From recorded time, man has been fascinated and delighted with music. Bone whistles, used as a type of flute, have been found dating back to 3000 BC. Paintings from the Stone Age show early musical instruments. In modern times, man has further developed has interest in music and in recorded sound with the hardware of sound reproduction. American inventor Thomas Edison, who was considered the father of sound recording, developed the phonograph in 1877, the first device to record music in the world. While Edison concentrated at first mainly on the reproduction of the voice, it was not long before the musical uses of his invention were recognized and marketed. The modern recording industry was born to satisfy an enormous market for all types of music, folk, classical, orchestral and popular.
The phonogram, the first affordable and mass-produced device, played records on a turntable. The device was mechanical and was wound up by means of a handle on the side of the machine. Such machines were common as late as the 1950s.
The widespread use o electricity in the post-World War Two period led to the invention of the modern, portable record player. It was, however, “mono”. The real enthusiastic listener to music wanted a realistic reproduction of music with “high fidelity” or “hi-fi”.
The invention of transistors and the rise of the giant electronic companies in the developed world in the 1970s fed the growing demand for hi-fi stereo systems using compact cassettes containing magnetic tape.
The 1980s saw an even greater series of developments in sound reproduction hardware. The examples are the Sony Corporation’s invention and development of the tiny portable tape players known as the “Walkman”, and the compact disc, or CD, system based on the technology of computers with music information stored and reproduced digitally.
In the 1990s the developments of music hardware continue, with the main purpose of transferring and recording the astonishingly clear digital sound of CD, without the “hiss” noise often affecting magnetic tape. The digital formats vary and include digital audio tape (DAT), digital compact cassette (DCC) and the minidisk (MD). They are mutually incompatible, so the user must make a choice when they make a purchase.
Will this ever-improving technology produce another development beyond digital sound, making the CD as obsolete as the record? The answer is a definite “yes”. When will this occur, then? No one can tell yet.