by SHANE SINNOTT

Every so often I come across something that reminds me that the Internet cable that runs into my house, allowing me unfettered access to receive and broadcast information anywhere in the world, can be used for far more interesting things than looking up info on From G’s to Gents, this writer’s newest interest. A guy named Cliff Bolling is using his connection to digitize and publish his large collection of 78 RPM platters because, he’s quoted as saying, “There’s a whole world of music that you don’t hear anymore, and it’s on 78 RPM records.” So far, he’s put up over 3,700 MP3s on his blog at 78records.cdbpdx.com. Note that the site has been up and down all week due to spikes in bandwidth, but while you’re waiting for it to settle down, you can check out the first record Mr. Bolling ever owned, Cliff Steward’s “Aba Daba Honeymoon,” from 1951, at tinyurl.com/6r8k72. It’s great stuff, and Bolling has captured it in all its hissing, popping glory.

There’s also some more ambitious outfits operating in a similar vein. Check out the Atlanta label Dust to Digital, committed to unearthing and releasing extremely rare folk and gospel in America from the early part of the previous century. If you visit their site at www.dust-digital.com, there’s a player on the right that gives you a pretty good idea of what’s on offer. In 2003, the label started with the release of the incredible Goodbye, Babylon, a six-disc set of gospel unearthed by label founder Lance Ledbetter—which is pretty much the best name going if you want to be an archival folk label founder. You can download one of the many wonderful tracks, Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “All I Want Is That True Religion,” at tinyurl.com/5wecj4.

And if you want to go even older, visit the University of Santa Barbara’s Wax Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at cylinders.library.ucsb.edu—a mind-boggling resource of nearly 8,000 wax cylinder recordings from as far back as 1894, all available for streaming and MP3 download, 100 per cent free.