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The phonograph
The phonograph recording device to record sounds created by Thomas Edison. When a sound is spoken into a mouthpiece, it would play it back to you. -
The telegraphone
The Telegraphone was a recording device for magnetic sound recording created by Valdemar Poulsen. Sound creates magnetic fields and the device can play back your message. -
The Williams-Kilburn Tube is created
The Williams-Kilburns Tube was the storage used for the early Manchester Mark I computers and had a maximum storage of 2048 bytes and was better than earlier storage systems because it had fast random access (all the places on the memory tube could be accessed directly. -
The magnetic core memory
The magnetic core was a memory system that stored information in small ceramic magnetic rings (the core) and accessed it via the polarity of the magnetic field it contained. -
HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
A hard drive uses rotating platters to retrieve and store digital information from a flat magnetic surface. Information in written to the disk by an antenna, which transmits an electromagnetic signal, while changing the polarity. -
The music tape (cassette)
The cassette was a compact audio storage method that became extremely popular because of Sony’s Walkman. -
8" Floppy Disk
The floppy disk was a flexible magnetic sheet encased in a plastic case. The disk was read by a floppy disk drive. The first floppy disk could only hold 80 kilobytes and was used in another machine before it was used on its own. -
CD-ROM
The CD-ROM was an optical data storage method. Since the digital data was near microscopic on the disk, allowing a large amount of data to be stored on the disk. -
SSD (solid-state drive)
The solid-state drive was like an updated version of the HDD. Unlike the HDD the SSD did not have any moving components (i.e. the antenna in the HDD) and used integrated circuits as memory. Also, the SSD was faster to load than the HDD. -
DVD
The DVD was an improved version of the CD-ROM that allowed bigger and better data such as HD photos and videos. -
USB Key
The USB key was an extremely small memory stick without any moving components. The USB key was compatible with almost all common operating systems. -
SD card (secure digital)
The SD card was an upgrade from Sony’s multimedia card, with faster file transfers. The standard SD card size is 34mm by 24mm. Being small physically allows easy transport. On most computers there is an SD card slot.
