Editing Phonograph

{{short description|Device for analogue recording of sound}}
{{redirect-several|Turntable|Gramophone|Record player|Tonearm}}
{{distinguish|Phonogram (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Turntable.svg|thumb|A typical modern turntable, showing the curved tonearm with a headshell at the end, under which lies the [[magnetic cartridge]] and its attached stylus touching down on the grooves of a black [[Phonograph record|record]] placed on the turntable's platter|upright=1.2]]

A '''phonograph''', later called a '''gramophone''',{{efn|As a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910.}} and since the 1940s a '''record player''', or more recently a '''turntable''', is a device for the mechanical and analogue [[reproduction of sound]].{{Efn|Historical phonographs could record sound.}} The sound vibration [[Waveform|waveforms]] are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a helical or spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a ''[[Phonograph record|record]]''. To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback [[#Stylus|stylus]] traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a [[Diaphragm (acoustics)|diaphragm]] that produced sound waves coupled to the open air through a flaring [[Horn loudspeaker|horn]], or directly to the listener's ears through [[stethoscope]]-type earphones.
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Edison and phonograph edit1.jpg
| image2            = Emile Berliner with phonograph (cropped portrait).jpg
| caption1          = [[Thomas Edison]] with his second phonograph, photographed by [[Levin Corbin Handy]] in Washington, D.C., April 1878
| caption2          = [[Emile Berliner]] with the first gramophone he developed, in [[Hanover]], Germany
}}
The phonograph was invented in 1877 by [[Thomas Edison]];<ref>{{cite news |title=The Incredible Talking Machine |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1999143_1999210,00.html |date=2010-06-23 |access-date=2018-10-21 |archive-date=2018-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014103702/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1999143_1999210,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tinfoil Phonograph |publisher=Rutgers University |url=http://edison.rutgers.edu/tinfoil.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513165450/http://edison.rutgers.edu/tinfoil.htm |archive-date=2011-05-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Cylinder Phonograph |publisher=Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/ |access-date=2016-08-15 |archive-date=2016-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819131636/https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Biography of Thomas Edison |publisher=Gerald Beals |url=http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html#phonograph |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903171300/http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html#phonograph |archive-date=2011-09-03}}</ref> its use would rise the following year. [[Alexander Graham Bell]]'s [[Volta Laboratory and Bureau|Volta Laboratory]] made several improvements in the 1880s and introduced the [[graphophone]], including the use of wax-coated cardboard cylinders and a cutting stylus that moved from side to side in a zigzag groove around the record. In the 1890s, [[Emile Berliner]] initiated the transition from [[phonograph cylinder]]s to flat discs with a spiral groove running from the periphery to near the centre, coining the term ''gramophone'' for disc record players, which is predominantly used in many languages. Later improvements through the years included modifications to the turntable and its drive system, stylus, pickup system, and the sound and [[Equalization (audio)|equalization]] systems.

The disc phonograph record was the dominant commercial audio distribution format throughout most of the 20th century, and phonographs became the first example of [[home audio]] that people owned and used at their residences.<ref>[https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/26992666/POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS.PDF pure.manchester.ac.uk]</ref> In the 1960s, the use of [[8-track cartridge]]s and [[cassette tape]]s were introduced as alternatives. By the late 1980s, phonograph use had declined sharply due to the popularity of cassettes and the rise of the [[compact disc]]. However, records have undergone a [[Vinyl revival|revival since the late 2000s]].<ref>"Better Sound from your Phonograph" ISBN 979-8218067304</ref>

== Terminology ==
The terminology used to describe record-playing devices is not uniform across the English-speaking world. In modern contexts, the playback device is often referred to as a "turntable", "record player", or "[[record changer]]". Each of these terms denotes distinct items. When integrated into a [[Disc jockey|DJ]] setup with a [[DJ mixer|mixer]], turntables are colloquially known as "decks".<ref>{{cite web |title=DJ Jargon, DJ Dictionary, DJ Terms, DJ Terminology, DJ Glossary of terms – DJ School UK |url=https://djschooluk.org.uk/dj-jargon-dj-dictionary-dj-terms-dj-terminology-dj-glossary-of-terms/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204201732/https://djschooluk.org.uk/dj-jargon-dj-dictionary-dj-terms-dj-terminology-dj-glossary-of-terms/ |archive-date=2019-12-04 |access-date=2019-12-04 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In later versions of electric phonographs, commonly known since the 1940s as record players or turntables, the movements of the stylus are transformed into an [[electrical signal]] by a [[transducer]]. This signal is then converted back into sound through an [[amplifier]] and one or more [[loudspeaker]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hockenson |first=Lauren |date=20 December 2012 |title=This Is How a Turntable Really Works |url=https://mashable.com/2012/12/20/dj-turntable/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204200225/https://mashable.com/2012/12/20/dj-turntable/ |archive-date=2019-12-04 |access-date=2019-12-04 |website=Mashable |language=en}}</ref>

The term "phonograph", meaning "sound writing", originates from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] words {{lang|grc-Grek|φωνή|italic=no}} ({{lang|grc-latn|phonē}}, meaning 'sound' or 'voice') and {{lang|grc-Grek|γραφή|italic=no}} ({{lang|grc-latn|graphē}}, meaning 'writing'). Similarly, the terms "gramophone" and "graphophone" have roots in the Greek words {{lang|grc-Grek|γράμμα|italic=no}} ({{lang|grc-latn|gramma}}, meaning 'letter') and {{lang|grc-Grek|φωνή|italic=no}} ({{lang|grc-latn|phōnē}}, meaning 'voice').

In [[British English]], "gramophone" may refer to any sound-reproducing machine that utilizes [[disc records]]. These were introduced and popularized in the UK by the [[Gramophone Company]]. Initially, "gramophone" was a proprietary [[trademark]] of the company, and any use of the name by competing disc record manufacturers was rigorously challenged in court. However, in 1910, an English court ruled that the term had become generic.<ref>{{cite web |date=1910-07-05 |title=Application by the Gramophone Company to register "Gramophone" as a trade mark |url=http://rpc.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/27/689.full.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20190412094028/http://rpc.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/27/689.full.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-12 |website=Reports of Patent, Design and Trade Mark Cases |publisher=The Illustrated Official Journal}}</ref>

=== United States ===
[[File:Edison Standard Photograph (08).jpg|thumb|An Edison Standard Phonograph that uses wax cylinders|left]]
In [[American English]], "phonograph", properly specific to machines made by Edison, was sometimes used in a generic sense as early as the 1890s to include cylinder-playing machines made by others. But it was then considered strictly incorrect to apply it to [[Emile Berliner]]'s Gramophone, a different machine that played nonrecordable discs (although Edison's original Phonograph patent included the use of discs.<ref>{{cite web  |url=https://intertique.com/TheEdisonDiamondDiscPhonograph.html |title=The Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph – History, Identification, Repair  |access-date=17 March 2020  |archive-date=17 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317051242/https://intertique.com/TheEdisonDiamondDiscPhonograph.html |url-status=live}}</ref>)

=== Australia ===
[[File:Conversazione of the Royal Society of Victoria.jpg|thumb|Wood engraving published in ''[[The Illustrated Australian News]]'', depicting a public demonstration of new technology at the Royal Society of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia) on 8 August 1878.|alt=]]
In [[Australian English]], "record player" was the term; "turntable" was a more technical term; "gramophone" was restricted to the old mechanical (i.e., wind-up) players; and "phonograph" was used as in [[British English]]. The "phonograph" was first demonstrated in Australia on 14 June 1878 to a meeting of the [[Royal Society of Victoria]] by the Society's Honorary Secretary, [[Alexander Sutherland (educator)|Alex Sutherland]] who published "The Sounds of the Consonants, as Indicated by the Phonograph" in the Society's journal in November that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/147117|title=State Library Victoria – Viewer |access-date=2019-06-14 |archive-date=2022-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221114839/https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE12498293 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 8 August 1878 the phonograph was publicly demonstrated at the Society's annual ''conversazione'', along with a range of other new inventions, including the [[microphone]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5943561 |title=09 Aug 1878 – THE ROYAL SOCIETY. – Trove |newspaper=Argus |publisher=Trove.nla.gov.au |date=1878-08-09 |accessdate=2022-02-21 |archive-date=2022-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221114841/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5943561 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Early history ==
=== Phonautograph ===
{{Main|Phonautograph}}

