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Jan 1, 1400
The First Music Box
Already in the 15th Century in Flanders a cylinder with pins operating cams was invented to regulate the ringing of bells, a necessary step in the development. But it is generally accepted that the first known “music(al) comb” was used as a gadget by the Swiss clockmaker Antoine Favre in 1796 and incorporated in watches, snuff-boxes and other objects. -
Music Box
Although the first music boxes used metal disks, the switch to cylinders was made in the very early years of the 19th Century and this is still the method of choice for most music boxes and musical toys from this collection. -
Phonograph
In 1877 the phonograph was created by Thomas Edison -
Radio
Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, proved the feasibility of radio communication. He sent and received his first radio signal in Italy in 1895. By 1899 he flashed the first wireless signal across the English Channel and two years later received the letter "S", telegraphed from England to Newfoundland. -
Reel to Reel
The reel-to-reel format was used in the earliest tape recorders, including the pioneering German-British Blattnerphone machines of the late 1920s which used steel tape, and the German Magnetophon machines of the 1930s. Originally, this format had no name, since all forms of magnetic tape recorders used it. -
Cassette Tapes
In 1962, Philips invented the Compact Cassette medium for audio storage, introducing it in Europe on 30 August 1963 at the Berlin Radio Show, and in the United States (under the Norelco brand) in November 1964, with the trademark name Compact Cassette. -
CD
The first commercial compact disc was produced on 17 August 1982. It was a recording from 1979 of Claudio Arrau performing Chopin waltzes (Philips 400 025-2). Arrau was invited to the Langenhagen plant to press the start button. The first popular music CD produced at the new factory was The Visitors (1981) by ABBA.
