Thomas Edison made the first sound recording in 1877. He recorded himself singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” At the time, people did not think Edison’s invention would be useful. Many laughed at him. His recording machine seemed unbelievable. People thought that the only way to hear music was to be near a musician.

Edison’s recording machine was called the phonograph. It was hard to use. To record sound and play it back, someone had to turn a crank exactly 60 times a minute. If not, the recording wouldn’t sound right.

The early recordings did not look like the ones we see today. They were cylinders covered with tinfoil. The phonograph had a needle that scratched the sound into the tinfoil. The recordings were not very clear. They could only be played back a few times before wearing out.

Ten years later, Emile Berliner designed a better recording machine. It used a flat disc made of plastic. These “records” lasted a lot longer than the tinfoil cylinders. For the first time, people could buy music and play it over and over on a player.

Still, Berliner’s records only held about two minutes of music. In 1948, Columbia Records introduced the LP. LP stands for longplaying record. One LP held up to 30 minutes of music per side. Long symphonies could now be recorded. The LP, which changed music recording all over the world, came at a good time. In the 1950s, popular music and culture were growing quickly. Musicians wanted to make recordings, and people wanted to buy them. The LP allowed radio stations to play different kinds of music.

By 1962, people could also buy music on magnetic tapes. These tapes were put into plastic cases called cassettes. Cassettes were cheap and much more portable than LPs. In 1979, Sony invented a portable machine that played cassettes. This allowed people to listen to music anywhere.

Three years later, compact discs, called CDs, were introduced. They sounded better than any other type of recording. CDs could hold more than an hour of music. By the 1990s, CDs had mostly replaced LPs.

In 1998, a new invention came on the market: an MP3 player. This device stores, organizes, and plays digital audio files. An MP3 player offers high-quality sound and is more versatile than a CD.

In 1877, people laughed at Edison’s first scratchy recording. But his invention was the beginning of important changes in the way people share sounds and music.

湯瑪斯•愛迪生於1877年錄製史上第一個錄音，他錄下自己唱的＜瑪莉有隻小羊＞。當時的人並不覺得愛迪生的發明會多有用，許多人嘲笑他的錄音機器實在很荒謬，大家認為聽音樂的唯一途徑就是到現場聽音樂家唱歌。

愛迪生的錄音機器叫做「留聲機」。這個機器很難操作，如果要錄下聲音並再次播放，就必須要有人在一分鐘內，以手轉動留聲機的曲柄60圈，不然聲音聽起來就會不對。

早期的留聲機並不像我們現在看到的錄音機，而是由錫箔包裹的圓筒。唱機有根針，能在錫箔上刮出音軌。但錄音的音質並不清晰，而且播放幾次後便會磨損。

十年後，埃米爾•柏林納（Emile Berliner）設計出一款更佳的留聲機。他以塑膠製的圓盤來錄音，這些記錄在圓盤上的聲音比起錫箔圓筒更持久。這也是有史以來，人們第一次能將音樂唱片買回家，在播放機上一遍又一遍地播放音樂。

不過，柏林納的唱片也只能錄下兩分鐘的音樂。1948年，哥倫比亞唱片公司出產可長時間錄音的黑膠唱片，一張黑膠唱片的單面能錄30分鐘的音樂，如此一來就能收錄交響樂。黑膠唱片改變了全世界的音樂錄製，而且來得正是時候。因為1950年代，流行音樂與流行文化蓬勃發展，音樂家想製作唱片，人們想買唱片。黑膠唱片也讓廣播電台能播放不同種類的音樂。

到了1962年，大家可以買到以磁帶錄製而成的音樂，這些錄音磁帶放在塑膠盒裡，稱為「卡式錄音帶」。卡式錄音帶比黑膠唱片便宜，也更方便攜帶。索尼公司在1979年發明了可播放卡式錄音帶的播放器，讓大家不管在什麼地方都能聽音樂。

3年後，發明了光學碟片（Compact Discs），簡稱CD。CD的錄音品質比其他任何一種都還要好，而且能錄製超過一小時的音樂。到了1990年代，CD已經取代了大多數的黑膠唱片。

1998年，有一項新發明出世：MP3撥放器。這個裝置可以儲存、整理，以及播放數位錄音檔。MP3撥放器提供高品質的聲音效果，而且功能比CD還多。

1877年，人們嘲笑愛迪生第一個只會發出沙沙聲的錄音機器，但他的發明卻是人們分享聲音和音樂的重要開端。