The phonautograph was invented on March 25, 1857, by Frenchman [[Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville]],<ref name="TimeGraphics">{{cite web|url=https://time.graphics/event/41158|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=mar 25, 1857 - Phonautograph invented.|language=en-US|url-status=live|accessdate=July 13, 2022|archivedate=June 29, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629175625/https://time.graphics/event/41158}}</ref> an editor and typographer of manuscripts at a scientific publishing house in Paris.<ref name="NatParkService">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-edouard-leon-scott-de-martinville.htm|title=Origins of Sound Recording: The Inventors|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=July 17, 2017|accessdate=July 13, 2022|archivedate=January 22, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122002822/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-edouard-leon-scott-de-martinville.htm}}</ref> One day while editing Professor Longet's ''Traité de Physiologie'', he happened upon that customer's engraved illustration of the anatomy of the human ear, and conceived of "the imprudent idea of photographing the word." In 1853 or 1854 (Scott cited both years) he began working on "le problème de la parole s'écrivant elle-même" ("the problem of speech writing itself"), aiming to build a device that could replicate the function of the human ear.<ref name="NatParkService" /><ref name="FirstSounds">{{cite web|url=https://www.firstsounds.org/research/scott.php|title=Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville|publisher=First Sounds|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=2008|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=July 1, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701004645/http://www.firstsounds.org/research/scott.php}}</ref>[[File:Phonautograph-cent2.png|thumb|Dictionary illustration of a [[phonautograph]]. This version uses a barrel made of [[plaster of Paris]].|222x222px]]

Scott coated a plate of glass with a thin layer of [[lampblack]]. He then took an acoustic trumpet, and at its tapered end affixed a thin membrane that served as the analog to the [[eardrum]]. At the center of that membrane, he attached a rigid boar's bristle approximately a centimetre long, placed so that it just grazed the lampblack. As the glass plate was slid horizontally in a well formed groove at a speed of one meter per second, a person would speak into the trumpet, causing the membrane to vibrate and the stylus to trace figures<ref name="NatParkService" /> that were scratched into the lampblack.<ref name="BBCNews">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7318180.stm|publisher=[[BBC News]]|title=Oldest recorded voices sing again|language=en|url-status=live|date=March 28, 2008|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=April 17, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417185139/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7318180.stm}}</ref> On March 25, 1857, Scott received the French patent<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/preservation/2021/12/introducing-irene/|author=Villafana, Tana|title=Observing the Slightest Motion: Using Visual Tools to Preserve Sound|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=December 20, 2021|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=January 3, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103215417/https://blogs.loc.gov/preservation/2021/12/introducing-irene/}}</ref> #17,897/31,470 for his device, which he called a phonautograph.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/scott.html|title=Leon Scott and the Phonautograph|author=Schoenherr, Steven E.|publisher=[[University of San Diego]]|language=en-US|url-status=dead|date=1999|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=February 7, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207234442/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/scott.html}}</ref> The earliest known surviving recorded sound of a human voice was conducted on April 9, 1860, when Scott recorded<ref name="BBCNews" /> someone singing the song "[[Au Clair de la Lune]]" ("By the Light of the Moon") on the device.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2008/03/27/89148959/sound-recording-predates-edison-phonograph|title=Sound Recording Predates Edison Phonograph|work=[[All Things Considered]]|via=[[NPR]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=March 27, 2008|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=May 26, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526211443/https://www.npr.org/2008/03/27/89148959/sound-recording-predates-edison-phonograph}}</ref> However, the device was not designed to play back sounds,<ref name="BBCNews" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-edouard-leon-scott-de-martinville.htm|title=Origins of Sound Recording: The Inventors|date=2017|website=www.nps.gov|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921003319/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-edouard-leon-scott-de-martinville.htm|archive-date=2017-09-21|url-status=live}}</ref> as Scott intended for people to read back the tracings,<ref name="Time5.1.18">{{cite web|url=https://time.com/5084599/first-recorded-sound/|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=What Was the First Sound Ever Recorded by a Machine?|author=Fabry, Merrill|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=May 1, 2018|access-date=February 13, 2022|archivedate=June 7, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607172532/https://time.com/5084599/first-recorded-sound/}}</ref> which he called phonautograms.<ref name="FirstSounds" /> This was not the first time someone had used a device to create direct tracings of the vibrations of sound-producing objects, as [[tuning fork]]s had been used in this way by English physicist [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]] in 1807.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FaAYfJYVNXQC|title=Nineeenth-century Scientific Instruments|language=en-US|url-status=live|publisher=University of California Press|page=137|date=1983|isbn=9780520051607 |archivedate=February 15, 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215062429/https://books.google.com/books?id=FaAYfJYVNXQC&pg=PA137&dq=thomas+young+tuning+fork&hl=en&ei=bsY5Tcm7GYmh8QOnppXYCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBw}}</ref> By late 1857, with support from the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, Scott's phonautograph was recording sounds with sufficient precision to be adopted by the scientific community, paving the way for the nascent science of acoustics.<ref name="FirstSounds" />

The device's true significance in the history of recorded sound was not fully realized prior to March 2008, when it was discovered and resurrected in a Paris patent office by First Sounds, an informal collaborative of American audio historians, recording engineers, and sound archivists founded to make the earliest sound recordings available to the public. The phonautograms were then digitally converted by scientists at the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] in California, who were able to play back the recorded sounds, something Scott had never conceived of. Prior to this point, the earliest known record of a human voice was thought to be an 1877 phonograph recording by [[Thomas Edison]].<ref name="BBCNews" /><ref name="NYTimes">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|author=Rosen, Jody|title=Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=March 27, 2008|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=April 13, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413194226/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html}}</ref> The phonautograph would play a role in the development of the [[gramophone]], whose inventor, Emile Berliner, worked with the phonautograph in the course of developing his own device.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/emile-berliner/articles-and-essays/gramophone/|title=The Gramophone|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|access-date=July 13, 2022|archivedate=June 1, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601195449/https://www.loc.gov/collections/emile-berliner/articles-and-essays/gramophone/}}</ref>

=== Paleophone ===
[[Charles Cros]], a French poet and amateur scientist, is the first person known to have made the conceptual leap from recording sound as a traced line to the theoretical possibility of reproducing the sound from the tracing and then to devising a definite method for accomplishing the reproduction. On April 30, 1877, he deposited a sealed envelope containing a summary of his ideas with the [[French Academy of Sciences]], a standard procedure used by scientists and inventors to establish [[Scientific priority|priority of conception]] of unpublished ideas in the event of any later dispute.<ref name="RBNF">{{citation |url=http://www.cairn.info/zen.php?ID_ARTICLE=RBNF_033_0020 |title=L'impression du son |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928231926/http://www.cairn.info/zen.php?ID_ARTICLE=RBNF_033_0020 |archive-date=2015-09-28 |work=Revue de la BNF |date=2009 |publisher=Bibliothèque nationale de France |isbn=9782717724301 |issue=33 |url-status=live}}</ref>

