Phonograph
Fonógrafo
- Date
- 1877 · confidence high
- Place
- Menlo Park, New Jersey, United States
- Credited to
- Thomas Alva Edison
- People
- 👤 Thomas Alva Edison1847–1931
- Field
- Communication
What it is
The first device capable of recording and playing back sound, on a tinfoil and later a wax cylinder. It turned sound into an object that could be stored and sold.
Charles Cros described a 'paleophone' in 1877 without building it.
What it led to
- The recording industry and musical stardom
- Sound archives of languages and traditional music
- Mechanised domestic entertainment