1888 Gramophone

After the invention the Phonograph which could record sound on a cylinder, the Gramophone was invented which used a more playabe disc format. The discs were originally made of rubber and later out of vinyl. We have been using technology like this for over 120 years. The record player, it's modern cousin, is still a favorite of many audiophiles.

1900 Radio

Nikola Tesla invented the radio for communication. The first music broadcast was in 1906. People used to dress up and gather around their radios to listen to broadcasts. Now we have radio on many differnet platforms and people listen to traditional radio less often.

2004 iPod

The first iPod mini was released by Apple Inc. The idea for the name came from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now you acn have thousands upon thousands of songs in the palm of your hand. Apple charged 99 cents for a song. Programs for downloading music illegally also became popular like Napster.

2007 iPhone

The iPhone was released which allowed users to merge their iPods with their phone amongst other features. The current version allows a user access to a multitude of music storing and streaming applications. Most notably, Spotify allows users access to any content they want for less than 10 dollars a month.

The Future

What will the future of audio playback technology hold for us? Will we be directly plugged into music through our skulls or forced to puchase implants that contantly stream the top 40 in our heads? If we keep going in the same direction, music will no longer be a thing that is shared, rather a implanted part or us for no one eles to know, like a part of our personality. I say, we all gather around the music together again.