Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Edison's phonograph cut sound into a sheet wrapped round a spinning cylinder. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a music fact?

Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The first recording was played back on tinfoil

Edison's phonograph cut sound into a sheet wrapped round a spinning cylinder The 1877 machine could both record and replay, though the foil wore out after a few plays. Wax cylinders replaced tinfoil within a decade and became the first commercial music format. Nothing about it was designed for durability, only for proof that sound could be stored. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Library of Congress

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Music trivia

More facts like this

Flat discs beat cylindersEmile Berliner's gramophone made records cheap to press and stack Wax cylinders lost the first format warEdison backed cylinders while rivals pushed discs that could be stamped Stereo was patented in 1931Alan Blumlein described two channel recording years before anyone sold it The moving coil loudspeaker arrived in 1925Chester Rice and Edward Kellogg described the design still used in most speakers The Beatles recorded their first album in one dayPlease Please Me was done at Abbey Road on 11 February 1963 Edison's phonograph recorded sound onto tinfoilThe first machine that could play sound back was built in 1877

Tags: recording, history, inventions

The first recording was played back on tinfoil: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Edison's phonograph cut sound into a sheet wrapped round a spinning cylinder. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a music fact?: Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.