Record Player History 101: From Phonograph to HiFi
Ed Lansink
Last updated on: May 3, 2023
Record player history is much more than just the invention of a device that plays music. The principle used by record players to play music today is basically the same as the earliest devices that allowed people to record and reproduce sound.
The first comparable device to a present-day record player was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877 and was called the Phonograph.
Amazingly, although record players have come a long way since, this story starts a relatively short while ago, in the 1850s.
Here’s an overview of the history of how we got to the record players of today.
In short: Record player’s history timeline
Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville invents the Phonautograph, which is able to record sound waves onto smoke-blackened paper or glass. Used for the study of acoustics, the device couldn’t actually reproduce sound, though. The Phonautograph is the first device to have recorded human voice, and an early recording by (presumably) Martinville himself was reproduced only in 2008.
The invention sparks interest in the United States, where Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell take inspiration from the Phonautograph. In 1877, Edison is the first inventor to enable users to record and playback sound with his Phonograph
After getting the telephone patented in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell moved on to build the Graphophone, patented in 1880. Similar, but competing with the Phonograph, the Graphophone improved sound quality, durability, and recording time by recording onto tinfoil instead of the Phonograph’s wax cylinders.
1888: Edison Records launches as one of the first record labels, recording, and mass reproducing artist performances, from music to spoken poetry and comedy sketches. (1) (2)
Not long after, in 1889, Emile Berliner (a German-American inventor) introduced the Gramophone, which used a disc-shaped medium instead of a cylinder. The Berliner disc is the ancestor of present-day vinyl records.
Berliner’s gramophone records initially lagged behind in terms of audio quality to Edison’s cylinders, but by 1925, disc records (78rpm discs made of shellac) became the more popular format.
In 1931, RCA Victor (a division of RCA Records, which is still in business today) launched the 33⅓ “long-playing” record. With narrower grooves and manufactured on flexible plastic, each side holds 10 minutes of audio.
In 1948, the 33⅓ microgroove record was launched by the Columbia Record Company. Developed by Peter Carl Goldmark, the same basic format (which holds 23 minutes of audio on each side) is used for vinyl records today.
All-transistor phonographs are introduced in 1955, basically powered by electricity rather than hand-cranked early acoustic phonographs.
Cheap, portable record players are commercially available at the start of the 1960s, while larger wooden cabinet-built record players become popular.
The 1960s and 1970s are the heydays of the record player. While the audio quality of the vinyl record improves during this period, all-in-one record players are joined by turntables. As part of larger component audio systems, turntables become more sophisticated (and expensive).
With the introduction of more durable, higher-quality mediums like magnetic audiotapes and compact discs (CDs), record players have started to decline in popularity. By the turn of the 21st century, record players and turntables are niche products.
After signs of a vinyl revival in the 2010s, record player manufacturers restart production of retro-look players and turntables.
Who invented the record player?
The record player as we know it today was invented by Emile Berliner (‘Gramophone’) in 1892, but Thomas Edison’s earlier ‘Phonograph’ (1877) was the big watershed moment that preceded the earliest record players.
His Phonograph used cylinders rather than discs, but the principle of a needle etching sound vibrations into a medium that could be played back was his invention. In fact, it was the first time humans could record and play back their own voices.
Intrigued? Read on for a more in-depth history of the record player and the evolution of vinyl records.
Early inventors, the phonograph and the graphophone
The invention of the phonograph was a significant step forward for humanity (not only in terms of sound recording technology), following the invention of photography. Now, people would be able to record their own voices (and become immortal in that sense). More importantly, ideas, knowledge, and entertainment could spread culture around the globe. The ability to capture and replay audio had not been possible until then.
Obviously, the awareness of the possibilities of this new medium gradually increased, but either way, the technology wasn’t really about music early on. It was about the ability to record and playback sound and most importantly, the human voice.
Nevertheless, in 1878, Edison predicted several uses of his invention, including audiobooks, audio recordings for educational purposes, and above all: music.