An account of his invention was published on October 10, 1877, by which date Cros had devised a more direct procedure: the recording stylus could scribe its tracing through a thin coating of acid-resistant material on a metal surface and the surface could then be etched in an acid bath, producing the desired groove without the complication of an intermediate photographic procedure.<ref>{{cite web | title = www.phonozoic.net | work = Transcription and translation of October 10, 1877 article on Cros "phonographe". | url = http://phonozoic.net/n0131.htm | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724004724/http://phonozoic.net/n0131.htm | archive-date = July 24, 2011 }}</ref> The author of this article called the device a {{lang|fr|phonographe}}, but Cros himself favored the word {{lang|fr|paleophone}}, sometimes rendered in French as {{lang|fr|voix du passé}} ('voice of the past').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brehm |first=Brett |date=2017 |title=Paleophonic Futures: Charles Cros's Audiovisual Worlds |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/ncf.2017.0004 |journal=Nineteenth-Century French Studies |volume=45 |issue=3–4 |pages=179–197 |doi=10.1353/ncf.2017.0004 |issn=1536-0172|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Cros was a poet of meager means, not in a position to pay a machinist to build a working model, and largely content to bequeath his ideas to the [[public domain]] free of charge and let others reduce them to practice, but after the earliest reports of Edison's presumably independent invention crossed the Atlantic he had his sealed letter of April 30 opened and read at the December 3, 1877 meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, claiming due scientific credit for priority of conception.<ref>{{cite web | title = www.phonozoic.net | work = Transcription and translation of December 3, 1877 unsealing of April, 1877 Cros deposit. | url = http://WWW.phonozoic.net/n0130.htm | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724005535/http://www.phonozoic.net/n0130.htm | archive-date = July 24, 2011 }}</ref>

Throughout the first decade (1890–1900) of commercial production of the earliest crude disc records, the direct acid-etch method first invented by Cros was used to create the metal master discs, but Cros was not around to claim any credit or to witness the humble beginnings of the eventually rich phonographic library he had foreseen. He had died in 1888 at the age of 45.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Cros|title=Charles Cro: French inventor and poet|work=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]|access-date=2018-03-09|language=en|archive-date=2018-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309183518/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Cros|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== The early phonographs ===
[[File:Drawing for a Phonograph - NARA - 595515 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Patent drawing]] for Edison's phonograph, May 18, 1880]]
[[Thomas Edison]] conceived the principle of recording and reproducing sound between May and July 1877 as a byproduct of his efforts to "play back" recorded [[telegraph]] messages and to automate speech sounds for transmission by [[telephone]].<ref>Patrick Feaster, "Speech Acoustics and the Keyboard Telephone: Rethinking Edison's Discovery of the Phonograph Principle," ''ARSC Journal'' 38:1 (Spring 2007), 10–43; Oliver Berliner and Patrick Feaster, "Letters to the Editor: Rethinking Edison's Discovery of the Phonograph Principle," ''ARSC Journal'' 38:2 (Fall 2007), 226–228.</ref> His first experiments were with waxed paper.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dubey |first1=N. B. |title=Office Management: Developing Skills for Smooth Functioning |date=2009 |page=139 |publisher=Global India Publications |isbn=9789380228167 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aiA1URwOXIC&q=phonograph+cylinders&pg=PA139 |access-date=22 March 2019 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415221912/https://books.google.com/books?id=3aiA1URwOXIC&q=phonograph+cylinders&pg=PA139 |url-status=live }}</ref> He announced his invention of the first ''phonograph'', a device for recording and replaying sound, on November 21, 1877 (early reports appear in ''[[Scientific American]]'' and several newspapers in the beginning of November, and an even earlier announcement of Edison working on a "talking-machine" can be found in the ''[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]'' on May 9<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84031492/1877-05-09/ed-1/. |title=Chicago Sunday tribune. |newspaper=[[Chicago Daily Tribune]] |date=9 May 1877}}</ref>), and he demonstrated the device for the first time on November 29 (it was [[patent]]ed on February 19, 1878, as US Patent 200,521). "In December, 1877, a young man came into the office of the ''Scientific American'', and placed before the editors a small, simple machine about which few preliminary remarks were offered. The visitor without any ceremony whatever turned the crank, and to the astonishment of all present the machine said: 'Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?' The machine thus spoke for itself, and made known the fact that it was the phonograph..."<ref>{{cite news |work=[[Scientific American]] |date=July 25, 1896 |url=http://www.machine-history.com/The%20Phonograph.%201877%20thru%201896 |title=The Phonograph, 1877 thru 1896 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202084044/http://www.machine-history.com/The%20Phonograph.%201877%20thru%201896 |archive-date=2009-12-02 }}</ref>[[File:Amberola close-up.jpg|thumb|Close up of the mechanism of an Edison Amberola, {{Circa|1915}}|alt=]]The music critic [[Herman Klein]] attended an early demonstration (1881–82) of a similar machine. On the early phonograph's reproductive capabilities he wrote in retrospect: "It sounded to my ear like someone singing about half a mile away, or talking at the other end of a big hall; but the effect was rather pleasant, save for a peculiar nasal quality wholly due to the mechanism, although there was little of the scratching that later was a prominent feature of the flat disc. Recording for that primitive machine was a comparatively simple matter. I had to keep my mouth about six inches away from the horn and remember not to make my voice too loud if I wanted anything approximating to a clear reproduction; that was all. When it was played over to me and I heard my own voice for the first time, one or two friends who were present said that it sounded rather like mine; others declared that they would never have recognised it. I daresay both opinions were correct."<ref name="klein">{{cite book |last=Klein |first=Herman |editor=William R. Moran |title=Herman Klein and The Gramophone |year=1990 |publisher=[[Amadeus Press]] |isbn=0-931340-18-7 |page=380 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/hermankleingram00klei/page/380 }}</ref>

''[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]'' newspaper from Melbourne, Australia, reported on an 1878 demonstration at the [[Royal Society of Victoria]], writing "There was a large attendance of ladies and gentlemen, who appeared greatly interested in the various scientific instruments exhibited. Among these the most interesting, perhaps, was the trial made by Mr. Sutherland with the phonograph, which was most amusing. Several trials were made, and were all more or less successful. 'Rule Britannia' was distinctly repeated, but great laughter was caused by the repetition of the convivial song of 'He's a jolly good fellow,' which sounded as if it was being sung by an old man of 80 with a cracked voice."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5943561 |title=The Royal Society. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |issue=10,030 |location=[[Melbourne]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] |date=9 August 1878 |accessdate=26 June 2021 |page=10 |via=[[National Library of Australia]] |archive-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221114841/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5943561 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Early machines===
[[File:Edison phonograph 1912.jpg|thumb|upright|Phonograph cabinet built with [[Edison Portland Cement Company|Edison cement]], 1912. The clockwork portion of the phonograph is concealed in the base beneath the statue; the amplifying horn is the shell behind the human figure.|alt=|left]]
Edison's early phonographs recorded onto a thin sheet of metal, normally [[Tin#Applications|tinfoil]], which was temporarily wrapped around a [[helix|helically]] grooved [[cylinder (geometry)|cylinder]] mounted on a correspondingly [[threaded rod]] supported by plain and threaded [[Bearing (mechanical)|bearings]]. While the cylinder was rotated and slowly progressed along its [[axis of rotation|axis]], the airborne [[sound]] vibrated a [[diaphragm (acoustics)|diaphragm]] connected to a stylus that indented the foil into the cylinder's groove, thereby recording the vibrations as "hill-and-dale" variations of the depth of the indentation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/ |title=Article about Edison and the invention of the phonograph |publisher=Memory.loc.gov |access-date=2016-08-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819131636/https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/ |archive-date=2016-08-19 }}</ref>

===Introduction of the disc record===
{{Listen
| filename     = Advertising Record.ogg
| title        = {{center|"I Am The Edison Phonograph"}}
| description  = This 1906 recording (with the character being voiced by [[Len Spencer]]) enticed store customers with the wonders of the invention.<br />2 minutes, 23 seconds.
| format       = [[Ogg]]
}}

By 1890, record manufacturers had begun using a rudimentary duplication process to mass-produce their product. While the live performers recorded the master phonograph, up to ten tubes led to blank cylinders in other phonographs. Until this development, each record had to be custom-made. Before long, a more advanced [[pantograph]]-based process made it possible to simultaneously produce 90–150 copies of each record. However, as demand for certain records grew, popular artists still needed to re-record and re-re-record their songs. Reportedly, the medium's first major African-American star [[George W. Johnson (singer)|George Washington Johnson]] was obliged to perform his "[[The Laughing Song]]" (or the separate "The Whistling Coon")<ref>University of California. [http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=lAUGHING+COON&queryType=%40attr+1%3D1016 Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project: George W. Washington] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629024714/http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=lAUGHING+COON&queryType=@attr+1=1016 |date=2011-06-29 }}, Department of Special Collections, Donald C. Davidson Library, University of California at Santa Barbara.</ref> up to thousands of times in a studio during his recording career. Sometimes he would sing "The Laughing Song" more than fifty times in a day, at twenty cents per rendition. (The average price of a single cylinder in the mid-1890s was about fifty cents.){{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

