the machine – a top row of smaller perforations was used to pull the card along and as the card advanced, the different holes triggered switches to control wash, rinse and spin cycles.
These examples for Voss washing machines were kindly donated by my friend Thomas.
For more information, visit https://obsoletemedia.org/washing-machine-punched-card/
https://s3.eu-central-2.wasabisys.com/mastodonworld/media_attachments/files/115/096/472/515/719/084/original/f274a6f3186e2edf.jpg

2025-07-08 14:00:05 UTC

I finally got around to doing a rough count of all the items in the museum collection and discovered it comes to over 1,200! The museum website itself now covers over 870 different media formats.
https://obsoletemedia.org/