History

• The record player was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, who called his invention the phonograph. Edison was more interested in the scientific applications of the phonograph than in its use for music, so advances on the basic design were left to others. The gramophone, the first record player to use discs instead of cylinders for recordings, was invented 10 years later. Vinyl records, which made it possible to produce cheap and high-quality recordings, came into use during World War II.
  
  

Types

• The record player went through many incarnations throughout its history. Edison's prototype played using tin foil wrapped around a cylinder with sounds recorded on dents in the foil. Record players that used wax-covered cylinders appeared in the 1880s, and the first record player to use a disc (initially made of zinc) arrived in 1887. Record players able to play vinyl 78 and 45 rpm records grew in popularity after World War II. High-fidelity record players, with the ability to reproduce sound almost entirely free of defects, became common in the 1970s.
  
  

Function

• The earliest record player worked with a stylus moving vertically over grooves etched into a foil-covered cylinder. The introduction of the disc-shaped records meant that the stylus had to move horizontally. In all versions, the sound is produced by grooves of different shapes and sizes. With thousands of almost microscopic grooves on a record, the stylus can recreate any sound. The sound of the stylus is initially extremely quiet, so an amplifier, either mechanical or electrical, is necessary to produce louder sounds.
  
  

Effects

• The effect of the record player on music and the music industry was enormous. For the first time, music was something that could be preserved over time and not just listened to in the moment. Recordings of classical pieces, ragtime and jazz were immensely popular in the early 20th century. The growing popularity of the radio did cause hardship for the record player industry in the 1920s and 1930s. From the late 1940s onward, the record player grew in popularity again, with higher quality recordings. Popular music especially came to be dependent on record sales, and even the radio depended on records for their broadcast content.
  
  

Time Frame

• Until the 1970s, there were no major challenges to the record player as the music system of choice. The first challenge came with the eight-track player, which appeared in the late 1960s and remained popular through the 1970s. Despite this challenge, the record player maintained its position of dominance until the 1980s and the advent of the cassette player. The final toppling of the record player occurred with the rise of the CD player. Unlike cassettes and eight-tracks, which derived much popularity from portable devices, CDs took the place of records in home stereo systems. With a sound quality considered superior to record players, CD players quickly replaced their predecessors in most homes.