Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyday, a name which has been passed on to their disc-shaped successor, these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph. The first cylinders were wrapped with tin foil but the improved version made of wax was created a decade later, after which they were commercialized. In the 1910s, the competing disc record system triumphed in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium.
An Edison Gold Mould cylinder record, taken out of its storing tube (left), from c. 1900s
Edison wax cylinder phonograph c. 1899
Brown wax cylinders showing various shades (and mold damage)
Portion of the label from the outside of a Columbia cylinder box, before 1901. Note that the title is handwritten.
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
Frances Densmore and Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief working on a recording project of the Bureau of American Ethnology (1916).
Emile Berliner with disc record gramophone
Singer Tatjana Angelini recording the Swedish voice of Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1938
Magnetic audio tapes: acetate base (left) and polyester base (right)