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He first device capable of recording sound signals was Léon Scott de Martinville’s 1857 invention called the “phonautograph.
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In 1877 the first phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison. The phonograph was the first method of recording and playing back sound. This was Edison's first great invention. The new invention gave Edison international fame.
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The next time you listen to a favorite album, you can thank Thomas Edison for discovering the secret to recording sound. Before there were CD players and tape decks, there was the phonograph. August 12, 1877 is the date popularly given for Thomas Edison's completion of the model for the first phonograph.
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The record was the first sound recording that could be mass produced in 1900 which was perfected by Eldridge Johnson. Johnson and Berliner began working together shortly after the gramophone made it big and eventually created an easier way of listening to these new records
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In 1906 the Victrola model record player was introduced by RCA Victor. This record player had variable turntable speeds to accommodate the already wide range of records being produced at the time.
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LPs (Long Playing record) also known as an "album" were invented in 1948. The 33 1/3 LP was released by Columbia Records
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In 1962 multi-track analog tape recording began in recording studios. The idea of a multitrack recorder and experiments started in the late 1940s by guitarist, inventor and composer Les Paul.
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The original Walkman portable cassette player, released July 1, 1979.
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Compact Dics or CDs were introduced in 1982 in Japan. The first CD released was Billy Joel's "52nd Street". One year later, in 1983, CDs were released in the USA. It only took 3 years for CDs to overtake LPs as the top selling music media in the United States.
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Sony's first 'Discman' was released in 1984, but the company canned the name and replaced it with 'CD-Walkman' in 1999
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In 1999, the MPMan was the first flash MP 3 player to be released, allowing high quality digital music recordings that do not skip when played to be transferred from computers to portable players. Developed by Korean.
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In October of 2001 Apple introduced the biggest hit in music media, the iPod. The iPod grew in popularity rapidly. over the course of 7 years there have been 14 different versions of the iPod all with different capabilities and specialties. The iPod began with the Classic. The first 3 Classic iPods ranged between 5 and 40GB. After the release of the third classic Apple released the first iPod mini.
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Sony's flagship MP3 Walkman from 2004 came with 20 GB of storage and offered 30 hours of continuous playback. But at $400, it was too pricey to compete seriously with the iPod ($299).
