Blog 5: EOTO: The Invention of the Record Player

 EOTO: The Invention of the Record Player

As a person that integrates music into every facet of my routine, I highly value the ability to enjoy music portably. Having the ability to listen to music at my fingertips is such a meaningful thing for many reasons. The most important for the purposes of this class is that it has truly revolutionized communication. Music is inherently communicative and having the ability to mass produce and wide spread it has helped to spread messages further and wider than ever before. This is because music is often laced with political or cultural messaging, and by having a tangible way to distribute music has given artists the ability to integrate their messages into the pop-culture scene. This includes a large amount of music released during the Vietnam War era. Musicians and bands like CCR, The Rolling Stones, and Buffalo Springfield (just to name a few) were able spread their anti-war sentiments through their ability to release music that became wide spread. Their status as household names helped them to spread their message.

History of the Record Player

According to Top Record Players, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, pictured to the left, in 1877. This is considered the first record player. From this invention, Alexander Graham Bell added wax to Edison's design to record sound waves, making the graphophone. From there, Emile Berliner made and patented the gramophone in 1877 by making a disc out of shellac and rubber. Berliner's gramophone is similar to the modern day turntables that we have today. Later, vinyl became mainstream to use, making the records we know and love today.

These discs work because they have grooves in them and when they spin on a belt a needle reads these grooves and creates vibrations. From there, a coil turns these vibrations into an electric signal and carries this signal from wires to an amp. The speakers release these signals as sound, and if the grooves in the disc are made correctly, it can create music. 

This invention has gone through phases of popularity. In 1895, records were then mass produced and remained popular until the rise of radio. They then had resurgences in the 60s and 70s, helped to create the hip-hop era of the 80s and 90s, and one could even argue that they are making a come back today.

Impact of the Record Player 

The invention of the record player eventually led to the invention of the radio, cassette tapes, CD's, mp3 players, and even contributed to the invention of our modern day ability to stream music directly from our phones. The record player was integral in the invention of tangible music. It gave us the ability to listen to music at home and on the go, meaning that we could tangibly own music, as opposed to having to create our own or seek out live music to listen to. It quickly developed into a very profitable industry. In this day and age, music is consumed on a massive scale. It is very common to listen to music on a daily basis. People do this through a slew of different mediums, including a modernized version of the record player.