Thomas Edison pictured with the second version of his Phonograph. Photo by Levin Corbin Handy (1878).
The phonograph was one of the earliest sound playback devices. It was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877 and patented in 1878. Thomas Edison’s phonograph consisted of a cylinder with a stylus (needle) that could be rotated while making contact with the surface of the cylinder, which would produce a corresponding vibration at the stylus point. These vibrations would then be transmitted to a diaphragm and ultimately converted into produced sound waves that could be heard through an earpiece or loudspeaker.
With the invention of Thomas Edison’s phonograph, also referred to as the “speaking machine”, people could enjoy the same recordings whenever they liked. This was a key step in record player history and the development of recorded sound. The convenience was a breakthrough and commercial success at first, but after the novelty wore off, the downsides of the medium would become notorious in record player history
Emile Berliner was a trailblazer in the field of record players. In 1887, he received a patent for the “gramophone,” which he termed his invention. Before vinyl was used, the phonograph was made of hard rubber and shellac. Shellac records were much more fragile than modern record material. The modern record player has its roots in the phonograph. Instead of a cylinder, it translated grooves on flat discs. At this point in history, it became vital to keep written records.
Battle of the formats: Cylinders vs discs
Early on in record player history, Edison’s invention of the phonograph came along with the first popular format: phonograph cylinders. These were core pieces of technology in the story of recording sound and reproducing sounds. Initially, paraffin paper was used and embossed, which developed onto using cylinders next. These cylinders were wrapped with a thin sheet of tin foil onto which sound vibrations were indented.
Neither of those materials proved to be very practical, however, nor did they reproduce recordings with stellar sound quality. Ultimately, at this time, the focus was on proving the concept more than anything. Practical applications of this new medium were still at an early stage.
A research and development program at Volta Laboratory (Washington DC) saw Charles Sumner Tainter, Alexander Graham Bell (yes, that guy – the inventor of the telephone), and Chichester Bell successfully use wax as the medium to engrave audible sound waves on. The system that enabled them to do so was labeled the graphophone, which ultimately competed with Edison’s phonograph commercially. This was used to create early recordings.
A blank Edison Phonograph cylinder and its container.
Edison set out to improve on the wax cylinder concept and adopted it. Eventually, a standardized format between major producers Edison Records and Columbia Phonograph (a company rooted in Volta Laboratory) was agreed upon in the late 1880s. A standard cylinder was about 4 inches long and could hold up to two minutes of audio.
Although earlier wax cylinders would wear out in as little as twenty plays, early commercial cylinders were hardened and provided good-quality playback for up to a hundred plays.
It wasn’t until 1900 that a process to mass-produce cylinders made out of celluloid (a type of plastic) was discovered. This type of cylinder would be marketed as “indestructible” and could be played thousands of times before wearing out.
In what years down the line would prove to have been a major breakthrough, Emile Berliner patented the gramophone in 1887. The gramophone was different in a few ways (for example, it was built to only be able to playback records and not also record onto them), but most notably, the use of a disc-shaped medium made of zinc with a wax coating. Like the team at Volta Laboratory, Berliner opted for lateral (sideways) engravings rather than vertical indentations as applied by Edison’s phonograph.
An old gramophone: The forefather of today’s record player, with a disc-shaped medium.
The disc format was further developed into the late 1890s, and soon after the turn of the century, 10-inch (1901) and 12-inch (1903) records were introduced. These discs could contain 3 and 4 minutes of audio, respectively, which was a massive improvement over cylinders. In 1904, Victor (one of the big three record companies at the time, including Edison Records and Columbia Records) started pressing disc records on both sides.
Ultimately, the disc beat the use of cylinders due to a combination of factors. The early 1900s saw the rise of the flat disc, which was more practical and durable than wax cylinders.
In 1904, discs were first pressed with music on both sides and capable of around seven minutes of total playing time, as opposed to cylinders which could only be played on one side. This had a major impact on the sale of cylinders, as they were now no longer able to compete in terms of durability and practicality.
