 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 People entering a music store to purchase a Columbia record in 1900 would leave not with a flat disc, but a cylinder. Its content would consist of a military band instrumental (probably conducted by John Philip Sousa), a banjo solo, or a comic or "coon" song. There was a reason for such sparse choices: the primitive recording and reproduction techniques meant that brass instruments came through with the greatest clarity, followed by the cutting sound of the banjo, and, lastly, the human voice.
In 1901, Columbia followed its rivals, Victor and Edison, in introducing the flat disc, which proved to be more durable than the fragile cylinder. Three years later, the first two-sided records became available, and by 1912, the phonograph machine and flat record were so firmly established that the cylinder was phased out completely.
|
|
|
|
|
