The Phonograph was the first device that could record and play back sound. The reason we can listen to music is because of the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. This device made it so people could listen to music without physically playing it themselves through an instrument. It is a cylinder with audio recordings engraved on the outside which created the sound of the music. The first words ever recorded were "Mary had a little lamb," spoken by Edison himself.
The gramophone record was invented in 1895 by Emile Berliner. This was the first flat disk recording device. The original records were created out of glass. These disks were able to be molded into copies for mass production. A needle read the grooves on the disk while the arm was being cranked to produce sound.
The radio is very closely related to the telephone and the telegraphy waves of coded signals used to communicate. It was invented in 1896 by Guglielmo Marconi but did not become well known until the 1920's. By the 1930's, radios were in nearly every house. News, talk shows, and music were all played through this large device. Radios are still very popular in 2015 with stations playing talk shows, music, and sports.
Records were created in 1906 by RCA Victor. The Victoria Model Record Player was the first player that had multiple turntable speeds. This lead to double sided records, allowing for mass disc recordings.
LPS stands for long playing records. This created the term "album" because people were now able to record and market multiple songs on a record. Most LPS records held 8 to 12 tracks. This lead to the creation of recording industries.
In 1963, the Philips Company introduced the compact cassette as a new was of listening to music. This was the first type of music player that was portable. People were now able to listen to music on the go with cassette players. Tape cassettes used a magnetic tape inside to read the music. It was smaller and less expensive than previous music players and could be played in a boombox. People could also record music on blank cassette tapes.
In 1982, James Russell invented the compact disk, also known as CD's. The music player is a shiny disk that holds more memory and is easy to transport. CD's can store more than just music and are often used to preserve data. CD's can still be purchased at stores where music is sold.
The mp3 was created at Erlangen-Nuremberg University in Germany by a team of students led by Prof. Heinz Gerhäuser. The mp3 Used MPEG 1 or MPEG 2 audio to use data compression to store audio on a devices. Portable mp3 audio was introduced in 1998. Music was added to the device using the computer where music was downloaded on the internet or from a CD then put on the device.
Steve Jobs, creator of Apple, invented the iPod in the year 2000. It is the most portable device out there, being just the size of a deck of cards and holding 5GB of music. Over the last 15 years of its existence it has drastically shrunk in size and increased its GB compaction. It now holds audio books, apps, games, music, and can sync online.
In 2003, Apple came out with iTunes to use with the iPod. iTunes is an online program which lets users buy music, manage audio, create playlists, record CDs, and listen to music all through the computer with a touch of a button. Now iTunes is used with iPhones, iPads, and laptops. The popularity of buying books, movies, and music on iTunes has hurt the sale of CD's, hardcover books, and DVD's. Thanks to Apple's introduction of iTunes, everything is becoming digitalized.
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