Commercialization of records and mass production
Emile Berliner and his Berliner Gramophone Company were the first to start mass-producing records. A zinc master platter was used to record sound, which was transferred to a copper-based metal disc that would become a “stamper” (or ‘negative’ version of the recording). That stamper could then be used to create multiple copies of commercially sold records. The process is still very similar today. However, only a single final master copy and stamper could be created from one recording, which meant limitations still existed.
Eldridge R. Johnson vastly improved the process, which became known as the Johnson Recording process. In essence, the process allowed for the easy creation of multiple stampers. His inventive solution resulted in the formation of a formidable company in early record production and record player sales under the Victor Talking Machine Company (a predecessor of the Victrola brand, which still exists today).
Early record players produced under the Victrola brand were all built inside custom-designed wooden cabinets. These cabinets could be opened or closed for two levels of volume: Loud or muffled. No volume control as we know it today existed. Early models were sold starting in 1906 for $200 (which translates to around $5,900 in today’s money) and were really only affordable to the very wealthy.
In 1895, the first mass-produced record player was made available to the general public. Gramophone record players were popular until the introduction of radio. There were a few years when records were overshadowed by radio because of this. In the 1930s and 1940s, record players were popular, but they didn’t reach the mainstream tipping point until decades later.
Between 1901 and 1920, record player sales boomed. They became a part of most households of the time and were affordable to most, not just reserved for the wealthy.
The popularity of record players stalled a little after World War 1, with radio broadcasting (and commercial radio stations) becoming mainstream. Many predicted the end of the phonograph record industry, in fact.
The stock market crash of 1929 and the global economic downturn that followed dealt another blow to the advancement of record players in the home. It became more of a luxury than a necessity for many for a period of time.
Competition of radio + economic recession after the stock market crash of 1929.
Radio threatened record players at first but fueled their sales by making music and artists more popular than ever.
Music was made more popular by the commercialization of the record player and the other way around (while records were the dominant medium).
The record player was here to stay. For a while, at least.
The heyday of the record player
There was definitely a golden age for record players. Automatic high-fidelity turntables were an immediate hit in the early 60s. This was the golden age of record players, with sound quality being hugely improved from earlier vintage record players. People were motivated by its high-quality sound reproduction, and it became a must-have for any home that wanted to play such records. It was around this time that the marketing strategy of ‘hi-fi’ really started, with this still being a household term to this day.
The 1950s – record players in cars Philips Auto Mignon (sold under the brand ‘Norelco’ in the US) Highway Hi-Fi Phonograph.
Record players were absolutely central to the culture and entertainment of the day.
Entertainment sources were far more limited than today. There were no video games or Netflix. TV was pretty terrible, so music was at the heart of entertainment, and vinyl was at the heart of music. These now vintage record players were at the height of popularity, and many golden age record players are now highly sought after due to the vinyl record resurgence.
Systems like jukeboxes and record changers were commonplace in cafes, bars, and venues worldwide.
The rise of turntables and Hi-Fi systems
The next era saw turntables and record players become more affordable and commonplace, with great vinyl record sound quality a standard. In this era, most households had some kind of vinyl player. The rise of cheaper consumer technology meant more families could afford them than ever before.
Dual’s initial stereo turntables, produced in the ’60s and ’70s, revolutionized the record player industry. The advent of high-fidelity sound reproduction and recording prompted a large number of individuals to purchase a record player for their own use. Automated high-fidelity turntables were popular in the early sixties. Record players were in their heyday during this time period. Electrohome’s Apollo Record Player and traditional wooden stereo consoles were also launched during this time period.
Direct Drive Turntables – The DJ’s dream
In the early 1970s, Panasonic’s Technics brand pioneered the direct-drive turntable. The iconic Technics SP-10 turntable was the original model.
The Technics SP-10 mk1 direct-drive turntable.
