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First sound recorded
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville invents the phonautograph, a device that traces, but cannot play back sound waves. -
First sound recorded
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville invents the phonautograph, a device that traces, but cannot play back sound waves https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
The Phonograph is invented
Thomas Edison's work on a telephone transmitter and the keyboard telephone inspires him to make sketches for device that will both record and play back sound. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
The Wax Cylinder/Graphophone
During this era scientists at the Volta Laboratory are granted patents for improved sound recording. They call their device the graphophone. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Flat disc recording
German inventor Emile Berliner is granted a U.S. patent for the gramophone, a machine to record sound by tracing a lateral as opposed to the phonograph's vertical groove of even depth, onto a cylindrical drum. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
The North American Phonograph Company begins
The phonograph and graphophone are joined under the North American Phonograph Company in a failed attempt to market the machines for dictation. Although in 1894, the Columbia Phonograph Company merges with American Graphophone and becomes Edison’s major competitor. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
The start of the Format War
For nearly twenty years competition existed between the flat record and the cylinder, with the disc leading by a narrow edge. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Phonograph as Consumer goods
Edison and Columbia begin offering spring-motor phonographs at affordable prices, allowing the phonograph to become a household object. (Making it a buying product) https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company is incorporated by Eldridge R. Johnson following the complex demise of the Berliner Gramophone Company. A American company would later acquire the company and it became known as RCA Victor. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
The Mass Production of recordings
Edison and Columbia market molded cylinders mass produced recordings from a master mold.In 1903, record companies added a mother to the duplication process, greatly increasing the number of discs that could be made from a single master. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
First Superstar
Caruso's arrival as the first superstar of the recording industry. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
First Jazz Recording
The first jazz record is made for the Victor Talking Machine Company by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
First Electrical Recording
Harrison and Joseph P. Maxfield worked on what they called electrical recording for several years before announcing it to the public in 1924. It used microphones, an electronic amplifier, and an electromagnetic cutting stylus to make record https://ethw.org/Electrical_Recording
https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Recording Radio Broadcasts
Recording Radio Broadcasts
Recorded transcriptions for radio programs are introduced as a result of the rise of syndicated programs. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Stereophonic Sound Recording is Invented
A patent is awarded to W. Bartlett Jones for a means to record stereo-phonically, utilizing one stylus and producing one groove with right and left channels on either groove wall. It would be twenty-five years before stereo recordings are sold commercially. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Recording Radio Broadcasts
Introduction of the coated blank disc makes recording practical for broadcast and home recording use. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/ -
Digital Miniatures
(Introduced in 2000) Both a media player and library, iTunes allows users to purchase downloads of music, organize, and store the files in numerous ways. In October of 2001 Apple introduces the iPod, a portable player designed to store recorded selections -
Pandora
Pandora Radio is a music streaming and automated music recommendation internet radio service powered by the Music Genome Project. As of August 1, 2017, the service, operated by Pandora Media. -
Sony
Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group merge, bringing together under one corporate umbrella, after a century of rivalry, Columbia and Victor Records. -
Spotify
Spotify is a music streaming service developed by Swedish company Spotify Technology. -
Soundcloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, Germany that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio.