Writer and novelist Salman Rushdie sent us an interesting project recently in the form of an old 78RPM record of 20th century Irish author James Joyce reading “Anna Livia Plurabelle”, an excerpt of what would later become the famously experimental and tricky novel Finnegan’s Wake.

78s have a long and interesting history that can impact how they get transferred, and this 78, while in pristine condition, was no exception. Dubway’s Louis Fisher managed the conversion to digital, which took several passes, and still “had no idea what [Joyce] was saying on the recording”.

Go pick up a copy of Finnegan’s Wake at your local library to see what Louis is talking about, and if you have old shellac discs lying around you’d like to listen to without degrading the material, give us a call.