The platter of a direct-drive turntable lies directly on top of the drive motor. This results in improved speed consistency and torque, as well as a reduction in the number of wearable parts. However, some detractors argue that it introduces extra noise interference, which can infiltrate the stereo playback system. In any case, the direct-drive turntable represented a major advancement in turntable technology that is still in use today.
In the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond, hip-hop scene DJs found new and innovative ways to employ record player turntables. They attached audio mixers to record players, positioned their palms on the records so that they scraped against the needle, and created a new rhythmic instrument. The usage of record players and mixers by hip-hop scene artists is still commonplace, despite the fact that many people still own record players and use them to play music.
These turntables were perfect for these new techniques. Turntablism is the art of using turntables not only to play music but to manipulate sound and create original music. The most notable technique of turntablism is beat mixing, a term for the process of manipulating the tempo and rhythms of two identical records by moving one record with a hand-held mixer back and forth over the other.
Turntablism was developed by Grand Wizzard Theodore in the 1970s as a way to extend instrumental segments on records and to make them more interesting.
Decline sets in
As new technology emerged, the vinyl record took a backseat. At first, they were replaced by cassettes, which were favored for their portability and lower cost. Tape players were one of the first inventions that let users listen to music on the go.
After cassettes, CDs started to become popular. As digital technology became more affordable and accessible, its convenience made it a more attractive option for most listeners. In the early 2000s, CD sales nearly halved between 2000 and 2007.
This was when smartphones and the first music streaming services emerged to put the final nail in the coffin for compact discs. The rise of file sharing, MP3 players, and then smartphones all contributed to the decline of CD sales.
Digital downloads also contributed to the death of the vinyl record (until the resurrection). With the release of platforms like Napster (1999) and iTunes (2001), vinyl sales declined steadily from the 1980s, reaching an all-time low in 2007, recording less than 1 million sales in the USA.
Graph showing recorded music sales in the US between 1973 and 2021. Vinyl is shown in dark blue. Source: RIAA (3).
Revival: Turntables and record players return
Vinyl records were the most popular music format for a long time, but as cassettes and CDs became more affordable and accessible, vinyl popularity significantly declined.
In the late 2010s, vinyl sales started to increase again. This was due to a renewed interest in the format and increased demand for certain artists that would only release their music on vinyl. Vinyl sales have increased by over four times between 2010 and 2020, totaling over 20 million sales in the USA in 2020.
The triumphant return of vinyl has been a fascinating cultural shift and was spurred on by a variety of factors. The resurgence of vinyl has also been linked to nostalgia and a desire for authenticity among consumers. The sound quality is also better than lossy digital formats like MP3s.
Vinyl is making a comeback after years of being supported mostly by die-hard collectors and small subcultures. Currently being offered at large department shops, supermarket stores, and even new independent record stores have sprung up as a result of this phenomenon. This century-old technology may now be enjoyed by generations of music fans, young and old today, thanks to the release of new recordings on LP.
As a consequence of the growing popularity of vinyl, contemporary record players are in high demand. Music fans and casual listeners alike are looking for the best of both worlds: vinyl and contemporary capabilities like USB recording and the ability to stream audio from their smartphones and tablets to their music systems.
Another consequence of increased popularity is the worldwide vinyl shortage that has been caused by a number of factors. These include supply-chain disruptions, heightened chemical prices, and unprecedented demand for the format.
The vinyl shortage is affecting artists in many ways. Some are now considering other physical formats, such as CDs or cassettes, to get their music out to their fans as well as sticking with digital releases on streaming services.
Others are waiting for the vinyl bubble to burst so they can buy them at a fair price. Some feel that this is a sign of the times and that vinyl will continue to gain popularity as individuals are starting to praise physical formats over digital ones for reasons such as nostalgia or aesthetics.
Revisiting turntable legends
With the resurgence of vinyl and record players, it’s worth looking back at some of the legendary decks that are still widely revered in the music industry as well as modern turntables that pay homage to vintage record players with modern features that many music enthusiasts pine after.
