Thrift Store Show and Tell: Enter the CED Edition

Whenever our schedule allows, Daphne signs Charlotte up for a preschooler class at the zoo. Each 45 minute lesson includes a story, a snack, an art project, and the class gets to meet an animal, too. You should have seen Daphne's eyes the time they pulled a snake out for the kids to enjoy...

I didn't go to class with Daphne and Char last weekend because I was running a mild fever. Instead, I dropped the girls off at the zoo and went to a nearby flea market. After a half hour of shopping I thought I was going home empty handed, but then I spotted this movie.

If you don't recognize this as a movie, I don't blame you. Not too many people remember RCA's Capacitance Electronic Discs (CEDs). A lot of times when I find these in thrift stores they're misplaced in the records stacks. And that makes sense because in a way, that's what they are. 

Incredible as it sounds, CEDs are movies (sounds and images) that are recorded onto a vinyl record. This is what the movie looks like when you slide it out of the CED's caddy.

See, it looks just like a record. 

This technology has been around since the 60's, but RCA didn't get around to selling CED players and movies to the public until 1981. Since the CED players couldn't record TV broadcasts like VHS and Beta players, sales never took off. RCA stopped making players in 1984, and two years later the last movie on CED was released (Jewel of the Nile). After only five years, the CED became a dead format.

That's not a surprise. The image quality of a CED might be better than a VHS tape, but halfway through the movie you have to get up and manually flip the movie over to side two. In a world of Netflix and 7.1 sound there is absolutely no real reason to own a CED player. 

So why do I own two? It's simple. They're pretty neat.

Show somebody your new Blu-ray player and they might stifle a yawn. Show them a movie that's been hidden in the murky depths of black vinyl, and you're probably going to be answering some questions. It's fun to see people's reactions when the machine grabs the movie from your hand and then spits the empty caddy out like it's sticking its tongue at you.

Check it out:

No, I don't buy every CED movie I see. My CED collection is more about quality than quantity. If I'm going to get my lazy butt off the couch to flip over to the second side, the movie's got to be worth it.

Bruce Lee is worth it.