1) In the end, they named it the phonograph. But it might have been called the omphlegraph, meaning "voice writer." Or the antiphone (back talker). Or the didasko phone (portable teacher). These are some of the names someone wrote in a logbook in Thomas Edison's laboratory in 1877, after Edison and his assistants invented the first rudimentary machine for recording and playing back sounds. From the first, they thought it would be used to reproduce the human voice, but they had no clear idea of its exact purpose.

Question

(2) Edison once said, "Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent." But all his life, he was a better inventor than salesman. The phonograph, his first invention to make him world-famous, is a perfect example. It was the product of a well-prepared but wandering mind.

(3) It was also the outcome of an amazing burst of inventiveness. One evening in July 1877, while relaxing with his assistants after their regular midnight dinner, Edison had an idea. They were working with ways to use paper strips to make a record of telegraph messages. Why not adapt those to record the vibrations of the diaphragm in a telephone mouthpiece? Thinking out loud, Edison suggested attaching a needle to the back of the diaphragm and mounting it above rollers for the paper strips. Speaking into the mouthpiece would cause the diaphragm to move, which in turn would cause the needle to inscribe squiggled indentations into the strips. If the paper were then pulled through the rollers again with the needle resting in the groove, the indentations would move the attached diaphragm, which should reproduce the original sound.

(4) Edison's assistants set to work. Within the hour, they had a working device they tried out by reciting "Mary had a little lamb" into the telephone. In the first trial, all that could be heard from the playback was "ary ad ell am." But that was encouraging. The staff went on working through the night, fiddling with the gizmo—and thus occurred the first midnight recording session.

(5) Edison and his crew later replaced the paper and rollers with tinfoil, which was wrapped around a cylinder attached to a crank. But Edison did not regard the machine as commercially promising. At best, he thought, it might be an office machine allowing businessmen to dictate letters.

(6) When word of the invention spread, however, the outside world saw greater possibilities. The dead could speak to us, eternally! Collectors could keep what the New York Times called a "well-stocked oratorical cellar." But the primitive phonograph that Edison demonstrated for the editors of Scientific American that December remained exceedingly limited. It could clearly introduce itself—"How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?"—but that exhausted its recording capacity.

(7) Still, the editors were excited enough to publish an admiring bulletin about the device—a first shot that set off an avalanche of publicity. A reporter wrote him, "I want to know you right bad," and everyone else did too. Investors enlisted him in a new venture, the Edison Speaking Phonograph Co. But he soon lost interest in making the phonograph a salable product. The company introduced a toy model that functioned badly and a second, more expensive one that was used by show-business entrepreneurs who rented concert halls to demonstrate the wondrous machine to paying audiences. It broke down frequently and required a trained technician's constant attention.

(8) Ten years elapsed before Edison returned to the phonograph, only after a competitor developed a wax-coated cylinder that could be removed without ruining the recording, something impossible to do with Edison's delicate tinfoil. To him, the idea that his most cherished invention faced competition was unendurable. He set to work on what he would call the Perfected Phonograph. When he introduced it to the market, however, in 1889, it was anything but perfect as the dictation device he still thought it to be. But it played music beautifully. Edison's backers tried to persuade him that the phonograph could be marketed for entertainment purposes, but he could not let go of his conviction that it was destined for the office.

(9) Competitors leaped further ahead, developing a new recording medium, the disc, and rushing to sign musical artists to recording contracts. Eventually, Edison capitulated and entered the recorded-music business too—a business he was poorly suited to as a man who disapproved of most genres of popular music. He dismissed "miserable dance and ragtime selections" and described jazz as something for "the nuts." Another competitor soon emerged, the Victor Talking Machine Co. and its Victrola. And while Victor built a stable of notable musical artists, Edison remained unwilling to pay royalty advances necessary to recruit stars.

(10) In the 1920s, Edison's phonograph faced a new challenge, commercial radio. The other phonograph companies introduced radios but Edison refused, wanting nothing to do with the medium's inferior sound quality. Prodded by his sons, he grudgingly relented, but the move came too late—in the midst of the stock-market crash of 1929. Within a year, his radio company ceased production. Edison died a year later. The music industry he had set in motion lived on, evolving into stereo, iPods and streaming music. He had made it all possible, without ever quite grasping how to make the most of it for himself.

Copyright © June 23, 2010 of TIME magazine

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You have now read two articles about the beginning of sound technology and one article about modern technology. Write an essay explaining how the process of refining and marketing the phonograph is similar to the development of the Audio Spotlight in "Psst . . . Hey, You." Be sure to use details from all three articles to support your answer.

Answer 1

The evolution of sound technology has been an intricate journey of invention, refinement, and marketing, marked by a series of breakthroughs that significantly influenced how we experience sound. In examining the development of the phonograph, as detailed in the article from TIME magazine, and the emergence of the Audio Spotlight from "Psst… Hey, You," it becomes clear that despite the different historical contexts and technologies, both processes exhibit similarities in their initial invention, subsequent refinement, and challenges in marketing.

The inception of both the phonograph and the Audio Spotlight can be attributed to a moment of inspiration and inventive thinking. For Thomas Edison and his team, the phonograph emerged from a moonlit brainstorming session, where Edison’s idea of inscribing sound waves onto a medium quickly transformed into a prototype that demonstrated rudimentary sound playback. Similarly, the Audio Spotlight originated from a desire to create sound that could be directed and controlled, leading to the development of focused audio technology that could deliver sound in a narrow beam without disturbing the surrounding environment. In both cases, the initial inventions were born out of a creative spark and an urge to explore the possibilities of sound.

Once the initial inventions were realized, both the phonograph and the Audio Spotlight underwent periods of refinement based on user feedback and technological advancements. After its first demonstration, the phonograph faced limitations; Edison's original tinfoil recordings could only capture a narrow range of sounds and lacked durability. This led Edison to enhance his design, culminating in the "Perfected Phonograph" which utilized a wax-coated cylinder. In the case of the Audio Spotlight, the refinement process involved addressing initial inefficiencies and enhancing the technology to ensure that it could deliver high-quality audio output while maintaining its directional capabilities. Both technologies exemplified the iterative nature of invention, underscoring that early prototypes often require significant improvements to meet user expectations and market demands.

Marketing also posed a challenge for both innovations. Edison, despite being an inventive genius, struggled to see the broader commercial potential of the phonograph beyond its use as an office dictation machine. His vision was limited, resulting in missed opportunities in the burgeoning entertainment market. The initial novelty of the phonograph caught the attention of investors and the public, but Edison's reluctance to market it effectively impeded its success. Similarly, the Audio Spotlight had to overcome initial skepticism and marketing hurdles; while its innovation was groundbreaking, establishing a market for focused sound technology required strategic efforts to demonstrate its utility in environments such as museums, retail spaces, and public installations. Both inventors faced the challenge of aligning their innovations with market needs and consumer perceptions.

In conclusion, the development of the phonograph and the Audio Spotlight mirrors a shared trajectory of innovative inception, continuous refinement, and marketing challenges. Both technologies exemplify the complex interplay between creativity and commerce in the realm of sound technology. While Edison was eventually outpaced by competitors who recognized the phonograph's broader entertainment potential, the Audio Spotlight continues to evolve and find applications in various fields. Ultimately, these stories reflect the transformative power of sound technology—an impact that resonates to this day, continually reshaping how we interact with audio in our lives.