Technics SL 1200 MK1
The legendary Technics 1200s and 1210s are perhaps still one of the most widely talked about record players for DJs and casual music listeners alike – they changed music history. The Technics SL-1200 is a series of direct-drive turntables originally manufactured from October 1972 until 2010.
The turntable was the most popular and most widely used DJ turntable in the world due to its high torque motor system making it comparatively easy to use than other models as well as being highly suitable for DJs. The Technics SL1200 turntable has had a tumultuous history as one of the most iconic and prolific record players, with over three million units produced.
Because of its popularity, many people continue to believe that the Technics SL1200 is the ultimate DJ deck and that it should be kept that way.
Technics SL 1200 MK7
Technics re-released the SL 1210 MK7 in 2020 due to popular demand as well as an SL 2000 MK7 in 2019, proving how popular this brand is amongst DJs wanting to keep the physical format alive. The MK7 is a modern turntable that provides us with the nostalgia and legendary quality associated with older turntables with updated features.
The model has been updated with features like Torque and Brake Speed Adjustment, Pitch Control Function, Reverse Play Function, and a Coreless Direct-Drive Motor that achieves stable rotation. As well as a special Stylus Illuminator with high brightness and long life.
The fact that deck manufacturers are continuing to create new turntables and innovate in the technology shows that vinyl is here to stay.
Modern record players
With the resurgence of vinyl as a medium, it is worth delving into a few of the details of a modern record player and looking at how far we’ve come through the history of record players and looking at some modern features.
New record players often now include features such as USB ports in order to record your vinyl collection into a digital format; this USB recording does still show there is a demand for digital amongst vinyl record enthusiasts.
The sound recording from a vinyl player means you can listen to your favorite records on the go while keeping some of the artifacts in the recorded sound, such as the crackle and surface noise. They may also include Bluetooth in order to connect to your home Bluetooth hi-fi system. A less modern but still new feature is that most turntables now include an internal preamp meaning you do not need to plug your turntable into an extra amplifier.
New features in 21st-century turntables
USB connections
Bluetooth
Preamp built-in (most modern receivers had little reason to include a phono input anymore)
Vinyl Production
With all the huge changes to record players and the modernization of features, you might think that vinyl production may have changed a fair bit as well in the past 30 years or so. However, the production of vinyl records has practically remained unchanged in the last three decades.
The introduction of new vinyl pressing machines has been nonexistent since the 1980s. This is because they are expensive to produce and install. Vinyl records are still being produced on 30-year-old machinery – if it isn’t broken, why fix it?
A PVC “biscuit” about to be pressed into a vinyl record. Photo Ⓒ Korea Times – Choi Won-suk.
Despite vinyl’s comeback in popularity, it hasn’t grown to the point where new pressing equipment is required. Also, since the machines that do the pressing were around much longer than CDs and MP3 players, the pressing process hasn’t altered much.
While modern vinyl LPs are still made on the same technology as before, the audio that is pressed into those records isn’t made in the same way. Albums made in the twenty-first century are frequently based on digital masters, which means that music was usually digitally recorded in a music studio and then pressed to a vinyl or acetate master disc for pressing records.
Analog mastering was used to record music in the past, and some music listeners believe that an analog master will sound better than a digital master. And besides, one of the reasons vinyl lovers prefer the sound quality and richness of a record to that of a digital recording is that they prefer the warmer analog sound that a digital file lacks.
Although vinyl production techniques haven’t changed a great deal in recent record player history, there is one huge change for the vinyl record. There’s a shortage of vinyl. Independent labels and musicians were already handicapped by the expenses and delays of their vinyl releases due to Brexit and now a pandemic; now they’ve been worsened by major artists refusing to book pressing plants. In the weeks leading up to the release of Adele’s new album 30, Variety reported Sony officials discussing the vinyl run, which includes a 500,000-strong initial pressing.
