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Invention of the Phonograph
The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison as a device to record and produce sound. It originally used cylinders to produce sound, but this later turned into a record. The more common name became "record player," because it had begun to play records instead of cylinders. -
The Electrophone
In the 1890s in Britain, the electrophone was for an elite few. If you paid the £5 yearly fee, you could listen to a live theatre performance from London. This was where the first idea for headphones came from. -
First Song on the Radio
The radio was invented in 1895, but was not used as a way to broadcast music until 1906. The song was a short snippet of a phonograph recording of Brant Rock's violin O Holy Night. -
The Car Radio
Car radios were debuted earlier in 1922 and cost $200, but were not available for commercial use until 1930. The Motorola 5T71 was the most common one, but deemed a distraction that caused quite an uproar. Many people argued for laws banning them, but those never went anymore. Car radios were redesigned to be more simple and easy to use whilst using, solving the issue. -
First Headphones for Sale
Headphones finally hit the market and were available to the public in 1937. They were called the DT-48s, and were still being produced and sold up until 2012. -
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Rise of the Record Player
The record player, also referred to as the phonograph and gramophone was a popular way to listen to music in the 1900s. It is a turntable where you place a needle on a record to produce sound. -
The Cassette
The cassette was unveiled at the Berlin Radio Show by Phillips in Europe. The easy, compact device gained a lot of attention from spectators. They were eventually brought over to the US from Europe in 1966. -
The Walkman
On July 1st, Sony launched their legendary portable cassette player. The Walkman kept up with the current trends and was upgraded to a CD player, and so on. 400 million Walkmans were sold until their discontinuation in 2010. -
CDs
The first compact disc was released in 1982, and proved to be very popular. Within the first two years of their production, 400,000 CDs were sold. -
Car CD Player
The first car to ever have its own built in CD Player was a 1987 Lincoln Town Car and it was called the CDX-1. The portable players eventually improved in the Nineties with many more features. Drivers were able to rotate between ten discs at a time. -
MP3 Player
There had been many failed attempts at a portable MP3 player in the early nineties. The first successful one was created by Saehan Information Systems. They were very expensive and bulky. -
The iPod
The first iPod, by Apple, only was sold for a year. iTunes had not been launched yet, so consumers had to manually add their own music. New generations and versions of this iPod would continue to be sold until Apple stopped producing them entirely in 2017. Popular versions include the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. -
Apple iTunes
In 2003, Apple launched their music streaming service called iTunes. iTunes revolutionized the digital music service completely, by allowing users to buy specific songs and not just albums. They paved the way for many other streaming services. -
Spotify
Spotify was designed in Stockholm, Sweden and is the most popular music streaming service. It has over 35 million songs to choose from for the price of $9.99 a month. There is also a free option. -
The Launch of Apple Music
Apple Music was announced just 22 days before it launched. It is the top competitor of Spotify, with 60 million monthly subscribers versus Spotify's 100 million. It has 50 million songs to choose from for the cost of $9.99 monthly.
