湯瑪斯‧愛迪生 (Thomas Edison) 和第一部留聲機

超乎愛迪生意料之外，錫瓶把他說的話錄下來了：「瑪麗有一頭小綿羊。」人們一開始不敢相信愛迪生的發明，但是這種不信任很快就變成是恐懼，於是愛迪生被當成是「曼羅公園的巫師」，那是他發明留聲機的城市。在1915年，聲音錄製已經成為美國工業的一種。

作為一個在19世紀成長的小男孩，哈力‧理司 (Harry Reece) 記得留聲機的發明是一系列的科技奇蹟：「電燈讓我們相當訝異…而愛迪生的錫瓶留聲機錄製聲音，耳機根本就是鬼魂…」你在這裡可以聽到早期的音樂錄音。


To Edison's surprise, the cylinder recorded his message, "Mary had a little lamb." People had a hard time believing his discovery at first, but soon doubt turned into awe as Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," after the name of the city in New Jersey where he did his work. By 1915, sound recording was rapidly becoming an American industry.

As a young boy growing up in the late 19th century, Harry Reece remembered the invention of the phonograph as one in a series of technological marvels: "Electric lights were something to marvel at . . . the old Edison phonograph with its wax cylinder records and earphones was positively ghostly . . ." Here you can listen to one of the early musical recordings.

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