They caught on quickly with the public, and by 1913 had all but killed off the Edison cylinder. All records, both disc and cylinder, were produced acoustically — without the aid of electricity ...

Digital streaming and downloads have dominated music consumption since the start of the 21st century, but how did fans listen to music before then? Here's a potted history.

It sounds primitive today, but a century ago Thomas A. Edison’s cylinder phonograph was close to the state of the art. The Niagara County Historical Society received a good-as-new 1906 ...

The designers concocted the Edison bottle, a simple glass beer bottle inscribed with music that can be played like a 19th-century phonograph cylinder. SUBSCRIBE LOG IN ...

[Jan Derogee] pulled out his phonograph the other day to hear the 100+ year old wax cylinder warble of “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”, but couldn’t locate the reproducer &#8… ...

Thomas Edison seated beside a phonograph in 1921. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need ...

The American Chemical Society dedicated Thomas Edison's work in chemistry as a National Historic Chemical Landmark in ceremonies at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Fla., on May 25, ...

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph on August 12, 1877. It "will undoubtedly be liberally devoted to music," Edison predicted with stunning accuracy in 1878.

Within a few short years, the cylinder phonograph was obsolete. Edison went on to achieve remarkable things in other fields, including such diverse categories as ore milling and motion pictures.