Playback & recording equipment
Number of items in collection: 389
Short description:
Images in this collection can be viewed by anyone.
View images of more than 90 machines from the British Library's collection of playback and recording devices, charting the history of sound reproduction technology.
Long description:
Images in this collection can be viewed by anyone.
View images of more than 90 machines from the British Library's collection of playback and recording devices, charting the history of sound reproduction technology.
The equipment presented here ranges from late-nineteenth-century analogue machines to the digital devices of more recent decades. The earliest machine shown is a replica of the original tinfoil phonograph invented and patented by Thomas Edison in 1877.
The largest body of equipment presented here are the record players, including a very early gramophone from 1890, coarsegroove shellac disc gramophones, and players of vinyl discs.
In addition to a substantial selection of cylinder players, there is magnetic recording and playback equipment. This comprises open-reel tape, compact cassette, DAT and wire players.
Many machines have considerable aesthetic appeal and their size ranges from those of cabinet proportions to portable, hand-held devices.
The accompanying text for the images was written by Benet Bergonzi, author of Old Gramophones and Other Talking Machines (Shire Publications, 1991).
All recordings on this site are governed by licence agreements.