History of Music Technology

First Human Voice Recording

Jan 1, 1877

Thomas Edison accidentally discovers how to record sound when experimenting with a new telegraph device

Invention of the Gramophone

Jan 1, 1888

Emile Berliner invents the gramophone, which uses a disc instead of a cylinder

FM Radio

Jan 1, 1933

Frequency-modulated (FM) radio is introduced in 1933 as a significant improvement from AM radio.

Vinyl

Jan 1, 1943

First Vinyl discs are introduced and becomes record industry material of choice.

Cassette Tape

Jan 1, 1964

Cassette tape was invented in 1930, however it became mainstream in 1964

Compact Disc

Jan 1, 1978

Philips and Sony announce plans to work together to come up with a uniform standard for a Compact Disc (CD) in 1978

MP3

Jan 1, 1990

The combination of digital audio and the Internet create a combustible phenomenon upon the invention of the Moving Picture Experts Group-1, Layer-3 (MP3) in 1990.

Streaming

Jan 1, 1995

RealAudio successfully launches the first major streaming audio service in 1995.

Napster

Jan 1, 1999

Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker debut the peer-to-peer file-sharing network Napster in May of 1999

iTunes

Jan 1, 2003

In 2003, Apple Computer launches the most successful online music store to date

Pandora

Sep 1, 2005

Pandora Radio launched as a rebranding effort for Music Genome Project with the goal of using algorithms and a complex song sorting program to create personalized radio stations based on listener's preferences.

Spotify

Oct 1, 2008

Spotify was launched to tackle the issues of music piracy and ride the wave of new music technology platforms, offering a seemingly infinite, catalog of music for audiences to listen to.