[[File:PhilcoHipPocket.jpg|thumb|Otis Redding Philco Hip Pocket Record (with standard {{convert|7|in|cm|abbr=on}} 45rpm record for comparison)]]
'''Pocket Disc''' was a type of flexidisc, made by Americom Corporation and experimented with in the late 1960s, small enough ({{convert|4|in|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter) to be carried in one's pocket or shipped in an envelope and not as fragile as a standard record, but playable on the standard manual-only phonograph or record player (at 45 rpm for Philco Hip Pocket Record or {{frac|33|1|3}} rpm for PocketDisc). The PocketDisc was cheaper than the Hip Pocket Records manufactured by Philco that sold them to be played on portable record players, which were specially created for the disks.
Twenty-eight major record labels participated in the trials, not including Columbia Records, RCA Records, Motown Records, and MCA Records.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite book | last = Spitzer | first = Bruce | title = The Beatles on Apple Records | publisher = 498 Publications | year = 2003 | location = New Orleans, Louisiana | pages = 81–84 | isbn = 0-9662649-4-0 }}</ref>
Artists who appeared on these disks included Aretha Franklin, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Diamond, The Five Americans, The Doors, Sonny and Cher, Merrilee Rush, and Joan Baez.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qgoEAAAAMBAJ&q=hip+pocket |title=Billboard |date=1968-04-06 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |language=en}}</ref> The disks were sold in vending machines for 50 cents or counter displays at stores for 49 cents,<ref name=autogenerated2 /> was later reduced to 39 cents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rarebeatles.com/photospg/flexiad.htm|title = Beatles and others Hip-Pocket records}}</ref> Each disk had a capacity of about 3.5 minutes of music per side. This meant songs like The Beatles' "Hey Jude" could not be played in their entirety.<ref>http://www.rfidvidensbank.dk/sw30567.asp {{Dead link|date=March 2022}}</ref>
The disks were first released on September 15, 1968<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite magazine | title = Pocket Disc to Debut September 15-Simulrelease Pacts Set Up | magazine = Billboard | date = 1968-05-25 | first = Paul | last = Ackerman | pages = 1, 74| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rAoEAAAAMBAJ&q=Pocket+Disc+Americom&pg=PA1 | access-date = 2010-10-07}}</ref> and test marketed in several major cities in the United States, but did not catch on.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> They were discontinued in 1969.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}
==See also== {{Portal|1960s}} *Pocket Rockers *Minidisc
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/wuhip.html A Philco "Hip Pocket Record" of "Western Union" by the Five Americans] * [http://attaboy.tommydoc.net/?p=1079 Remembering Hip Pocket Records] * [http://www.friktech.com/btls/tapes/pkd.htm Beatles Pocket Disks] * [http://www.beatlesagain.com/barchive/lost4mat.html Beatles on Lost Formats] * [https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/RPM/60s/1968/RPM-1968-12-02.pdf "The Revolutionary Pocketdisc"], RPM Magazine, December 2, 1968, page 2
Category:Audio storage Category:Flexi discs