'Baa Baa Black Sheep' dates from 1951
vnunet.com, 19 Jun 2008
The earliest known recordings of computer-generated music have come to light in the form of a patchy rendition of Baa Baa Black Sheep and a shortened version of In the Mood.
The tracks were recorded by the BBC at Manchester University in 1951 capturing the songs from a Ferranti Mark 1 computer, a commercial version of the 60 year-old Baby Machine.
Ferranti Mark 1 was the immediate successor to the renowned Baby computer, generally regarded as the forerunner of all modern computers.
The recording was unearthed as part of the preparations for Friday's Digital 60 Day to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the birth of the 'Baby' or Small Scale Experimental Machine.
The tracks were found in the archives of the Computer Conservation Society, making digital recording an official UK first.
Previously the oldest recordings were thought to have been in the US on an IBM mainframe computer at Bell Labs in 1957.
UK's first dedicated computer museum urgently seeks new home
Texas Instruments' TI-58 and TI-59 devices added to Smithsonian collection
How web services contribute to data headaches
Remote access - Three steps to getting connected
3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?
Cost benefits of a global collaboration network
This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Chris Adams, Office Client product manager for Microsoft UK, explains...
Critics says government proposals to curb illegal downloading are unworkable...
Do you agree?
Have your say on this article