These are cool. No, really. They are. Flexi-discs (or diskettes, if you like that term better) are cool. Hold one on your hand, expecting it to be stiff and watch and feel it bend like paper. Feel the grooves. Don't worry, it won't damage them. Somehow they are much more durable than their vinyl plastic cousins. Now put it up to the light and look through it. Kind of like sunglasses. Put your hand on the white printing. What does it feel like? And finally, place it on your turntable and carefully lower the needle onto the plastic surface and carefully listen. Is it crackly? What is on the disc? Is it a local hardcore punk band? A spoken word or sound effect record from an old magazine? Or even data for a computer?
Flexi-discs were officially first manufactured by the company Eva-Tone as Eva-Tone Soundsheets in 1960, but the discs had Soviet origins. Eva-Tone went out of business in 2000, being the last maker of flexis. Erika Records claimed in early 2010 that flexis would soon be available, but after a website redesign, no mention of them can be found, and there possibly will be no more flexi-discs produced.
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