Phonograph cylinder

The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on phonograph cylinders. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1888 - 1915), these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played on a mechanical phonograph. The competing disc-shaped gramophone record system triumphed in the market place to become the domininent commercial audio medium in the 1910s, and commercial mass production of phonograph cylinders ended in 1929.

Cylinders versus discs

In the era before World War I phonograph cylinders and disc records competed with each other for public favor.

Related Topics:
World War I - Disc records

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The audio fidelity of a sound groove is not inherently better if it is engraved on either a disc or a cylinder, and the competition was due to other factors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Advantages of cylinders

The cylinder system had certain advantages. As noted, wax cylinders could be used for home recordings, and "indestructible" types could be played over and over many more times than the disc. Cylinders usually rotated at a greater speed than discs, creating a greater linear velocity of the stylus in the groove, which in theory would give an advantage of better audio fidelity. Around 1900 cylinders on average are indeed of notably higher audio quality than contemporary discs, but as disc makers improved their technology by 1910 the fidelity differences between better discs and cylinders became minimal.

Related Topics:
Velocity - Audio fidelity - Technology

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cylinder phonographs also usually used a worm gear to move the stylus in synchronization with the grooves of the recording, whereas most disc machines relied on the grooves to pull the stylus along. This resulted in cylinder records played a number of times having less degradation than discs, but this added mechanism made cylinder machines more expensive.

Related Topics:
Worm gear - Degradation - Mechanism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Advantages of discs

Both the disc records and the machines to play them on were cheaper to mass-produce than the products of the cylinder system. Disc records were also easier and cheaper to store in bulk, as they could be stacked, or when in paper sleeves put in rows on shelves like books.

Related Topics:
Shelves - Book

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Most cylinder phonographs had a weakness in the belt used to turn the spinning spindle; slight slippage of this belt produces the audio "wobble" characteristic of cylinders played back on original equipment. Disc phonographs using a direct system of gears did not have this problem; the heavy metal turntable of disc machines acted as a flywheel, helping to minimize speed wobble.

Related Topics:
Turntable - Flywheel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1908 Columbia Records introduced mass production of disc records with recordings pressed on both sides, which soon became the industry standard. Patrons of disc records could now get two recordings for less than the price of one on cylinder.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mention should also be made of the superior advertising and promotion done by the disc companies, most notably by the Victor Talking Machine Company in the United States and the Gramophone Company/HMV in the Commonwealth. Great singers like Enrico Caruso were hired to record exclusively, helping put the idea in the public mind that that company's product were superior.

Related Topics:
Advertising - Victor Talking Machine Company - Gramophone Company - HMV - Enrico Caruso

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The end of cylinders

Cylinder recordings continued to compete with the growing disc record market into the 1910s, when discs won the commercial battle. In that decade Columbia (which had been making both discs and cylinders) switched exclusively to discs, and Edison started marketing their own disc records. However Edison continued to sell new cylinder records to consumers with cylinder phonograph machines through 1929. The latest of the new cylinders were simply dubs of disc records, and as such are of lower fidelity than the disc versions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~