=== Oldest surviving recordings ===
[[File:Early phonograph, Deaf Smith County Museum, Hereford, TX IMG 4857.JPG|thumb|Early phonograph at Deaf Smith County Historical Museum in [[Hereford, Texas|Hereford]], [[Texas]]|alt=]]
[[Frank Lambert (inventor)|Lambert]]'s [[lead]] cylinder recording for an experimental talking clock is often identified as the oldest surviving playable sound recording,<ref>[http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm "Experimental Talking Clock"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219131721/http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm |date=2007-02-19 }} recording at Tinfoil.com, URL accessed August 14, 2006</ref>
although the evidence advanced for its early date is controversial.<ref>Aaron Cramer, Tim Fabrizio, and George Paul, "A Dialogue on 'The Oldest Playable Recording,'" ''ARSC Journal'' 33:1 (Spring 2002), 77–84; Patrick Feaster and Stephan Puille, "Dialogue on 'The Oldest Playable Recording' (continued), ''ARSC Journal'' 33:2 (Fall 2002), 237–242.</ref>
Wax [[phonograph cylinder]] recordings of [[Handel]]'s choral music made on June 29, 1888, at [[The Crystal Palace]] in London were thought to be the oldest-known surviving musical recordings,<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/very-early-recorded-sound.htm "Very Early Recorded Sound"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228135836/http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/very-early-recorded-sound.htm |date=2014-02-28 }} U.S. [[National Park Service]], URL accessed August 14, 2006</ref> until the recent playback by a group of American historians of a [[phonautograph]] recording<!-- "waveform" refers to an individual cycle of the fundamental or dominant frequency and is not a valid alternative for editors allergic to calling a phonautogram "a recording" --> of ''[[Au clair de la lune]]''<!-- words in French titles not capitalized as in English --> recorded on April 9, 1860.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rosen |first=Jody |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html |title=Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2008-03-27 |access-date=2011-10-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903192854/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html |archive-date=2011-09-03 }}</ref>

The 1860 phonautogram had not until then been played, as it was only a transcription of sound waves into graphic form on paper for visual study. Recently developed optical scanning and image processing techniques have given new life to early recordings by making it possible to play unusually delicate or physically unplayable media without physical contact.<ref>{{cite news|last=Eichler|first=Jeremy|title=Technology saves echoes of past from silence|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2014/04/05/pushing-back-silence-new-technology-and-battle-save-old-recordings/8ccQ3EPHdc7TI6GnxK8QtM/story.html|access-date=7 April 2014|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=6 April 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407233314/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2014/04/05/pushing-back-silence-new-technology-and-battle-save-old-recordings/8ccQ3EPHdc7TI6GnxK8QtM/story.html|archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref>

A recording made on a sheet of tinfoil at an 1878 demonstration of Edison's phonograph in St. Louis, Missouri, has been played back by optical scanning and digital analysis. A few other early tinfoil recordings are known to survive, including a slightly earlier one that is believed to preserve the voice of U.S. President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], but as of May 2014 they have not yet been scanned.{{clarify|reason=Update needed as of 2022|date=April 2022}} These antique tinfoil recordings, which have typically been stored folded, are too fragile to be played back with a stylus without seriously damaging them. Edison's 1877 tinfoil recording of ''Mary Had a Little Lamb'', not preserved, has been called the first instance of [[audiobook|recorded verse]]<!-- ignores 1860 phonautograph recording of some lines from "Aminta" -->.<ref name=rubery>{{cite book |title=Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies |editor=Matthew Rubery |year=2011 |chapter=Introduction |pages=1–21 |isbn=978-0-415-88352-8 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the phonograph, Edison recounted reciting ''Mary Had a Little Lamb'' to test his first machine. The 1927 event was filmed by an early [[sound-on-film]] [[newsreel]] camera, and an audio clip from that film's soundtrack is sometimes mistakenly presented as the original 1877 recording.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SCD-02|title=Mary had a little lamb|last=Thomas Edison|date=30 November 1926|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003222147/https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SCD-02|archive-date=2016-10-03}}</ref>
Wax cylinder recordings made by 19th-century media legends such as [[P. T. Barnum]] and Shakespearean actor [[Edwin Booth]] are amongst the earliest verified recordings by the famous that have survived to the present.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/PersonalSpeechToTheFutureByP.T.Barnum1890 ''Personal Speech To The Future By P. T. Barnum'' recorded 1890] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329162559/https://archive.org/details/PersonalSpeechToTheFutureByP.T.Barnum1890 |date=2016-03-29 }}; from [https://archive.org/ archive.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231032705/https://archive.org/ |date=2013-12-31 }} Retrieved July 21, 2015</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/OthelloByEdwinBooth1890 ''Othello By Edwin Booth 1890'' recorded 1890] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116142815/https://archive.org/details/OthelloByEdwinBooth1890 |date=2016-01-16 }} from [https://archive.org/ archive.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231032705/https://archive.org/ |date=2013-12-31 }} Retrieved July 21, 2015</ref>

== Improvements at the Volta Laboratory ==
{{Main|Volta Laboratory and Bureau#Sound recording and phonograph development}}
[[Alexander Graham Bell]] and his two associates took Edison's [[tinfoil]] phonograph and modified it considerably to make it reproduce sound from wax instead of tinfoil. They began their work at Bell's [[Volta Laboratory]] in Washington, D. C., in 1879, and continued until they were granted basic patents in 1886 for recording in wax.<ref name="Newville">Newville, Leslie J. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30112/30112-h/30112-h.htm Development of the Phonograph at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604180947/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30112/30112-h/30112-h.htm |date=2011-06-04 }}, United States National Museum Bulletin, [[Smithsonian Institution|United States National Museum]] and the [[Museum of History and Technology]], Washington, D.C., 1959, No. 218, Paper 5, pp.69–79. Retrieved from ProjectGutenberg.org.</ref>

Although Edison had [[Thomas Edison#Beginning his career|invented the phonograph]] in 1877, the fame bestowed on him for this invention was not due to its efficiency. Recording with his tinfoil phonograph was too difficult to be practical, as the tinfoil tore easily, and even when the stylus was properly adjusted, its reproduction of sound was distorted, and good for only a few playbacks; nevertheless Edison had discovered the idea of [[sound recording]]. However immediately after his discovery he did not improve it, allegedly because of an agreement to spend the next five years developing the [[History of electric power transmission#Early high voltage exterior lighting|New York City electric light and power]] system.<ref name="Newville"/>

=== Volta's early challenge ===
Meanwhile, Bell, a [[scientist]] and experimenter at heart, was looking for new worlds to conquer after having patented the [[telephone]]. According to [[Sumner Tainter]], it was through [[Gardiner Hubbard|Gardiner Green Hubbard]] that Bell took up the phonograph challenge. Bell had married [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard|Hubbard's daughter Mabel]] in 1879 while Hubbard was president of the Edison Speaking Phonograph Co., and his organization, which had purchased the Edison patent, was financially troubled because people did not want to buy a machine that seldom worked well and proved difficult for the average person to operate.<ref name="Newville"/>

=== Volta Graphophone ===
{{See also|Graphophone}}
[[File:Transcription using cylinder phonograph.png|thumb|left| A 'G' (Graham Bell) model Graphophone being played back by a typist after its cylinder had recorded dictation.]]
The sound vibrations had been indented in the wax that had been applied to the Edison phonograph. The following was the text of one of their recordings: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy. I am a Graphophone and my mother was a phonograph."<ref>''[[The Washington Herald]]'', October 28, 1937.</ref> Most of the disc machines designed at the Volta Lab had their disc mounted on vertical turntables. The explanation is that in the early experiments, the turntable, with disc, was mounted on the shop lathe, along with the recording and reproducing heads. Later, when the complete models were built, most of them featured vertical turntables.<ref name="Newville"/>

