A fine-looking, young Thomas Edison at the White House in 1877 as he was about to present his new audio recording and playback invention to U.S. President Rutherford Hayes. The first words ever recorded were “Mary had a little lamb…”

Photo Credit: Mathew Brady

Alexander Graham Bell soon improved Edison’s design by adopting the much more robust wax cylinder which soon became the commercial norm.

Canadian Abenakis ceramic decorative plate from mid 20th century featuring a vintage print.

Wax cylinders were a proven technology and offered higher quality fidelity compared to 78 RPM records. However, the cylinder format was doomed for two reasons:

1. Wax cylinders were made on a lathe. The manufacturing time of a cylinder equalled that of a song’s duration whereas a 78 RPM record could be stamped out in a few seconds.

2. 78 RPM records offered two sides per disc, twice the value of the cylinder. The 78 RPM format quickly won the format battle, becoming the global standard in recording media industry for the next fifty years.

This was the first audio format battle, but as you’ll soon see, it would not be the last...

A selection of cylinder players in an undated photo from an early Edison Museum in Florida.

A Wide Assortment of Early Record Players, or "Gramophones"