Phonographs

Gramophone

1920 record player

In this day and age, we are ready always to learn from new sources of information, including ways to make music happen for us on a private basis. Now well over a century old, methods of collecting information specifically to be played back have become rather sophisticated. Here's some music to help us remember some old ways of listening to tunes in one's own home......... What happened to the old Phonograph, anyway? Since many of our readers were kids, technology has brought into every...

After Thomas Edison switched from phonograph cylinders to disks, he came up with a plan to demonstrate their quality. He presented a series of “tone tests.” In small venues, as shown at left, listeners would be blindfolded. At larger ones, the lights would go out. In either case, the audience had to decide whether they’d heard the live singer or a pre-electronic phonograph disk.

An advert for a Decca portable gramophone. This appeared in the UK press during World War I, 1914 - 1918. The gramophone illustrated is a Decca Junior, sometimes known as a 'Trench Model'.

Free, it's free! uh-huh.

1888 Edison Improved Phonograph - 2

The stethoscope seems so simple — a 19th century tool for listening more closely to the human heart or lungs. It also sparked a culture of listening that is transforming the way scientists learn.

Early 1900s Phonograph Festival, Print of Advertisement