It was only 130 years ago when the music recording industry first got its start. In 1878 Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, which recorded sound. Originally planned to relay telegraph messages and for automated speech via the telephone, the phonograph came a year and a half after the telephone.

Technically, Edison had figured out that the needle could prick a paper tape and record a message, which led to a stylus on a tinfoil cy » Read more: Historical Roots of Music Recording