To operate his phonograph, Edison wrapped a sheet of tinfoil around the cylinder and set the needle so that it would etch a spiral groove into the foil as the crank was turned.

You might be old enough to remember record platters, but you probably aren’t old enough to remember when records were cylinders. The Edison Blue Amberol records came out in 1912 and were far … ...

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