It's bizarre looking at the technology used, but I guess at the time mechanical technology seen here was the only way to do this at the right price (or possibly

It's bizarre looking at the technology used, but I guess at the time mechanical technology seen here was the only way to do this at the right price (or possibly any price - I'd imagine that electronic performance simply wasn't good enough at the time in terms of noise floor and sensitivity?). Looking at most of these though, I wonder how many operators went deaf because of a loud sound being captured by them? I've been recording music professionally for the last 25 years, and seeing things like this makes me wince!