Life — November 11, 1915 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Columbia Records Advertisement This page is primarily an advertisement for Columbia Records, priced at 65 cents for double-disc sets. The image shows an elegant early 20th-century parlor scene with well-dressed people gathered around a gramophone. The ad's main argument concerns **tone quality**: Columbia claims superiority through scientific precision in both recording and reproduction. The text emphasizes that listeners comparing records will recognize Columbia's "perfect recording means" produces sound that is "round and brilliant, less true and natural" than competitors. The advertisement addresses the competitive market for phonograph records and the emerging consumer preference for high-fidelity sound reproduction. The fashionable setting suggests Columbia targeted affluent, cultured audiences. This reflects the early gramophone era when recorded music was a luxury product and home listening was a status symbol.