Talk:Rowe Customusic
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Rowe Customusic also offered background music via phonograph record machines.
They manufactured 'carousel' type automatic players in the late 1950s and early 1960s; these machines handled 100 7 inch records. The records are physically identical to the common 45 rpm 'single', but instead play at 33-1/3 rpm and feature three songs or tunes per side. 20-record replacement sets were issued quarterly.
In addition, they manufactured records compatible with a competitor's record machine, the Seeburg 1000. Like the Seeburg 1000 records, they are 9 inches in diameter, feature an unusual 2 inch center hole, and play at 16-2/3 rpm, with approximately 35-40 minutes of music per side. Like Seeburg, Rowe offered three libraries - Commercial, Atmosphere, and Production, analogous to Seeburg's Basic, Mood, and Industrial libraries, respectively. Updates to these libraries were installed quarterly and consisted of replacing a different set of five records of the 25 installed records each quarter. There were also special Christmas record sets installed, most likely, in late November, and removed again in late December.
Unlike Seeburg, however, Rowe Customusic did not identify their records with 'in service' dates. They instead identified their update series by a letter code. The records had a series of numbers on the label - a prefix to the left of the spindle hole, and a suffix on the right.
The prefix consisted of three characters, the first identifying the music library: (A)tmosphere, (C)ommercial, or (P)roduction. This first character was omitted on some records. The second character identified the type of record - 7 for the 7 inch records used in their own early machines, or a 9 indicating a record for a Seeburg 1000 machine. The final character of the prefix was the update series, starting with A and progressing through at least L.
The suffix (to the left of the spindle hole) was simply the record number, followed by A or B to indicate side.
Each series encompassed five service updates. When all five updates of a particular series were completed, the subsequent update would begin with the next letter of the alphabet (for example, when all five updates for series D had been performed, the next update set would be 'E'. At the time this is written, the Seeburg records appear to have begun with 'C' and continued through 'K', possibly later. It also appears that there was no 'I' series, probably skipped to avoid confusion with the numeral '1'. The best information available to the author suggests the Seeburg-compatible records were first issued in 1964, and produced through at least 1974. This is, of course, tentative as research continues. Sources and references to be supplied later.