Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Developed in 1936 but not commercialized until 1950, the Tefifon was a unique German audio format that used cartridges filled with long flexible plastic tapes scribed with single continuous audio tracks. Though capable of recording up to four hours of high-quality audio, Tefifon could not compete with more conventional, established audio formats and, while briefly popular in West Germany in the 1950s and 60s, never caught on elsewhere and eventually disappeared from the market.
Edison Fireside Phonograph video: youtu.be/fFjpRdBtoBc
Wire Recorder video: youtu.be/c_9DUSq0qJM
Sean Munger’s JFK Assassination video: youtube.com/watch?v=DC8tO16xdrY&t=10s&pp=ygUTc2VhbiBtdW5nZXIga2VubmVkeQ%3D%3D
0:00 Intro
1:38 Dictation Machines
4:12 Dictabelt
6:15 Other 1940s Dictation Formats
6:49 Tefifon Origins
8:31 Tefifon Evolution
9:71 Tefifon HS-AT
10:03 Tefi Cartridges
10:16 Loading and Playing
10:55 Internals
13:00 Disk Adaptor
13:23 Track Skipping
14:07 Advantages / Disadvantages
15:44 Downfall
16:12 Outro
SOURCES
recordinghistory.org/the-history-of-sound-recording/business/building-the-american-dictating-machine-industry/postwar-diversity
https://vintage-technics.ru/Eng-Gray_D6.htm
web.archive.org/web/20160826223132/http://www.recording-history.org/HTML/dicta_biz6.php
creativepro.com/scanning-around-gene-funny-doesn-t-sound-me
obsoletemedia.org/tefifon
radiomuseum.org/forum/tefi_cassettes_how_were_they_produced.html
gizmodo.com/a-look-at-the-tefifon-germanys-doomed-1950s-music-play-1696294961
retroist.com/p/tefifons-omni-entertainment-systems-and-vincent-prices-shrunken-heads
soundandscience.net/artefacts/the-tefifon-tape-player
historysdumpster.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-tefifon.html
lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=10228
radio-bastler.de/forum/index.php?thread/19213-totalrestaurierung-tefifon-hs-teil-1
Developed in 1936 but not commercialized until 1950, the Tefifon was a unique German audio format that used cartridges filled with long flexible plastic tapes scribed with single continuous audio tracks. Though capable of recording up to four hours of high-quality audio, Tefifon could not compete with more conventional, established audio formats and, while briefly popular in West Germany in the 1950s and 60s, never caught on elsewhere and eventually disappeared from the market.
Edison Fireside Phonograph video: youtu.be/fFjpRdBtoBc
Wire Recorder video: youtu.be/c_9DUSq0qJM
Sean Munger’s JFK Assassination video: youtube.com/watch?v=DC8tO16xdrY&t=10s&pp=ygUTc2VhbiBtdW5nZXIga2VubmVkeQ%3D%3D
0:00 Intro
1:38 Dictation Machines
4:12 Dictabelt
6:15 Other 1940s Dictation Formats
6:49 Tefifon Origins
8:31 Tefifon Evolution
9:71 Tefifon HS-AT
10:03 Tefi Cartridges
10:16 Loading and Playing
10:55 Internals
13:00 Disk Adaptor
13:23 Track Skipping
14:07 Advantages / Disadvantages
15:44 Downfall
16:12 Outro
SOURCES
recordinghistory.org/the-history-of-sound-recording/business/building-the-american-dictating-machine-industry/postwar-diversity
https://vintage-technics.ru/Eng-Gray_D6.htm
web.archive.org/web/20160826223132/http://www.recording-history.org/HTML/dicta_biz6.php
creativepro.com/scanning-around-gene-funny-doesn-t-sound-me
obsoletemedia.org/tefifon
radiomuseum.org/forum/tefi_cassettes_how_were_they_produced.html
gizmodo.com/a-look-at-the-tefifon-germanys-doomed-1950s-music-play-1696294961
retroist.com/p/tefifons-omni-entertainment-systems-and-vincent-prices-shrunken-heads
soundandscience.net/artefacts/the-tefifon-tape-player
historysdumpster.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-tefifon.html
lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=10228
radio-bastler.de/forum/index.php?thread/19213-totalrestaurierung-tefifon-hs-teil-1