One interesting exception was a horizontal seven inch turntable. The machine, although made in 1886, was a duplicate of one made earlier but taken to Europe by [[Chichester Bell]]. Tainter was granted {{US patent|385886}} on July 10, 1888. The playing arm is rigid, except for a pivoted vertical motion of 90 degrees to allow removal of the record or a return to starting position. While recording or playing, the record not only rotated, but moved laterally under the stylus, which thus described a spiral, recording 150 grooves to the inch.<ref name="Newville"/>

The basic distinction between the Edison's first phonograph patent and the Bell and Tainter patent of 1886 was the method of recording. Edison's method was to indent the sound waves on a piece of tin foil, while Bell and Tainter's invention called for cutting, or "engraving", the sound waves into a wax record with a sharp recording stylus.<ref name="Newville"/>

===Graphophone commercialization===
[[File:Graphophone1901.jpg|thumb|A later-model Columbia Graphophone of 1901]]
[[File:Edison Phonograph 1AA.webm|thumb|thumbtime=0|Edison-Phonograph playing: ''Iola'' by the Edison Military Band (video, 3 min 51 s)]]
In 1885, when the Volta Associates were sure that they had a number of practical inventions, they filed [[patent]] applications and began to seek out investors. The [[Volta Graphophone Company]] of Alexandria, Virginia, was created on January 6, 1886, and incorporated on February 3, 1886. It was formed to control the patents and to handle the commercial development of their sound recording and reproduction inventions, one of which became the first [[Dictaphone]].<ref name="Newville"/>

After the Volta Associates gave several demonstrations in the City of Washington, businessmen from [[Philadelphia]] created the American Graphophone Company on March 28, 1887, in order to produce and sell the machines for the budding phonograph marketplace.<ref name=ERS/> The Volta Graphophone Company then merged with American Graphophone,<ref name=ERS>Hoffmann, Frank W. & Ferstler, Howard. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xV6tghvO0oMC&pg=PA1167 Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound: Volta Graphophone Company] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307014143/https://books.google.com/books?id=xV6tghvO0oMC&pg=PA1167 |date=2017-03-07 }}, CRC Press, 2005, Vol.1, pg.1167, {{ISBN|041593835X}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-93835-8}}</ref> which itself later evolved into [[Columbia Records]].<ref name="Schoenherr2005">Schoenherr, Steven. [http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/recording/graphophone.html Recording Technology History: Charles Sumner Tainter and the Graphophone] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223045342/http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/recording/graphophone.html |date=2011-12-23 }}, originally published at the History Department of, [[University of San Diego]], revised July 6, 2005. Retrieved from University of San Diego History Department website December 19, 2009. Document transferred to a personal website upon Professor Schoenherr's retirement. Retrieved again from homepage.mac.com/oldtownman website July 21, 2010.</ref><ref name="EWB2004">Encyclopedia of World Biography. "[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404700543.html Alexander Graham Bell] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105200232/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404700543.html |date=2010-01-05 }}", Encyclopedia of World Biography. Thomson Gale. 2004. Retrieved December 20, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com.</ref>

A coin-operated version of the Graphophone, {{US patent|506348}}, was developed by Tainter in 1893 to compete with ''nickel-in-the-slot'' entertainment phonograph {{US patent|428750}} demonstrated in 1889 by Louis T. Glass, manager of the Pacific Phonograph Company.<ref>[http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a21127/how-the-jukebox-got-its-groove/ How the Jukebox Got its Groove] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126074647/http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a21127/how-the-jukebox-got-its-groove/ |date=2017-01-26 }} Popular Mechanics, June 6, 2016, retrieved July 3, 2017</ref>

The work of the Volta Associates laid the foundation for the successful use of [[Dictation machine|dictating machines]] in business, because their wax recording process was practical and their machines were durable. But it would take several more years and the renewed efforts of Edison and the further improvements of [[Emile Berliner]] and many others, before the [[recording industry]] became a major factor in [[Entertainment center|home entertainment]].<ref name="Newville"/>

The technology quickly became popular abroad, where it was also used in new ways. In 1895, for example, [[Hungary]] became the first country to use phonographs to conduct [[folklore]] and [[Ethnomusicology|ethnomusicological]] research, after which it became common practice in ethnography.<ref>István Kollega Tarsoly: A magyar folklór történetének korszakai, <nowiki>https://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02185/html/550.html#551</nowiki></ref>

==Disc vs. cylinder as a recording medium==
Discs are not inherently better than cylinders at providing audio fidelity. Rather, the advantages of the format are seen in the manufacturing process: discs can be stamped, and the matrixes to stamp disc can be shipped to other printing plants for a global distribution of recordings; cylinders could not be stamped until 1901–1902, when the gold moulding process was introduced by Edison.<ref name="the cylinder preservation and digitalization project">{{cite web |title=cylinder history |date=2005-11-16 |url=http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-goldmoulded.php |access-date=2012-06-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121209071459/http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/history-goldmoulded.php |archive-date=2012-12-09}}</ref>

[[File:VictorVPhonograph.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A Victor V phonograph, circa 1907]]
Through experimentation, in 1892, Berliner began commercial production of his disc records and "gramophones". His "[[phonograph record]]" was the first disc record to be offered to the public. They were {{convert|5|in|cm|spell=in}} in diameter and recorded on one side only. Seven-inch (17.5&nbsp;cm) records followed in 1895. The same year, Berliner replaced the hard rubber used to make the discs with a [[shellac]] compound.<ref>{{cite web |title=the early gramophone |url=http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/recording/berliner.html |access-date=2012-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113014850/http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/recording/berliner.html |archive-date=2012-01-13}}</ref> Berliner's early records had poor sound quality, however. Work by [[Eldridge R. Johnson]] eventually improved the sound fidelity to a point where it was as good as the cylinder.<ref name="life">{{cite magazine |title=First It Said 'Mary' |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|LIFE]] |first=Robert |last=Wallace |date=1952-11-17 |pages=87–102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFIEAAAAMBAJ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306233735/https://books.google.com/books?id=sFIEAAAAMBAJ |archive-date=2017-03-06}}</ref>{{When?|date=February 2025}}

Wax cylinders would continue to be used into the 1920s, with New York City-based [[Czechs|Czech]] immigrant, businessman, and inventor [[Alois Benjamin Saliger]] using cylinders for his "Psycho-Phone" or "Psychophone", a specialized phonograph or gramophone that Saliger intended to be used in the field of [[psychology]]. Invented in 1927 for [[sleep learning]], the Psychophone featured a clock mounted on top of a phonograph, with a repeater device for rewinding and continuously replaying records. While Edison machines had a spring-powered motor, powered by crank on the side, Psychophone models featured an electric-powered motor. Saliger patented the device in 1932 as the "automatic time-controlled suggestion machine".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Gwen |title=PsychoPhone |url=https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/psychophone/index.html |website=History Detectives: Special Investigations |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) |access-date=12 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Benjamin |first1=Ludy T. |title=The Psycho-Phone |url=https://centerhistorypsychology.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/the-psycho-phone/ |access-date=12 February 2025 |work=Cummings Center Blog |agency=Center for the History of Psychology |publisher=University of Akron |date=23 February 2017}}</ref>