Vinyl LP demand is currently significantly outstripping supply, with the UK’s modest capacity vinyl pressing plants, of which there are only six in the country and just one hundred globally, unable to keep up. The majority of vinyl sales in the United Kingdom come from Germany. The average price of vinyl recordings has also risen.
While I don’t have a crystal ball, it’s interesting to think about what the future holds for this medium. I personally don’t think vinyl is going to disappear any time soon. If it were going to die, it would have done so already. Vinyl is the longest-used audio format, and there’s something special about these magical black disks that means they are still popular.
Even though the format was essentially obsolete, people still come back to it. There’s something nice about the tangibility. Knowing you will be able to pass them down between generations, unlike a digital file. There is a unique sound to vinyl that just can’t be replicated anywhere else.
The vinyl industry is still a relative niche market and will likely never reach the heights it did in its heyday. It’s looking to be a gamble for those who are investing in this kind of product, but there are still many reasons why vinyl records will most likely live on in some form or another.
Vinyl records will most likely live on as collector’s items, limited editions, special editions, and dubplates – these are all niches that live on through vinyl. There are also smaller independent labels that produce music on vinyl only – these labels may be able to keep the format alive even if major labels stop pressing records, ensuring we will never make the record player obsolete and record player history will continue to live on.
Additional Resources
Want to learn more about record player history? Check out these links:
American Epic – An interesting PBS documentary that covers the early days of commercialization of music and phonographic recordings in the United States. All four parts are available on Youtube: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4. The last part demonstrates the recording sessions as they would have been performed in the 1920s, featuring a few popular present-day musicians and veterans of music.
The record player we know today was invented by Emile Berliner (‘Gramophone’ – 1892), who used the disc-shaped medium we know today.
Thomas Edison is often credited with inventing the ‘Phonograph’ (1877), which used the same technology as record players but used a cylinder-shaped medium to record and playback sound.
The first record player was invented by Thomas Edison, although his Phonograph used cylinders rather than discs. There are several other important technological innovators, including Emile Berliner (whose Gramophone most resembles present-day record players) and Alexander Graham Bell.
If the old records are 33 or 45 rpm, then any record player will be able to play them. Many old records used 78 rpm, which is found on some modern turntables, although not all. In some cases, a 78 requires a special type of stylus too.
The first record player worked without electricity. They were manually rotated using a hand crank and used a large cone as an acoustic speaker. The phonograph was able to record and replay sound. The receiver was made up of a tin foil-wrapped cylinder and a diaphragm, which was linked to a needle. The diaphragm vibrated as a result of sound waves being directed into it.
Nothing was used to play music before record players.
The phonograph preceded record players and was the first (rudimentary) device using wax discs for sound recording and playback. It was a major event in the history of humanity.
It was both a sound recorder and a sound player. It used tinfoil wrapped around a cardboard cylinder to record sounds and then play them back later on.
A record player in 1960 would cost around $50, depending on the model. This is the equivalent of around $400 today after adjusting the price for inflation.
The first devices and wind-up record players were phased out in favor of electric-powered alternatives in the 1930s, and the advent of the specialized hi-fi record player followed the popularity of bulkier turntable systems with built-in amplification and speakers.
The Victor Talking Machine Company had been bought by the newly established Radio Corporation of America. Victor had begun producing 33 1/3 rpm records and the Duo Jr, one of the first turntables meant to be connected to radio sets, eliminating the requirement for a phonograph’s built-in amplification and speakers. It was available for $16 (about $220 now).
Yes, a record player is worth it for most people. If you want to enjoy music on a deeper, more immersive level, then connecting with vinyl records is a great choice.
If you want something with better audio quality, then I would suggest going for a turntable setup rather than a record player, as this gives you more flexibility.
That being said, listening to and collecting vinyl records isn’t for everybody, so the answer to this question is ultimately personal.
Have any questions or feedback?
Leave a comment below and I’ll get right back to you!
