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Phonograph
First musical breakthrough in 1877, Thomas Edison invents the Phonograph (used for vinyls), followed by the electrical Phonograph invented in 1880. Phonographs were used for the playback of audio and music using Vinyls which were round disks made from polyvinyl chloride, PVC for short. -
Magnetic Tape
It was developed in Germany and was based on magnetic wire recording. Magnetic recording revolutionised sound, being able to pre record radio airings, broadcastings ect. It also allowed gramaphones to be recorded in multiple parts with tolerable loss of audio quality. A downfall is that magnetic tape that was produced in the 1970s to 1980s can end up suffering from deterioration, known as sticky-shed syndrome, this is caused by hydrolysis of the binder and tape which makes the tape unuseable. -
Cassette
The Cassette was invented in 1962 by Philips, who broadcasted it to the public in 1963 to all of Europe on the Berlin Radio Show, follwed by America in 1964 under the bran Norelco. The Cassette, also known as Cassette Tape, was a compact case containing a length of magnetic tape that runs between two averagely small reels. This could be used to record or playback audio using a Tape Recorder, Cassette Desk, VCR, Walkman ect. -
Portable cd player
This handy peice of technology was first introduced in the 1980s but didn't seem to get any attention until 1990's when 'anti-skip' technology was introduced, anti skip technology was a data buffer system in which the audio would not skip when the disk wasnt able to be read due to movement. Sonys first portable cd player was the Discman d-50, which was first introduced in 1984. They were used to playback audio on compact discs. -
Pro Tools
Pro Tools was created by Avid Technology and it was accessable for both Windows and MacOS. It was used for Music creation and production, sound for pictures and just genuinely sound editing. The software acts as a standalone and in conjunction with a range of external analog to digital converters -
Logic
Logic Pro is a DAW, Digital Audio Workstation, and MIDI sequancer software for the MacOS platform. It was originally created by a German software developer C-lab which later on went by Emagic in 2002 and changed Logic to Logic Pro. Logic Pro is used for the production of music, and editing music with access to loops and extra cool features. -
ADAT
The Alesis Digital Audio Tape was first announced in January 1991 in the NAMM convention that was held at California. The very first ADAT recorders were shipped over in 1992. The recorder used a magnetic format for the recording of eight digital tracks onto the same VHS tape. The capability of recording multiple tracks onto one tape and its comparably low price was largely responsible for the rise of project studios in the 1990s -
MP3
An MP3 file, also know as an MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, is a form of digital audio encoding and 'lossy' compression. Lossy meaning the reduction of dynamic range making the audio sound more watery. It was the German company, Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft, who developed the MP3, but the main guy behind it all was Karlheinz Brandenburg. By 1991 the first submission of the MP3 codec file had been made. Fun fact, in 1999 the record label 'sub-pop' was the first label to distribute their music as MP3s online -
Cubase
Cubase was a DAW created by steinberg for music and MIDI recording and editing. The first version was only a MIDI sequancer which ran on the Atari ST computer that was released in 1989. After a brief period of time with audio integration the new version Cubase VST featured a fully improved audio recording along with mixing features and effects. In 2003, Steinberg was aquired by Pinnacle systems before being sold to the Yamaha company in 2004 -
LimeWire
Limewire was a peer to peer file sharing software that people with windows, OS X, Linus and Solaris could access, a freeware and purchaseable more enhanced version was available. But in 2010, there was an issued court injunction from federal judge Kimba Wood to Limewire for the prevention of searching, downloading and uploading. As a result of the injunction Limewire stopped distributing the software, versions 5.5.11 and newer were disabled. however versions 5.5.10 and lower are still in use -
Youtube
Youtube is a platform that was originally founded by Jawed Karim, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. The platform is used for the public to upload videos online of many different things. Over 68% in the US alone use Youtube to watch music videos or just simply listen to music. In 2006 Google brought the platform for $1.65 billion USD making Google the curent 'parent organization'. -
Spotify
spotify is a swedish music streaming platform that was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. The platform offers a free version which consists of basic features and ads whilst the premium version offers more variety of features like offline listening and ad-free. In Feburary 2009, spotify opened registration for free in the UK. Registrations surged following the release of mobile service. Fun Fact, in October 2015 Ed Sheerans Thinking out loud was the first song to pass 500 million streams -
Apple Music
Apple music was a strict 'music only' platform, including access to internet radio station Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country. By 2016 Apple Music was expanding into video content. Apple Music allows you to stream over 60 million songs to their device on demand. The service also offers premade playlists based off of the users preferance of music genre. Before Apple Music, Ipop and Itunes were known for their revolutionised digital music