==Dominance of the disc record==
[[File:Portable 78 rpm record player.jpg|thumb|right|A 1930s portable wind-up gramophone from [[Gramophone Company|The Gramophone Company]]]]
In the 1930s, [[Gramophone record|vinyl]] (originally known as vinylite) was introduced as a record material for radio [[transcription disc]]s, and for radio commercials. At that time, virtually no discs for home use were made from this material. Vinyl was used for the popular 78-rpm [[V-discs]] issued to US soldiers during [[World War II]]. This significantly reduced breakage during transport. The first commercial vinylite record was the set of five 12" discs "[[Prince Igor]]" (Asch Records album S-800, dubbed from Soviet masters in 1945). Victor began selling some home-use vinyl 78s in late 1945; but most 78s were made of a [[shellac]] compound until the 78-rpm format was completely phased out. (Shellac records were heavier and more brittle.) 33s and 45s were, however, made exclusively of vinyl, with the exception of some 45s manufactured out of [[polystyrene]].<ref>Peter A Soderbergh, "Olde Records Price Guide 1900–1947", Wallace–Homestead Book Company, Des Moines, Iowa, 1980, pp.193–194</ref>

===First all-transistor phonograph===
[[File:Philco All-Transistor Phonograph-1955.jpg|left|thumb|Philco all-transistor model TPA-1 phonograph, developed and produced in 1955]]
[[File:Philco TPA-1 All-Transistor phonograph - Radio and Television News Oct 1955.jpg|right|thumb|Philco all-transistor model TPA-1 phonograph – ''Radio and Television News'' magazine, issue October 1955]]
In 1955, [[Philco]] developed and produced the world's first all-[[transistor]] phonograph models TPA-1 and TPA-2, which were announced in the June 28, 1955 edition of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.<ref>''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', "Phonograph Operated On Transistors to Be Sold by Philco Corp.", June 28, 1955, page 8.</ref> Philco started to sell these all-transistor phonographs in the fall of 1955, for the price of $59.95. The October 1955 issue of ''Radio & Television News'' magazine (page 41), had a full page detailed article on Philco's new consumer product. The all-transistor portable phonograph TPA-1 and TPA-2 models played only 45rpm records and used four 1.5 volt "D" batteries for their power supply. The "TPA" stands for "Transistor Phonograph Amplifier". Their circuitry used three Philco germanium PNP alloy-fused junction audio frequency transistors. After the 1956 season had ended, Philco decided to discontinue both models, for transistors were too expensive compared to vacuum tubes,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_tpa_1_tpa1.html |title=TPA-1 M32 R-Player Philco, Philadelphia Stg. Batt. Co.; USA |language=de |publisher=Radiomuseum.org |date=1955-06-28 |access-date=2013-10-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021204215/http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_tpa_1_tpa1.html |archive-date=2013-10-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1956.htm |title=The Philco Radio Gallery – 1956 |publisher=Philcoradio.com |date=2012-03-12 |access-date=2013-10-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621172556/http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1956.htm |archive-date=2013-06-21 }}</ref> but by 1961 a $49.95 (${{format price|{{Inflation|US|49.95|1961|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}) portable, battery-powered radio-phonograph with seven transistors was available.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=November 1961 |title=The Only Portable of its Kind! |url=https://archive.org/stream/1961-11_IF#page/n131"/mode/2up |magazine=If |type=advertisement |page=Back cover}}</ref>

== Turntable designs ==
[[Image:Technics SL-1200MK2-2.jpg|thumb|A [[Technics SL-1200]] [[direct-drive turntable]]|left]]
There are presently three main phonograph designs: [[Belt-drive turntable|belt-drive]], [[direct-drive turntable|direct-drive]], and [[idler-wheel]].

In a belt-drive turntable the [[Electric motor|motor]] is located off-center from the platter, either underneath it or entirely outside of it, and is connected to the platter or counter-platter by a [[Belt (mechanical)|drive belt]] made from [[Elastomer|elastomeric]] material.

The direct-drive turntable was invented by Shuichi Obata, an engineer at [[Panasonic|Matsushita]] (now Panasonic).<ref name="billboard">''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', May 21, 1977, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XCMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT140 page 140]</ref> In 1969, Matsushita released it as the [[Technics (brand)|Technics]] SP-10,<ref name="oxford">Trevor Pinch, Karin Bijsterveld, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KuRfLG0IedYC&pg=PA515 ''The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies'', page 515], [[Oxford University Press]]</ref> the first direct-drive turntable on the market.<ref name="reverb">{{cite web|title=History of the Record Player Part II: The Rise and Fall|url=https://reverb.com/news/history-of-the-record-player-part-ii-the-rise-and-fall|website=[[Reverb.com]]|date=October 2015 |accessdate=5 June 2016}}</ref> The most influential direct-drive turntable was the [[Technics SL-1200]],<ref name="wired">[https://www.wired.com/2002/05/blackbox/ Six Machines That Changed The Music World], ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'', May 2002</ref> which, following the spread of [[turntablism]] in [[hip hop]] culture, became the most widely-used turntable in DJ culture for several decades.<ref name="wired" />

==Arm systems==
[[File:Thorens TD124 mkii + SME 3012 (9509758745) (cropped).jpg|thumb|An [[SME Limited|SME]] 3012 tonearm fitted on a [[Thorens]] TD124 MkII turntable]]
In some high quality equipment the arm carrying the pickup, known as a tonearm, is manufactured separately from the motor and turntable unit. Companies specialising in the manufacture of tonearms include the English company [[SME Limited|SME]].

===Cue lever===
More sophisticated turntables were (and still are) frequently manufactured so as to incorporate a "cue lever", a device that mechanically lowers the tonearm on to the record. It enables the user to locate an individual track more easily, to pause a record, and to avoid the risk of scratching the record, which may require practice to avoid when lowering the tonearm manually.<ref>{{cite web |date=29 March 2023 |title=What is a cue lever on a turntable? A comprehensive explanation |work=VintageSonics |url=https://vintagesonics.com/guides/turntables-guides/what-is-a-cue-lever-on-a-turntable-a-comprehensive-explanation/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906170524/https://vintagesonics.com/guides/turntables-guides/what-is-a-cue-lever-on-a-turntable-a-comprehensive-explanation/ |archive-date=2023-09-06 |access-date=2023-09-06 }}</ref>

===Linear tracking===
Early developments in linear turntables were from Rek-O-Kut (portable lathe/phonograph) and Ortho-Sonic in the 1950s, and Acoustical in the early 1960s. These were eclipsed by more successful implementations of the concept from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |author=Rudolf A. Bruil |url=http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/ttrabco.html |title=Rabco SL-8E SL-8: Tangential Tonearm, Servo Control, Parallel Tracking, Functioning, Drawings, Construction, Manual |publisher=Soundfountain.com |date=2004-01-08 |access-date=2011-10-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017071917/http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/ttrabco.html |archive-date=2011-10-17 }}</ref>

==Pickup systems==<!--[[Phono cartridge]] and [[Phonograph cartridge]] redirect here-->
[[File:NadelAufPlatte.JPG|thumb|right|Typical magnetic cartridge]]
The pickup, or cartridge, is a [[transducer]] that converts mechanical vibrations from a stylus into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is [[Amplifier|amplified]] and converted into sound by one or more [[loudspeaker]]s. Crystal and ceramic pickups that use the [[piezoelectric effect]] have largely been replaced by [[magnetic cartridge]]s.

The pickup includes a stylus with a small [[diamond]] or [[sapphire]] tip that runs in the record groove. The stylus eventually becomes worn by contact with the groove, and it is usually replaceable.

