Phonograph

The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the 1870s through the 1980s.

The phonograph in the 21st century

Turntables continue to be manufactured and sold into the 21st century, although in small numbers. Whilst there are audiophiles who still prefer vinyl records played on record players compared to digital music sources such as compact disc or SACD for their perceived fidelity, these represent an enthusiastic minority of listeners. The quality of the available record players, tonearms and cartridges has continued to improve inspite of the diminishing market.

Related Topics:
21st century - Audiophile - Vinyl record - Compact disc - SACD

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Phonograph turntables at a radio station, 2003

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Updates to the 1970s era Technics SL-1200, have remained an industry standard for DJs to the present day. Turntables and vinyl records remain popular in mixing (mostly dance-oriented) forms of electronic music, where they allow great latitude for physical manipulation of the music by the DJ.

Related Topics:
1970s - Technics SL-1200 - DJ - Vinyl record - Electronic music

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In hip hop music, the turntable is used as a musical instrument. Manipulation of a record as part of the music rather than for normal playback or mixing, is called turntablism. The basis of turntablism and its most well known technique is scratching, pioneered by Grand Wizard Theodore. It was not until Herbie Hancock's Rockit in 1983 that the turntablism movement was recognized in popular music outside of a hip hop context. See list of turntablists for more influential turntablist artists.

Related Topics:
Hip hop music - Musical instrument - Turntablism - Scratching - Grand Wizard Theodore - Herbie Hancock - Rockit - 1983 - List of turntablists

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The laser turntable, which uses a laser as the pickup instead of a stylus in physical contact with the disk, was conceived of in the late 1980s, although early prototypes were not of usable audio quality. Practical laser turntables are now being manufactured by ELPJ. They are favoured by record libraries and some audiophiles since they eliminate wear completely. The turntable remains the preferred sound source in some high end audio systems.

Related Topics:
Laser turntable - 1980s - ELPJ - Audiophile - High end audio

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Experimentation is in progress in retrieving the audio from old records by scanning the disc and analysing the scanned image, rather than using any sort of turntable, by Ofer Springer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Related Topics:
Scanning - Ofer Springer - Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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