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.

External links

• Tinfoil.com — History of phonograph cylinders; listen to many examples dating from 1878 through 1912
• Phonograph cylinders on Bill Clark's 78rpm Record site
• http://www.geocities.com/fiddlindon/Col_Phono.html Bob Morritt`s Columbia Phonograph Company Cylinder Records Site
• How did they mass produce those old cylinder records?
• Phonograph Maker's Pages How to make your own cylinder player with electric output.
• The three surviving Edison cylinders on the National Recording Registry with descriptions, audio and transcripts.