Styli are classified as spherical or elliptical, although the tip is actually shaped as a half-sphere or a half-[[ellipsoid]]. Spherical styli are generally more robust than other types, but do not follow the groove as accurately, giving diminished high frequency response. Elliptical styli usually track the groove more accurately, with increased high frequency response and less distortion. For DJ use, the relative robustness of spherical styli make them generally preferred for back-cuing and scratching. There are a number of derivations of the basic elliptical type, including the Shibata or fine line stylus, which can more accurately reproduce high frequency information contained in the record groove. This is especially important for playback of quadraphonic recordings.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Everything you need to know about cartridges: Stylus types | url=https://www.ortofon.com/media/14912/everything_you_need_to_know_about_styli_types.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419181035/http://www.ortofon.com/media/14912/everything_you_need_to_know_about_styli_types.pdf | archive-date=2016-04-19}}</ref>

=== Optical readout ===
A few specialist [[laser turntable]]s read the groove optically using a laser pickup. Since there is no physical contact with the record, no wear is incurred. However, this advantage is debatable, since vinyl records have been tested to withstand even 1200 plays with no significant audio degradation, provided that it is played with a high-quality cartridge and that the surfaces are clean.<ref>Loescher, Long-Term Durability of Pickup Diamonds and Records, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, vol 22, issue 10, pp 800</ref>

An alternative approach is to take a high-resolution photograph or scan of each side of the record and interpret the image of the grooves using [[computer software]]. An amateur attempt using a flatbed scanner lacked satisfactory fidelity.<ref>[http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~springer/ Digital Needle – A Virtual Gramophone] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031229221243/http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~springer/ |date=2003-12-29 }} URL accessed March 31, 2007</ref> A professional system employed by the [[Library of Congress]] produces excellent quality.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11851842 You Can Play the Record, but Don't Touch] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812180736/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11851842 |date=2007-08-12 }} URL accessed April 25, 2008</ref>

== Stylus ==
[[File:RedDevilNeedle.jpg|thumb|left|Stylus for [[jukebox]] using [[shellac]] 78 rpm records, 1940s]]

A development in stylus form came about by the attention to the [[Compatible Discrete 4|CD-4]] [[quadraphonic]] sound modulation process, which requires up to 50&nbsp;kHz frequency response, with cartridges like [[Technics (brand)|Technics]] EPC-100CMK4 capable of playback on frequencies up to 100&nbsp;kHz. This requires a stylus with a narrow side radius, such as {{convert|5|μm|mil|sigfig=1|link=out}}. A narrow-profile elliptical stylus is able to read the higher frequencies (greater than 20&nbsp;kHz), but at an increased wear, since the contact surface is narrower. For overcoming this problem, the '''Shibata stylus''' was invented around 1972 in Japan by Norio Shibata of JVC.<ref>US Patent 3774918</ref>

The Shibata-designed stylus offers a greater contact surface with the groove, which in turn means less pressure over the vinyl surface and thus less wear. A positive side effect is that the greater contact surface also means the stylus reads sections of the vinyl that were not worn by the common spherical stylus. In a demonstration by JVC records worn after 500 plays at a relatively high 4.5&nbsp;g tracking force with a spherical stylus, played perfectly with the Shibata profile.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johana.com/~johana/dorren/cd-4paper4.pdf |title=Johana.com |access-date=2011-10-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713112415/http://www.johana.com/~johana/dorren/cd-4paper4.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-13 }}</ref>

Other advanced stylus shapes appeared following the same goal of increasing contact surface, improving on the Shibata. Chronologically: "Hughes" Shibata variant (1975),<ref>US Patent 3871664</ref> "Ogura" (1978),<ref>US Pat. 4105212</ref> Van den Hul (1982).<ref>US Pat. 4365325</ref> Such a stylus may be marketed as "Hyperelliptical" (Shure), "Alliptic", "Fine Line" (Ortofon), "Line contact" (Audio Technica), "Polyhedron", "LAC", or "Stereohedron" (Stanton).<ref name="vinylengine.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22894&start=0 |title=Vinylengine.com |publisher=Vinylengine.com |date=2009-11-09 |access-date=2011-10-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717210500/http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22894&start=0 |archive-date=2011-07-17 }}</ref>

A keel-shaped diamond stylus appeared as a byproduct of the invention of the [[Capacitance Electronic Disc|CED Videodisc]]. This, together with laser-diamond-cutting technologies, made possible the "ridge" shaped stylus, such as the Namiki (1985)<ref>US Patent 4521877</ref> design, and Fritz Gyger (1989)<ref>US Patent 4855989</ref> design. This type of stylus is marketed as "MicroLine" (Audio technica), "Micro-Ridge" (Shure), or "Replicant" (Ortofon).<ref name="vinylengine.com"/>

To address the problem of steel needle wear upon [[Phonograph record|records]], which resulted in the cracking of the latter, [[RCA Victor]] devised unbreakable records in 1930, by mixing polyvinyl chloride with plasticisers, in a proprietary formula they called Victrolac, which was first used in 1931, in motion picture discs.<ref>Barton, F.C. (1932 [1931]). ''Victrolac Motion Picture Records''. Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, April 1932 '''18'''(4):452–460 (accessed at archive.org on 5 August 2011)</ref>

==Equalization==
Since the late 1950s, almost all phono input stages have used the RIAA equalization standard. Before settling on that standard, there were many different equalizations in use, including EMI, [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]], Columbia, Decca FFRR, NAB, Ortho, BBC transcription, etc. Recordings made using these other equalization schemes typically sound odd if they are played through a RIAA-equalized preamplifier. High-performance (so-called "multicurve disc") preamplifiers, which include multiple, selectable equalizations, are no longer commonly available. However, some vintage preamplifiers, such as the [[LEAK]] varislope series, are still obtainable and can be refurbished. Newer preamplifiers like the Esoteric Sound Re-Equalizer or the K-A-B MK2 Vintage Signal Processor are also available.<ref>Powell, James R., Jr. and Randall G. Stehle. Playback Equalizer Settings for 78 rpm Recordings. Third Edition. 1993, 2002, 2007, Gramophone Adventures, Portage MI. {{ISBN|0-9634921-3-6}}</ref>

==Contemporary use and models==
[[File:Fonoteca Nacional 02.JPG|thumbnail|right|An old phonograph for record preservation at {{ill|Fonoteca Nacional|es}} (National Sound Archive of Mexico)]]{{See also|Vinyl revival}}
Although largely replaced since the introduction of the [[compact disc]] in 1982, record albums still sold in small numbers throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but gradually sidelined in favor of [[CD player|CD players]] and [[Cassette tape|tape]] decks in [[home audio]] environments.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Braun design – Record players by Rams and Oberheim |url=https://www.designundtext.com/en/2.1.28_braun-design-record-players2-rams-oberheim-pbdd.php |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=www.designundtext.com}}</ref> Record players continued to be manufactured and sold into the 21st century, although in small numbers and mainly for [[Disc jockey|DJs]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC News {{!}} ENTERTAINMENT {{!}} The non-compact disc turns 50 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/135027.stm |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Following a resurgence in sales of records since the late 2000s,<ref>{{cite news |last=Martens |first=Todd |date=11 June 2009 |title=Vinyl sales to hit another high point in 2009 |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/06/vinyl-sales-to-hit-another-high-point-in-2009.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426113459/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/06/vinyl-sales-to-hit-another-high-point-in-2009.html |archive-date=26 April 2013 |access-date=4 June 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times Music Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Hugh |title=Vinyl Sales Grew More Than 50% In 2014 |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/02/10/vinyl-sales-grew-more-than-50-in-2014/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729210836/https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/02/10/vinyl-sales-grew-more-than-50-in-2014/ |archive-date=2017-07-29 |website=[[Forbes]]}}</ref> an increasing number of turntables have been manufactured and sold.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wood |first=Zoe |date=2017-12-22 |title=Turntables are golden as UK retailers report bumper Christmas sales |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/22/turntables-are-golden-as-uk-retailers-report-bumper-christmas-sales |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Notably, Japanese company [[Panasonic]] brought back its well-known advanced [[Technics SL-1200]] at the 2016 [[Consumer Electronics Show]]<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Hugh Langley |date=2016-01-05 |title=The Technics SL-1200 Turntable just made a comeback |url=https://www.techradar.com/news/audio/hi-fi-radio/the-technics-sl-1200-turntable-just-made-a-comeback-1312351 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=TechRadar |language=en}}</ref> during which [[Sony]] also headlined a turntable, amid increasing interest in the format.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Spice |first=Anton |date=2016-01-08 |title=Return of the deck - how turntables are taking over |url=https://thevinylfactory.com/features/return-of-the-deck-how-turntables-are-taking-over/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=The Vinyl Factory |language=en-US}}</ref> Similarly, [[Audio-Technica]] revived its 1980s [[Sound Burger]] portable player in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sparrow |first=Mark |title=Audio-Technica's Sound Burger Deck Is Flipped In Three New Colors |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2023/05/31/audio-technicas-sound-burger-deck-is-flipped-in-three-new-colors/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Crosley Record Player.jpg|left|thumb|152x152px|A [[Crosley Radio|Crosley]] retro-styled suitcase record player produced in c. 2013]]
At the low-end of the market, [[Crosley Radio|Crosley]] has been especially popular with its suitcase record players<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Petridis |first1=Alexis |last2=Gibsone |first2=Harriet |last3=Paphides |first3=Pete |date=2016-04-21 |title=The Crosley generation: the record player that has the kids in a spin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/21/crosley-generation-record-player-has-the-kids-spinning |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and have played a big part in the vinyl revival and its adoption among younger people and children in the 2010s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moon |first=Brad |title=Crosley Offers New The Beatles Options For Vinyl Collectors |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradmoon/2020/06/27/crosley-offers-new-the-beatles-options-for-vinyl-collectors/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:'I Ear' Audio Show 2019 31 Yamaha Turntable and Jelco tonearm.jpg|thumb|A mid-range [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] turntable, c. 2019]]
New interest in records has led to the development of turntables with additional modern features. USB turntables have a built-in audio interface, which transfers the analog sound directly to the connected computer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://recordplayerreviews.org/vinyl-conversion-to-digital/ |title=Vinyl to USB Conversion |publisher=recordplayerreviews.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730142506/http://recordplayerreviews.org/vinyl-conversion-to-digital/ |archive-date=2016-07-30 }}</ref> Some USB turntables transfer the audio without equalization, but are sold with software that allows the EQ of the transferred audio file to be adjusted. There are also many turntables on the market designed to be plugged into a computer via a [[USB]] port for [[needle drop (audio)|needle dropping]] purposes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.knowzy.com/usb-turntable-comparison.htm |title=USB turntable comparison |publisher=Knowzy.com |date=2008-12-01 |access-date=2011-10-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713162826/http://www.knowzy.com/usb-turntable-comparison.htm |archive-date=2011-07-13 }}</ref>

Modern turntables have also been released featuring [[Bluetooth]] technology to output a record's sound wirelessly through speakers.<ref name=":0" /> Sony have also released a high-end turntable with an [[analog-to-digital converter]] to convert the sound from a playing record into a 24-bit [[high-resolution audio]] file in [[Direct Stream Digital|DSD]] or [[WAV]] formats.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cox |first=Jamieson |date=2016-01-06 |title=This new Sony turntable is turnt |url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/5/10713652/sony-ps-hx500-turntable-high-res-audio-ces-2016 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=The Verge |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Electronics|Music|Record production}}
* [[Phonograph record]]
* [[Phonograph cylinder]]
* [[Archéophone]], used to convert diverse types of cylinder recordings to modern, [[Digital signal (signal processing)|discrete]] recording formats
* [[Audio signal processing]]
* [[Compressed air gramophone]]
* [[List of phonograph manufacturers]]
* ''[[Talking Machine World]]''
* [[Vinyl killer]]
* [[Turntablism]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bruil, Rudolf A. (January 8, 2004). "[http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/ttrabco.html#INTRO Linear Tonearms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017071917/http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/ttrabco.html#INTRO |date=2011-10-17 }}." Retrieved on July 25, 2011.
* Gelatt, Roland. ''The Fabulous Phonograph, 1877–1977''. Second rev. ed., [being also the] First Collier Books ed., in series, ''Sounds of the Century''. New York: Collier, 1977. 349 p., ill. {{ISBN|0-02-032680-7}}
*Heumann, Michael. "[http://cec.sonus.ca/econtact/14_3/heumann_phonograph.html Metal Machine Music: The Phonograph's Voice and the Transformation of Writing]." ''eContact! 14.3 — Turntablism'' (January 2013). Montréal: [[Canadian Electroacoustic Community|CEC]].
* Koenigsberg, Allen. ''The Patent History of the Phonograph, 1877–1912''. APM Press, 1991.
* {{cite journal |last=Reddie |first=Lovell N. |year=1908 |title=The Gramophone And The Mechanical Recording And Reproduction Of Musical Sounds  |journal=Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution |pages=209–231  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtQWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA209 |access-date=2009-08-07 }}
* Various. "[http://cecpublic.pbworks.com/TurntableBibliography Turntable &#91;wiki&#93;: Bibliography]." ''eContact! 14.3 — Turntablism'' (January 2013). Montréal: [[Canadian Electroacoustic Community|CEC]].
* Weissenbrunner, Karin. "[http://cec.sonus.ca/econtact/14_3/weissenbrunner_history.html Experimental Turntablism: Historical overview of experiments with record players / records — or Scratches from Second-Hand Technology]." ''eContact! 14.3 — Turntablism'' (January 2013). Montréal: [[Canadian Electroacoustic Community|CEC]].
* Carson, B. H.; Burt, A. D.; Reiskind, and H. I., [https://web.archive.org/web/20111122042326/http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/recording/speed45.html "A Record Changer And Record Of Complementary Design"], ''RCA Review'', June 1949

== External links ==
{{Commons and category|Phonograph|Phonographs}}
{{NSRW Poster}}
* [http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/hotairgramophone/hotairgramophone.htm c.1915 Swiss hot-air engined gramophone] at Museum of Retro Technology
* [http://funexhibits.com/projects/cooperative-phonograph/ Interactive sculpture delivers tactile soundwave experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308062542/http://funexhibits.com/projects/cooperative-phonograph/ |date=2021-03-08 }}
* [http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/very-early-recorded-sound.htm Early recordings from around the world]
* [http://www.musesmuse.com/recording-art.html The Birth of the Recording Industry]
* [http://www.cylinder.de/ The Cylinder Archive]
* [https://archive.moeb.ca/en/ The Berliner Sound and Image Archive]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190905075931/http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/ Cylinder Preservation & Digitization Project] – Over 6,000 cylinder recordings held by the Department of Special Collections, University of California, Santa Barbara, free for download or streamed online.
* [http://sounds.bl.uk/Browse.aspx?category=Sound-recording-history&collection=Equipment&browseby=Browse+by+type&choice=Cylinder+players Cylinder players held at the British Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206065334/http://sounds.bl.uk/Browse.aspx?category=Sound-recording-history&collection=Equipment&browseby=Browse+by+type&choice=Cylinder+players |date=2012-02-06 }} – information and high-quality images.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100220122900/http://www.phonobooks.com/ History of Recorded Sound: Phonographs and Records]
* [http://www.enjoythemusic.com/tablehistory.htm EnjoytheMusic.com] – Excerpts from the book ''Hi-Fi All-New 1958 Edition''
* [http://www.cyberbee.com/edison/cylinder.html Listen to early recordings on the Edison Phonograph]
* [http://www.PhonographsAndGramophones.com Mario Frazzetto's Phonograph and Gramophone Gallery].
* [http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/8/1696/98456 Say What?] – Essay on phonograph technology and intellectual property law
* [http://www.vinylengine.com Vinyl Engine] – Information, images, articles and reviews from around the world
* [http://www.theanalogdept.com/ The Analogue Dept] – Information, images and tutorials; strongly focused on [[Thorens]] brand
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Ll2frWOB4 45 rpm player and changer] at work on YouTube
* [http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675030451_phonograph_Thomas-Edison_recording-and-playing-device_Edison-operates-phonograph Historic video footage of Edison operating his original tinfoil phonograph]
* [http://www.enjoythemusic.com/tablehistory.htm Turntable History on Enjoy the Music.com]
* [https://alignmentprotractor.com 2-point and Arc Protractor generators on AlignmentProtractor.com]

{{Audio format}}
{{Grooved track audio}}
{{Music technology}}
{{Thomas Edison}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Turntables| ]]
[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1877]]
[[Category:American inventions]]
[[Category:Audio players]]
[[Category:Thomas Edison]]
[[Category:History of sound recording]]
[[Category:Hip-hop production]]
[[Category:Turntablism]]
[[Category:19th-century inventions]]